Why have I never seen this movie before? I've seen like, every other Amityville related movie, but this one always seemed to elude me. This was originally released in 1983, back when there was a resurgence of interest in 3D movies for a short period of time and horror movies rushed to capitalize on that. The Amityville movies are haunted house flicks with lots of jump scares, so they seem the perfect movies to succeed in using this gimmick to freak people out. I'm not watching this movie in 3D, but hopefully it has enough substance to be a fun watch, even without the gimmicks.
In this installment in the Amityville series, an investigative reporter wants to buy the cursed Amityville house in an effort to prove that the stories about the hauntings are nothing but frauds. He moves in, making his impending divorce seem more depressingly real for his family. Soon after he moves in, of course, the haunted happenings start back up. Will he realize the truth about the house and escape its evil clutches?
I don't care how cheap it was, I wouldn't move into the Amityville house. I think the reports of the hauntings were bullshit, and I still wouldn't move in there. Too much bad energy built up over the years. It would be a bad idea for my mental health, but of course, if people in horror movues had common sense, the movies would be five minutes long. And it not just the old history of the house either. Some pretty terrible stuff happens in the house right as the guy moves in, and he still goes on with his plan. Twit.
Lori Loughlin stars here as the reporter's teenage daughter Susan, and a young Meg Ryan plays her friend Lisa. Tess Harper plays his ex wife, and Robert Joy shows up as an expert in the supernatural who is worried that the evil at Amityville is beginning to spread beyond the walls of the house. Thanks for setting the evil free, jerkface. Of course, everyone else in the known universe realizes there's something wrong with the house, but our reporter friend still refuses to believe it. At one point, his ex wife even forbids their daughter from going to the house because it's too dangerous (which technically I think is illegal if they share custody, but I understand her concerns, especially after people associated with the house keep dying).
There are some scary scenes (that creepy swarm of flies always gets to me) and there's another cool scene with a fire. The sequence where the ex wife sees her daughter Susan all wet? That was excellently done. And the later scene at the well was good too. It's a jump scare, but there's something to be said for well done jump scares. They especially work in ghostly/haunting movies where you're already on edge. Honestly, this is the best of the Amityville movies that I've seen, and I've seen them all. Yes, I even think it's better than the first one. Don't look at me like that, the original takes a billion years to get going, and this one is much more efficient with its timing. I'm really happy, because I didn't expect this movie to be so good, and I'm sorry I put off watching it for so long.
The quality slips a bit in the finale, and there's some silliness going on because the special effects aren't very special, but everyone in the movie plays it straight and acts like it's all real, so I can overlook what doesn't work when it's overpowered by scares and acting that do work. I kinda wish they'd remake this movie in 3D now. They're remaking everything anyway, and we have the technology now to make the 3D pop in a way it didn't back in 1983. If you're going to check out an Amityville, take my advice and go with this one.
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