What is your favorite Amityville Horror film? (UPDATED)

Who voted for the third film? EXPLAIN YOURSELF!!!!!!

 

The first film is aesthetically pretty creepy and effective but you can keep the story and acting.

I watched the 2nd film up to the incest stuff and turned it off. In fairness, that likely could have been the fact that it was a Goodtimes VHS... those things are junk. They don't work for shit. Even brand new, you're lucky to get one good viewing out of those. But I actually grew up in an abusive household with drunken parents who beat me so, I think a level of realism is important in 'serious' movies about this subject and... I seem to remember this movie being a joke in that department. Burt Young had no sense of nuance and no charming side. Abusive parents don't seem completely volcanic and out of control all the time. That's what makes them dangerous. This guy was a bad cliche. My father especially - and Roseanne confirmed this on her show when she did the episode about her abusive father dying - was extremely funny and disarming. Abusive people often do seem to manipulate you with their humor or what seems like a warm, charming personality. You'd let your guard down and one day- he'd lose it, you'd never know it was coming, and you'd suddenly be running for your life, terrified, and not have a clue what was going to happen to you. So, yeah: it doesn't work if you don't get the first part right. James Brolin's character in the first movie was a lot more like a real abusive father. Only... he didn't beat the kids.

After that, I've only seen a short piece of Dollhouse while channel-changing (and stopped because of Allen Cutler... wow) and It's About Time which I voted for. Horrible special effects (painfully bad) but I enjoyed nearly everything else. It was creepy, the acting was credible, the story was interesting, the characters were likable, the music was good enough, and visually it was satisfying. It was actually a good movie turned bad because of... those freaking awful effects!! I couldn't even watch the screen at some moments (the floor swallowing bit with the OBVIOUSLY fake stand-in half-nude boyfriend who lost muscle mass but gained substantially in the package department - sorry, Dean Cochran).

 

Still going with Amityville 2, although I have now seen Amityville '92 : It's About Time since the last poll and I agree with whoever recommended it then. Pretty decent flick!

 

this poll (and the other amityville sequels thread) have motivated me to spring for the dirt cheap dvds of II and 3D. Looking forward to watching them again. Maybe this time I'll get around to checking out the rest. The good word on 1992 will mean i'll likely check it out, at the very least. the OCD completest in me will probably take care of the others...

 

Amityville II: The Possession

The first time I saw it, I was so creeped out. The actor playing Sonny did a fantastic job while in possessed mode. All of the other films in the series seem like After School Specials compared to this one.

 

My favorite is part II, although I don't really love any installment. For some reason I watched the entire series over the weekend (everything after part 3 for the first time) and here's how I'd rank them:

Amityville II: The Possession
The Amityville Horror (1979)
Amityville 1992: It's About Time
The Amityville Horror (2005)
Amityville 4: The Evil Escapes
Amityville Dollhouse
Amityville 3-D
Amityville: A New Generation
The Amityville Asylum
The Amityville Curse
The Amityville Haunting

 

Amazingly, I'd never seen ANY of the films in this set until recently. I always avoided the original because of all the derision that surrounds it, but I thought it was much better than its rep. It's no classic, and there are obviously better haunted house movies, but I found it very enjoyable. Brolin's makeup is truly effective, and he avoids going totally over-the-top like most actors would in his role. I don't get some of the terrible reviews. Ebert gave it only 1.5 stars, and specifically bashed the subtlety of the haunting. I often agree with him, but that's something I liked about it. I expected something far cheesier and stupid.

And then there's The Possession. Holy crap. What a demented flick. It's hard to believe a studio horror film attacked a taboo like incest in that head-on a fashion. Of course, they didn't stop there. How many flicks show little kids gunned down in such a graphic manner? Not many. And then there's Burt Young, basically answering the question, "What would happen if Paulie had a family?" Of course, he'd kick his wife's ass if she didn't tend to her marital duties. Needless to say, I had a great time with this one. Can anyone come up with a studio release this depraved? Especially post-1980?

I haven't watched #3 because this thread has me convinced to quit while I'm ahead.

 

I haven't seen any of these either. Except a bit of a recent remake I think a few years ago. I'll get to the whole series eventually. That poster with the house always freaked me out when I was young.