Reviewed by Chris Wright, MoreHorror.com
Amityville 3-D: The Demon (1983)
Directed By Richard Fleischer
Written By: William Wales
Starring: Tony Roberts (John Baxter), Tess Harper (Nancy Baxter), Robert Joy (Elliot West), Candy Clark (Melanie), John Beal (Harold Caswell), Leora Dana (Emma Caswell), John Harkins (Clifford Sanders), Lori Loughlin (Susan Baxter), Meg Ryan (Lisa), Neill Barry (Jeff)
Amityville 3-D: The Demon has conjured up a mass amount of hate in the years as a massive down step from its two predecessors. I have seen this movie more than once and I cannot figure out why it is frowned upon the way it has from horror fans. Could it the main idea was already burned out? Sure, a concept like this can get old fast but this movie didn’t in any way try to be a cheesy sequel despite being billed in the “3-D boom” in the early 1980s. Is this movie weaker than the previous two? Yes, it is but it is not a horrible film and I believe deserves defending. First released by the ever popular Vestron Videos in the 1980s, MGM has released this film on DVD yet the 3D version has never seen the light of day.
The plot is a local reporter buys the Amityville house to try to remove all belief that supernatural events had ever occurred in this house. Soon thereafter, the evil forces begin to manifest and seemingly resonate in the form of a demon living inside of water swelled well in the basement. The plot is fairly well fleshed out and paced evenly to not be boring. It brought on the new concept of a physical demon in the Amityville home instead of literal possessions as the first two movies did.
All of the actors in “Amityville 3-D” do a good job at portraying their characters. The lead man John Baxter (played by Tony Roberts) is convincing in not believing in the supernatural forces inside the house until it is too late. John’s ex wife Nancy (played by Tess Harper) and Melanie (played by Candy Clark) are great supporting leads as well.
The gore is practically non-existent in this movie as it relies on shocks and atmosphere to deliver the scenes. The musical score from Howard Blake is well suited for this movie. My favorite scene is Melanie driving down the road with information in a picture she took in the house. Suddenly, she is in a car accident and the briefcase of information catches on fire, which catches her on fire as she is stranded inside the car. The final scene is a person passing by opening up the car seeing Melanie’s burned skeleton falling out unto the pavement. I thought the scene was well done and the most gruesome in the entire movie.
This movie is worth a viewing for Amityville enthusiasts. The main weakness in this movie is we don’t see what is going on in the well in the basement until literally the last ten minutes of the film. I was hoping that would be introduced earlier. I remember being scared to death of that revelation when I was a kid thinking I was going to be captured by a demon in the well! “Amityville 3-D” does not deserve the low rating of 3.6/10 on IMDB and it is far from cheesy as many love to classify it by. I give the last film to debut at theaters a 4 out of 5 stars for a worthy effort.