And even the first three aren’t necessarily great movies. The Amityville Horror, released in 1979, was a minor classic back in the day, and gained a lot of cultural traction over the fact that it was based on a true story. While the Lutz family (the real family that supposedly experienced real ghosts in their small New York home) has come forth about certain falsified happenings involving the actual “haunting,” all concocted with convicted Amityville murderer “Butch” DeFeo’s lawyer, the myth of the haunting still permeates popular culture with an uncanny persistence. And the movies based on the “true” story have persisted in their minor-classic popularity.
To offer brief reviews of each film in the set: The first movie, starring James Brolin and Margot Kidder, is an atmospheric tale of suburban breakdown, as dad gradually becomes more violent and abusive as the days pass. Reports of an eerie presence, weird hoof prints, and attacks by flies persist. Their priest freaks out when he goes to the building. The Amityville Horror is a creepy haunted house film, and while it’s no one’s favorite, it’s hard to find fault with it, beyond James Brolin’s gleeful overacting. The disc itself features new interviews with Brolin and Kidder, and they both admit to not taking the film very seriously in the late 1970s, and how unprofessional that was. There is also a commentary track from a man named Dr. Hans Holzer, who holds a PhD in parapsychology. I love parapsychology stuff, and the actual haunting’s veracity still remains up in the air in many regards.
Amityville II: The Possession (directed by Damiano Damiani, released in 1982) is perhaps the best film in the whole series, largely because it adds more in terms of creepy special effects, and has a twisted subplot involving brother/sister incest. Set up as a prequel, Amityville II re-purposes the real-life “Butch” DeFeo story through the fictionalized Montelli family, and how the teenage son Sonny was possessed by a demon, and who seduced his game sister (the pretty Diane Franklin) and murdered his family. This film, made by an Italian exploitation expert, has an appealing Eurotrash feeling to it, complete with uncomfortable sex and violence. The Blu-ray has a new interview with Damiani, and with a few of the actors, Rutanya Alda, who played the mom, Andrew Prine, the priest, and Franklin herself, still dazzling.
Amityville 3-D (directed by Richard Fleischer, released in 1983) skews far more family-friendly than the first two films, and feels a lot more like Poltergeist than The Omen. For one, the film was made in 3-D, and even watching the 2-D version gives on the sense of the gimmickry on display. Objects stick out and float out toward the viewer frequently. There’s not much to say about Amityville 3-D beyond the gimmick, sadly. People are possessed and/or killed, and paranormal investigators discover a demonic well in the basement. The Blu-ray offers the 3-D version of the film, however, which is the first time one will be able to see it in 3-D since its theatrical release. Although still called “Amityville 3-D” on all the old VHS copies, it was still pointedly a 2-D version. Back in the 1980s, the 3-D gimmick was gimmick-ier and often used correctly (i.e. to shove stuff in the audience’s face). Sometimes the best way to enjoy a cheap gimmicky film is with the latest in digital technology.
The Shout Factory (or The Scream Factory), run by people who once took care of Rhino Records, have always been good about assembling loving presentations of weird, off-the-wall, or obscure cult movies in well-constructed packaging. They’re like The Criterion Collection for weird schlock. And bless them for it. I can’t say too much to The Amityville Horror movies themselves (even the best isn’t too great), but this package is the best they’ll ever get.
Witney Seibold is a featured contributor on the CraveOnline Film Channel, co-host of The B-Movies Podcast. You can read his weekly articles Trolling, Free Film School and The Series Project, and follow him on “Twitter” at @WitneySeibold, where he is slowly losing his mind.
