AMITYVILLE 3-D (1983, aka AMITYVILLE III: THE DEMON)

Tony Roberts stars as John Baxter, an investigative reporter who exposes frauds and paranormal scammers. After he and his partner, Melanie (Candy Clark), debunk a con at the old DeFeo/Amityville Horror house, John ends up purchasing the home from a local realtor. 

Sure, why not? 

Faster than you can say “I used to be in Woody Allen movies,” the house starts exerting its weird influence on John and those around him: the realtor dies at the home, John is trapped in a wonky elevator (that was just inspected last week!), and Melanie gets into a car crash after spotting a demon’s face in a photograph.

It all comes to a head after the deaths hit close to home and John’s estranged wife (Tess Harper) goes off the deep end. With the help of a team of paranormal investigators led by Dr. West (not THAT Dr. West), John seeks answers about the home’s otherworldly inhabitants.

The third entry in the surprisingly robust Amityville film series (check out AMITYVILLE BACKPACK or AMITYVILLE BIGFOOT), A3D leans into the trendy-for-its-time 3-D sequel concept, which gives the flick a dated, hokey feel. Besides Roberts, Clark, Harper and familiar faces like Robert Joy (Dr. West), the flick features Lori Laughlin (FULL HOUSE, the college fraud scandal) and Meg Ryan in supporting roles, making it perfect background viewing for Spooky Season. 

It would be followed by the tv movie AMITYVILLE 4: THE EVIL ESCAPES (1989), in which a possessed floor lamp takes its evil shenanigans to the west coast and terrorizes Patty Duke and Jane Wyatt. – Dan Taylor

Dan Taylor is the editor of Exploitation Retrospect, and a sucker for anything with the AMITYVILLE in the title. See his review of 1993's AMITYVILLE: A NEW GENERATION.