Even when viewed without the benefit of its 'third dimension', Amityville 3-D is still an enjoyably cheesy piece of 80s horrornot quite as good as my favourite in the series, Amityville 2: The Possession, but still far more entertaining than the po-faced original.
Subtitled The Demon, Part 3 sees its infamous Long Island property snapped up by reporter John Baxter who refuses to believe that the house is home to malevolent supernatural phenomena. Even when several of John's friends and acquaintances die in mysterious circumstances, his scepticism does not wane.
However, after his own daughter Susan (Lori Loughlin) becomes the latest victim of the Amityville curse, the distraught writer finally agrees to turn his house over to a group of paranormal investigators who are particularly keen to check out the hole in the basement floor, which is rumoured to be a gateway to Hell!
This being a 3D movie, director Richard Fleischer is obliged to deliver plenty of 'in your face' action, and objects are frequently dangled and poked towards the audience (which is kind of fun to watch, even in 2D), but to his credit, Fleischer also manages to conjure up quite a bit of atmosphere and a few decent scares along the way: in particular, the scene in which photographer Melanie (Candy Clark) is left alone in the house is extremely well handled and very creepy, as is the moment when Susan's mother is confronted by the sodden ghost of her recently drowned daughter.
Of course, this being a 'second sequel' made in the early 80s and a 3D effort to boot, it's not all well crafted scares: there are plenty of tacky moments for fans of B-movie horror to enjoy, and the messy finalé is a total blast, with almost every prop being thrust into the foreground, and a silly rubber demon popping up to say 'Hi!' from the bottom of his Hellish jacuzzi. Oh, and don't forget that Meg Ryan also makes an early appearance as Susan's ghost obsessed pal Lisa.
I rate Amityville 3D a reasonable 6.5 out of 10, rounded up to 7 for IMDb; let's face it, any film that features a 3D fly attack and a flying stuffed swordfish has got to be worth at least that!
Subtitled The Demon, Part 3 sees its infamous Long Island property snapped up by reporter John Baxter who refuses to believe that the house is home to malevolent supernatural phenomena. Even when several of John's friends and acquaintances die in mysterious circumstances, his scepticism does not wane.
However, after his own daughter Susan (Lori Loughlin) becomes the latest victim of the Amityville curse, the distraught writer finally agrees to turn his house over to a group of paranormal investigators who are particularly keen to check out the hole in the basement floor, which is rumoured to be a gateway to Hell!
This being a 3D movie, director Richard Fleischer is obliged to deliver plenty of 'in your face' action, and objects are frequently dangled and poked towards the audience (which is kind of fun to watch, even in 2D), but to his credit, Fleischer also manages to conjure up quite a bit of atmosphere and a few decent scares along the way: in particular, the scene in which photographer Melanie (Candy Clark) is left alone in the house is extremely well handled and very creepy, as is the moment when Susan's mother is confronted by the sodden ghost of her recently drowned daughter.
Of course, this being a 'second sequel' made in the early 80s and a 3D effort to boot, it's not all well crafted scares: there are plenty of tacky moments for fans of B-movie horror to enjoy, and the messy finalé is a total blast, with almost every prop being thrust into the foreground, and a silly rubber demon popping up to say 'Hi!' from the bottom of his Hellish jacuzzi. Oh, and don't forget that Meg Ryan also makes an early appearance as Susan's ghost obsessed pal Lisa.
I rate Amityville 3D a reasonable 6.5 out of 10, rounded up to 7 for IMDb; let's face it, any film that features a 3D fly attack and a flying stuffed swordfish has got to be worth at least that!