DVD Review HTF Review: The Amityville Horror Collection (1 Viewer)

[Brian W.]

Blood never comes out of the walls in the book -- it's green slime.

That's one of the things that points to a hoax, because in the original newspaper stories, before the book was written, the Lutzes claimed blood came out of the keyholes, something never mentioned in the book.

I still enjoy the first film, though some of the acting is SO over the top. The scene in the church with Rod Steiger is truly hilarious, untintentinally so.

 

[Michael Osadciw]

I remember watching the first Amityville movie several years back for the very first time...I wasn't impressed at all...same goes for the 3-D one I saw when I was a kid...I was thinking - "what the heck is this?"

There have been several straight to video Amityville movies as well as a few TV movies. I'm sure none of them are worthy either.

I'll pass on this set. Thanks Jason for a great review.

Mike

 

[Nate Anderson]

Count me in as another person who dug the first one. I might have to pick this up, even though I have reservations about the sequels.



Don't forget the pigtails too...

 

[RobertSiegel]

Thanks for the great review Jason. I am glad this is finally stereo sound again on the first film. It's been showing on cable pay channels in full stereo for years...I have the original one sheet poster for the first movie that my local theatre manager gave me when it first played, and it surely says IN FULL STEREOPHONIC SOUND, aside from the fact I remember going 2 or 3 times and seeing it in stereo. So this is definately not one of those movies that was always mono and they created the first stereo track for dvd. So it's nice to finally have a stereo dvd (I was never sure why they released the first issue of the dvd in mono).

 

[Chuck L]

All right...I am used to it here...I will be the odd man out.

I simply hate the first film and loathe the third...but the second film...I think it is the best out of the three. It is very unsettling and it does work overall. NOW...while it is easy to say that it has cheesy effects or whathaveyou...take into account when the film was done...and there is a great excuse.

While I do not really appreciate the ending of the film...up until that point, the filmmakers do deliver the goods.

 

[RobertSiegel]

Chuck, don't think you're the odd man out, I've always thought the 2nd one had some terrific ingredients, and was among the best. Wish they would have remixed it for stereo.

 

[Jordan_E]

I found the second one creepier than the first, with some decent moments, although the ending goes WAY out there! My local video store put out the new second and third DVDs already (I rented part two yesterday) but, in their infinite wisdom, didn't bother to get the new, remixed part one! I saw Amityville 3-D in the theaters in 3-D when it was first released and am disappointed they didn't release it here in 3-D, even though it was released that way in the UK; sure, I have read that it doesn't look all that great, but dammitt, why don't we get such extra little perks?!

 

[Ryan Wishton]

This series could very well be the worst series ever created.

The first 2 seem like an accomplishment standing next to all those that followed. The first 2 weren't even that good.

Though I also prefer the 2nd to the first actually. It has it's moments of creepy for sure.

The first half of Part 2 is as creepy as this series ever got. Unfortunately, this box set includes the best films of the series.

Believe it or not everything after is much, much, much worse. Unbelievably so. There were many, many films in this series.

I mean Jason X deserves an oscar type of bad. Purely unwatchable. At least Jason X had the sleeping bad scene. Though that film wasn't very watchable either. Felt like I was watching an extended version of some Made for TV movie on the Sci Fi channel.

I might Netflix Part 2 as a nostalgia kick. Part 1 I saw about 7 years ago the last time. Dont really have the interest as I still remember it.

I will be seeing the remake. Here's hoping for something semi-enjoyable.

Black Christmas was a much better Kidder Horror film. They would have been better throwing that in this box set. Sure, it's out of place but so is the series.

 

[Steve Phillips]

Apparently you haven't seen the LEPRECHAUN sequels....

 

[Rob P S]

...or the Ghoulies sequels.

 

[Will Krupp]

It may have been one of the most effectively SHOT, but it still stands out in my memory as one of the worst looking 3D movies I ever saw (Even taking Jaws into consideration.)

I remember it being very very dark and unfocused, with an overall "muddy" quality. I left the theater with my friends (of course, I was just a CHILD then ) and thinking that it was a complete waste of time.

Totally off topic, but my favorite 3D experience was COMIN' AT YA! A crap film, but the effects were extremely cool and well-registered (especially the snake, which I can still see right in front of my face..coming...AT..me!!!)

 

[Steve Phillips]

I would say exactly the opposite! COMIN' AT YA! is full of photographic errors... many of the gimmicks misfired as far as I was concerned, while AMITYVILLE was pretty clean.

Keep in mind the single strip over/under format they used to project the 3-D films during this period wasn't the greatest option since the resolution and brightness is reduced by 50% even before the film is shown through the filters and the audience puts on the the dark glasses! Add to that the fact that many theatres did not follow direction and boost the lamp up a few notches in the projector and it is no wonder we often saw dark, muddy images, regardless of the film. Some theatres even tried to paint a white screen with silver paint rather than install the required silver material screen!

A far cry for the normal brightness and resolution I saw at the 50s 3-D film fest from a couple years back in LA! They screened them in the original dual projector versions and it looked fabulous!

 

[Will Krupp]

Well, I was only about 12 when I saw COMIN' AT YA, so maybe my memory has played tricks on me. I definitely remember feeling cheated by the terrible look of Amityville, but as you say it may have been theater specific.

 

[GregK]

Recollections can do that. After years of seeing nothing but inferior anaglyph (red/blue) 3-D re-releases, when I first saw COMIN AT YA! in polarized 3-D by comparison it was excellent. But a second theatrical viewing and later viewings in field-sequential via the now defunct VHD release were far more revealing of it's technical short comings.

As Steve mentioned, many theaters went the cheap route with the single strip 3-D film format, which itself was already full of compromises. Darker films like AMITYVILLE 3-D and FRIDAY THE 13TH PART III (my favorite 3-D feature from the early 80s) suffered all the more when they were presented poorly.

 

[WillG]

Anyone who has this set notice how the trailer for Amityville 3-D uses the intro music from "Close Encounters of the Third Kind"? I know that happens sometimes (there are multiple trailers that have used James Horner's climax theme from "Aliens" but it seemed weird for such a low rent film.