The Amityville Horror Trilogy Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		1.5
Video		3.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		3.0

The Amityville Horror Trilogy Blu-ray Movie Review

Triple Lutz.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman September 27, 2013

Note: The scores above are averages of the three films put together. See the individual reviews (linked below) for scores on each release.

Does it ultimately even matter if 112 Ocean Avenue in the town of Amityville on Long Island was really haunted, as its residents, the Lutz Family, insisted? After all, doesn’t that oft-quoted adage go something like “perception is reality”? And for millions of readers who made The Amityville Horror a top bestseller in 1977 (and for decades afterward), while the book’s imprimatur that it was a “true story” may have helped to spark interest, it actually perhaps has less to do with the franchise’s success than might be initially assumed. In fact, one of the fascinating things that has sprung up in the wake of the book and the many films which followed (the first three of which are presented in this new box set from Shout! Factory’s Scream Factory imprint) is that once accusations of fraud and chicanery started arising, the whole Amityville phenomenon only seemed to gain momentum. The seventies were for whatever reason a heyday for books and movies about demonic possession, from the iconic heights of The Exorcist to still scary but perhaps somewhat lesser fare like The Omen and the vastly underrated The Possession of Joel Delaney, but there’s little doubt that these films are near the bottom rung (or perhaps even below the bottom rung) of this decade’s genre offerings. That doesn’t mean there aren’t scares here, for there certainly are, at least in fits and starts scattered throughout the three films, but cynics may have a hard time maintaining a straight face through some of the patently ridiculous plot machinations, poor writing and less than Oscar worthy performances this trio of would-be spook-taculars (sorry) have on tap.

For complete coverage of each of the films in this set, please click on the individual reviews:

The Amityville Horror Blu-ray review

Amityville II: The Possession Blu-ray review

Amityville 3-D Blu-ray review

The Amityville Horror Trilogy Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Video quality of these releases is discussed in the individual reviews, linked above.

The Amityville Horror Trilogy Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Audio quality of these releases is discussed in the individual reviews, linked above.

The Amityville Horror Trilogy Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Supplementary material accompanying each of these releases is discussed in the individual reviews, linked above.

The Amityville Horror Trilogy Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Shout! Factory has once again gone above and beyond with a very handsomely mounted package of three films which offer at the most a certain campy cult value. But this set is appointed with a lot of great supplements which should be of real interest to these films' fans. The films themselves are pretty lamentable, but this is one set where the supplements provide the most compelling reason to pick up the set, and for those with an interest in this franchise, this set therefore comes Recommended.