Magazine writer John Baxter (Tony Roberts) and his partner Melanie (Candy Clark) expose a fake psychic racket operating in the Amityville house. Being recently divorced and needing a new house, John decides to buy the place. He gets a good deal in exchange for keeping the real estate agent, who knew about fake psychics, out of the story. John is a disbeliever and skeptic of supernatural phenomenon so he's not worried about the house's history. Once he moves in, of course, strange things start happening.
Amityville 3-D has a bad reputation and most of it is deserved. The plot is tiresome and the scares are often laughable. Still, I can't help but enjoy it on some guilty pleasure level. Tony Roberts is a stiff lead. He reminds me of a less charismatic Ron Perlman. Yet there's something fascinating about watching this guy work. Maybe it's the hair. Or maybe it's that he clearly believes he is above the material. Lori Loughlin makes her film debut as his daughter. She doesn't get a lot to do but she's good enough so that you wouldn't automatically assume this was her first movie. Meg Ryan (!) plays her friend in one of Meg's early film roles. I was a little worried after Amityville II that we'd get some inappropriate sexual action between Tony Roberts and Meg Ryan or, worse yet, Roberts and Lori Loughlin. But thankfully nobody has sex with Tony Roberts. The often awful Candy Clark rounds out the main cast. She's up to her usual scenery chewing so everybody grab a seat. The best performances would come from Tess Harper as the ex-wife and Robert Joy as a paranormal investigator.
Perhaps the most amusing change to the Amityville series here comes from the fact the "ghosts" can attack someone even if they are miles away from the house. It's silly but allows for some enjoyable shock scenes. Look, this isn't a great movie. It isn't even a good one, really. But it still entertains in a so-bad-it's-good way. If you're looking for something like that, awesome! Here you go. But if you want something you can seriously be scared by, look elsewhere.
Amityville 3-D has a bad reputation and most of it is deserved. The plot is tiresome and the scares are often laughable. Still, I can't help but enjoy it on some guilty pleasure level. Tony Roberts is a stiff lead. He reminds me of a less charismatic Ron Perlman. Yet there's something fascinating about watching this guy work. Maybe it's the hair. Or maybe it's that he clearly believes he is above the material. Lori Loughlin makes her film debut as his daughter. She doesn't get a lot to do but she's good enough so that you wouldn't automatically assume this was her first movie. Meg Ryan (!) plays her friend in one of Meg's early film roles. I was a little worried after Amityville II that we'd get some inappropriate sexual action between Tony Roberts and Meg Ryan or, worse yet, Roberts and Lori Loughlin. But thankfully nobody has sex with Tony Roberts. The often awful Candy Clark rounds out the main cast. She's up to her usual scenery chewing so everybody grab a seat. The best performances would come from Tess Harper as the ex-wife and Robert Joy as a paranormal investigator.
Perhaps the most amusing change to the Amityville series here comes from the fact the "ghosts" can attack someone even if they are miles away from the house. It's silly but allows for some enjoyable shock scenes. Look, this isn't a great movie. It isn't even a good one, really. But it still entertains in a so-bad-it's-good way. If you're looking for something like that, awesome! Here you go. But if you want something you can seriously be scared by, look elsewhere.