Amityville Dollhouse (1996 Video) User Reviews

The Damned House

[claudio_carvalho · 5/10 · 20 January 2014]

Bill Martin (Robin Thomas) builds a house to raise a new family of his own with his teenage son Todd (Allen Cutler), his daughter Jessica "Jessie" Martin (Rachel Duncan), and Claire Martin (Starr Adreeff) and her nerd son Jimmy (Jarrett Lennon), an outcast boy that misses his father (Clayton Murray) and has the mouse Max as his only friend. Todd has a girlfriend, Dana (Lisa Robin Kelly), who is frequently with him.

Bill finds a doll house in the garage that is a replica of the infamous Amityville haunted house and he gives it to Jessie on her birthday. Soon the family experiences evil accidents and Bill's sister Marla (Lenore Kasdorf) and her husband Tobias (Franc Ross) discover that the doll house is possessed by demons that are threatening their lives.

"Amityville: Dollhouse" is another story of the franchise "Amityville" with a reasonable plot and terrible conclusion. I saw this movie for the first time on 15 Dec 1999 on VHS and today I have just seen it again. It is unacceptable that Tobias sacrifices his life to save the Martin family and Bill and Claire end the movie laughing, after losing their friend and all possessions in the fire. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "A Casa Maldita" ("The Damned House")

Watchable

[juderussell-84094 · 5/10 · 24 July 2020]

A haunted dollhouse (why is it haunted? Who knows?) is given to a little girl as a birthday present after her father finds it in the shed out back and it starts terrorizing the entire family by making their wildest dreams and nightmares come true.

A stepmother lusts after her stepson, her own son's pet mouse turns into a gigantic Jim Henson-ish creation, the husband keeps getting nosebleeds, and the stepson's girlfriend is caught on fire in their living room. Honestly, Amityville: Dollhouse is probably one of the more fun entries in the Amityville series, but it's hilarious how they're not even trying to link the films together anymore. Sure, the dollhouse looks a lot like the original Amityville house, but it's never explained why or how this dollhouse has such magical powers.

It is nice to see a little thought being put into the visual design of the film and there are some interesting shots every now and then. At least it doesn't feel like a cynical hack job. Someone was trying to achieve something which is more than I can say for most of the other entries in this franchise.

Entertaining At Least

[ericritter-01765 · 5/10 · 10 October 2020]

A family moves into a new home and finds an antique dollhouse in the shed out back. It's restored and presenting to their daughter for a birthday gift and that's when all the weird stuff starts happening.

Amityville: Dollhouse does have some imagination every now and then even if it can't sustain tension for very long. There's some fun, icky vibes between the mother and her teenage stepson that could have gone further if they really wanted to disturb the viewer.

Too bad we can't stay, baby.

[Jsnowd · 27 September 1999]

Eddie Murphy gave the best indictment of the Amityville series' believability when, imitating the new owner of the house, he said, "Oh baby, this place is beautiful. There are trees here and dogs and its a beautiful neighborhood and..."

"Demon: Get out!"

"Too bad we can't stay baby."

Again, in this movie, all of the family's problems would be solved if they did one simple thing. Leave!!! Just leave the house. That's always been my policy when my dead relatives come through the closet and giant mice run under my bed. It's time to go! Why does it take these people so long to figure that out?

Even if they don't want to leave the house, why don't they just destroy the doll house? One sledge hammer blow and all their problems are over.

This is a movie that is so bad that you will call friends to tell them it's on just so they can be in on the badness. The real horror is that they keep making dreck like this, keep employing no-talent actors and writers, and waste valuable plastic that could go into useful items like dildos and replacement parts for George W. Bush's head.

Not That Bad, But Nothing Special.

[drownsoda90 · 5/10 · 22 December 2004]

"Amityville Dollhouse" is your average low budget B-horror movie, but it isn't too bad in my opinion. It follows a suburban family who moves into a new house the father built, so it seems that there's no way the house could be haunted. But the Amityville evil finds it's way in there, after they discover a dollhouse replicating the Amityville house. They decide to give the dollhouse to their youngest daughter for her birthday, and that's where it all begins. The dollhouse begins to exert an evil force upon the family.

I tend to have a soft spot for low budget, cheesy type horror films of this type. Even though they may not be top notch quality, I find most of them entertaining, and they still manage to be alright in my book. Most of the cast here are unknowns, I only recognized one actress: Lisa Robin Kelly, who plays Eric's sister, Laurie Forman, on That '70s Show (my favorite television show by the way). The whole dollhouse idea is kind of dumb, I don't know what a dollhouse really has to do with "Amityville", but in the context of the movie it seems to work. There aren't really any scary moments, and when it tries to be scary, it comes off more as campy, but I don't really take this film so seriously.

Granted it is a campy, low-budget horror flick, but "Amityville Dollhouse" still finds a way to entertain you, despite the cheap effects and minimal scares that it provides. Some may think I'm crazy, but I was entertained by this flick. It's nothing special and I wouldn't go too far out of your way to see it, but it's an okay corny horror movie. Like I said, nothing special, but not too bad. 5/10.

"It's the welcome mat to hell".

[lost-in-limbo · 5/10 · 19 March 2014]

My interest was starting to fade with the Amityville franchise, especially after "Curse'… but I wanted to see all the films and "Dollhouse" is probably the best sequel since "The Evil Escapes". Somewhat minor in that regards, but still better. Again it's another cheaply produced TV movie, but this time the cursed object happens to be a replica dollhouse of the Amityville house. Odd choice, but it did create certain creepiness. It affects the household in the usual manner, especially possessing the family and turning them against each other while feeding on the fear and anger it creates. Nothing really surprises here, as again it's a mixture of the previous films with its own slant. However it moves by fast enough, entertains with its twisted shocks, an eerie score effortlessly fits in and the characters for most part are fairly agreeable. Some of the make-up FX (that of our demonic guests) and special effects are well done, especially when the dollhouse becomes the gateway to hell. It gets crazy, but fairly entertaining. The cast give dependable turns with the likes of Robin Thomas, Rachel Duncan and Starr Andreeff. Neat, cosy horror that amuses despite its lack of new tricks.

Okay, time to put the series to rest

[udar55 · 5/10 · 25 March 2011]

Bill Martin (Robin Thomas) and his new wife Claire (Starr Andreeff) move into the new house he built in the California mountains. In a shed outback he finds a cute little dollhouse designed just like the famous Amityville, NY abode. How this got here or who built it is never explained. This is no Barbie Dream House though as this dollhouse crushes Bill's gift bike for his daughter's birthday and the parents resort to the "this should make a great gift" routine. The eighth and final Amityville flick before they did the remake. After part 3, the producers felt they could circumvent the whole Amityville house thing by having various possessed items from the house be the gateway to terror. So we had a lamp (AMITYVILLE: THE EVIL ESCAPES), a confessional (THE AMITYVILLE CURSE), a clock (AMITYVILLE: IT'S ABOUT TIME) and a mirror (AMITYVILLE: A NEW GENERATION). So I guess a dollhouse isn't that ridiculous. This is actually a two-for-one deal as we get a possessed recycled fireplace too (there is general confusion as the house was built on foundation of an old house that blew up to suggest it was the Amityville house, but this is clearly set in California). I'm just glad they stopped with this one or we would have ended up with the likes of possessed toaster in AMITYVILLE: YOU'RE TOAST. Or an evil stove in AMITYVILLE: YOUR BLOOD BOILS. One thing this sequel does that is surprising is bring back the taboo sex angle from part 2, along they play it a bit safer with the stepmom lusting for the stepson. Other than that, it is pretty routine stuff with the occasional cool effect here and there (like the progressively rotting dad who haunts his young son a la John Landis' werewolf classic).

Average Entry Rounds Out The 'Original' Series

[Muldwych · 5/10 · 14 April 2010]

The Amityville Horror: in the real world, it's about a young man brutally murdering his family one night on a drug-fuelled rampage. In the world of film and fantasy, it's about demons in the cellar, possession, evil lamps, sinister clocks and unnecessary 3D. The film franchise has had a long life and some of the installments have been - and let's be kind here - god-awful. 'Dollhouse' was the very final installment before someone turned back the clock with the 2005 reboot, and having watched every single Amityville thus far made, I can honestly say it's not the worst. No, for that, we have to go back to 1992 for the pain and misery that is 'The Amityville Possession'.

Many of the sequels would spin a yarn from an artifact removed from the Long Island house that would then raise hell in a new setting. In 'Dollhouse', the house itself is an artifact in miniature. When the Martins, a dysfunctional Brady-style family (two single parents and their kids coming together as one unit) move into their new home, conflicts are down-to-earth and domestic until Martin Snr finds an old dollhouse in the shed that just happens to be the spitting image of the infamous residence in Long Island. As soon as the replica is brought into the house, things begin to go pear-shaped. Household appliances take on a life of their own, people start having bad dreams, and Jimmy, the youngest son, begins to see the rotting animated corpse of his dead birth father. Will everyone realise the cause of the disturbances in time, or will they all succumb to the evil designs of the dollhouse?

Amityville VIII, unlike its predecessors, makes no attempt to tie its plot in with the source material. No references are made to the DeFeo murders, demonic possession, or even the house itself. The only connection is the obvious visual link with the Dutch-colonial dollhouse, whose origins are never explored. It's as if the producers are saying 'Look, it's straight-to-video, you know the story, no-one will be watching who doesn't.' However, putting aside the very obvious question regarding where the dollhouse came from and what connection - if any - it has to the actual Amityville house, the story follows the familiar structure of its predecessors: characters possessed by demonic forces, unexplainable local phenomena and even killer insects. Also present is that same sense of deja vu, wherein you once again know you're watching a generic horror film with the word 'Amityville' stamped on it. To expect a lot at this stage however, after even the recycled ideas have been recycled, would be asking too much. This latest retreading still manages to be entertaining and not without its moments, and the actors present give convincing enough performances with the material handed to them. Compared with other entries in the series,the horror elements here are lower in tone, and the death scenes few and far between. There are a few dodgy monster moments, which while tied into the plot, aren't realised with the kind of budget that would do them justice, and the prosthetics only just about work. Overall however, the story follows its own internal logic well enough not to cause irritation and so long as you don't try to integrate it into the Amityville universe, it's an entertaining enough 90 minutes.

I have to say that watching every Amityville in the series has been torturously painful at times, sometimes making me wonder why I'm a sucker for B-grade horror. However, there have been some notable entries as well, with 1992's 'It's About Time' probably the most imaginative. 'Dollhouse' is a less ambitious rehashing of the formula, but it stands above the real clankers, enough to not leave a bitter aftertaste.

Just an Average flic

[ICP · 5/10 · 15 May 1999]

This is just another extension of the over-used Amityville story. The film has a plot interesting enough just to keep your attention through the whole movie. It is basically the same idea as the other movies: A family moves in, the house becomes cursed, they find out what is going on, and baMMM they escape. Anywayz, if you are a fan of the Amityville movies and have not seen this movie yet, I definitely recommend you give it a chance.

Just because it's cheap, doesn't mean it's not entertaining.

[tenten76 · 7/10 · 24 January 2004]

A perfect late-night sci-fi channel movie, and far more entertaining (for me) than the original Amityville.

The way the dollhouse creates different demons for each character, and the cheap but effective sfx, reminded me very much of the Creepshow or Graveyard Shift movies. Also, the 'fright' scenes skip along at a respectable pace and frequency, as opposed to other films which often plod through the middle.

Sure, the script contains some appalling lines and characterisation, and there are a few moments where more highly strung viewers would be screaming at the stupidity of the characters. I just smile.

With 15-20 years of further advances in sfx, and the cultural tendency of under 30's to confuse sarcasm with valid criticism, I can see why this film has such a low score on the IMDB. Individually, the elements don't stand up to a whole lot of scrutiny, but taken as a whole on its own merits (compared to similar films of the same period), I really enjoyed it. A few better lines, and better known actors, and there's no reason why people wouldn't look on this with the same sort of affection reserved for Poltergeist.

Don't miss if it's on TV.

Funny!

[jesswest-57258 · 3/10 · 22 December 2022]

This film is so bad it's hilarious. Definitely had potential and obviously the year it was made goes against it. But the acting is abysmal, the "demons" ridiculous. I must say the zombie dad is so funny and looks abit scary. So many parts in it were just so stupid, the lad who's music turns up to loud and instead of taking his headphones off he attempts to turn the music down. The stupidity of the dad who often attempts to break through doors by banging on the door frame. The dad also apparently passes out after being in a smoky garage for a few minutes but makes a miraculous recovery as soon as he goes outside ( managed to wake up real quick!) All in all, good film to watch if you fancy a laugh and like abit of cheese.

A funny film!

[jp_91 · 10/10 · 9 September 2020]

"Amityville: Dollhouse" is a good direct-to-video movie with a feeling of one episode of "Tales from the Crypt". The story is interesting, the performances are fine, the music is effective and the makeup special effects are awesome. Some cheesy scenes but also some creepy scenes. A funny creepy movie!

Not A Great Sequel, But Not Too Bad Either

[Mister-Creeper · 7/10 · 19 August 2007]

Needing a present for his daughter's birthday, a father finds an old dusty doll house and decides to clean it up to make it presentable. What he doesn't realize, this doll house isn't for innocent little playthings, this house holds evil spirits inside! Unknowingly, the little girl releases the evil inside and the spirits are free to wreck havoc.

A pretty good sequel that contains some good, eerie and creepy moments throughout. Out of all the sequels the original 'Amityville Horror' has spawned, this is one of the better ones. This is an entertaining film with a good concept. So sit back and enjoy.

Good for the series, ok for horror, skip in general

[ryangilmer007 · 5/10 · 10 March 2000]

This 8th instalment continues the improvement over part 5 (the curse), but offers nothing out of the ordinary.

However (it still continues the latest trend)--> That is, It continues to use outside outside contrivences to fuel the story (this time a doll house (previously a clock (6), or a mirror (7), or a curse (5)).

While, I dont have as much of a problem with the flys as others do (they play a role, but not the role)-->

It would be a wise idea to return to the original house (or at least the modified version that stands today).

All these contrivences are getting annoying and only the diehard fans or those searching (and i mean you really need to search for this mediocure horror movie) will care.

In general though bypass this and most of the series (all but 1,3, maybe 4,6,7)

viewed on tape

A Cheezy But Fun Horror Flick.

[movies2u · 4 August 2003]

Amityville Dollhouse (1997)

The Amityville Dollhouse was an hour and a half of cheeze, horror, gore, terror, etc. The movie had some boring parts, but was for the most part quick moving and entertaining. The whole dollhouse idea was sort a stupid, but hey it works. I recommend this if you haven't seen any of the other Amityville films. 6/10.

Another useless visit to the psychological Amityville, not the real place.

[mark.waltz · 2/10 · 22 October 2023]

It's a sign that your movie is no good when it can't even get a week's release in a theater before being prepared for video. The ridiculous story involves a dollhouse that looks like the original house given to a little girl as a gift and turning the family's lives upside down. Not a bad plot, but the execution of it is horrible.

Not scary in the least, just gross and pointless, filled with too much side plot of unnecessary romantic nonsense, with soap actors Robin Thomas and Starr Andrieff playing the parents. Rachel Duncan is the already dour little girl who becomes even more morose when the weird things begin to happen. Outside of a tarantula and a big bug being pulled out of someone's ear, the first half is actionless. By the time this gains some fire, the audience has most likely tuned out.

It´s poor but interesting

[zafrilla19 · 5/10 · 14 November 2001]

A poor film with a bad history that destroy original Amytiville history. The History has a inconsistent argument and the last part of the film is very stupid and incredible. What on earth does that strange figures mean? Please the devil is powerful and it need a best consideration of the director. In fact,a terrific film.

Glad to end the series

[ericstevenson · 3/10 · 3 November 2017]

This is the eighth Amityville movie made and the last in the original series and boy am I glad. This stupid series now features people finding a dollhouse that has a strange effect on their house. They find out that whatever happens to the dollhouse happens to their actual house. Actually, that angle is sort of abandoned after awhile. The dollhouse just starts making freaky stuff happen for no reason. The movie features a mixed family and the main villain is the zombie of the kid's dead father. He tells the kid to kill Bill (I'd much rather be watching that) but then he just tries to do it himself.

I don't know why he needed the kid in the first place. The effects in this movie are quite laughable. These demons appear and are pretty silly looking. Everything is so unfocused with all this random crap that you just don't care what happens. The entire resolution of the movie could have been resolved easily but they simply wait until the last minute to do it. The family mostly argues with each other and it's honestly a pretty unpleasant movie with these unlikeable characters. It's just another waste of time. *1/2

What a waste of film.

[BGARNER · 1/10 · 14 July 2001]

This movie was real bad. Can't anyone come up with an original idea instead of spoon feeding us the same old crap with a different title? Don't waste your time on this one. There are much better things to do in two hours than watch this flick.

It doesn't even deserve one star

[hannah-158 · 1/10 · 26 January 2006]

This is the most ridiculous movie I have ever seen. Nothing was explained in the end, leaving it open (and Definitely not in the way that makes you hope for a sequel but the way that makes you think "what the hell just happened") and none of the movie even made sense. Why was the doll house demonic? How did the zombies fit in? Why did the mother fall in love with her stepson? I wasted two hours of my life on this pile of crap. NEVER WATCH THIS MOVIE. And I'm not saying this to make you want to watch it just to see how crap it is. I'm seriously saying GET OUT NOW WHILE YOU STILL CAN AND RUN TO ALL YOUR VIDEO/DVD OUTLETS AND BURN EVERY SINGLE COPY OF THIS MOVIE IN Existence. Whoever made it should BE SHOT.

It's not an bad horror movie

[pickeringmark-17687 · 7/10 · 29 December 2020]

It's an entertaining horror filck but slow sometimes but good give it a try

More dull house than anything.

[thomasellery · 3/10 · 29 November 2020]

It's like they found a bunch of unfinished scripts for a Tales From the Crypt anthology and tried to tie them all together via a replica Amityville dollhouse.

This is why we end up of with zombie dads, girls trapped in fire places, lustful step mothers, burrowing giant bugs, none of which really have any reason to connect with each other well, but play out in some sort of half plot about house fires and demons.

It's far down the sequel line but that's no reason to excuse it as being anything but completely rubbish that didn't need making.

Points for the effects crew, the zombie dad / burns are pretty good but in no way, 'make-up', for anything else in the film. If you like sci-fi channel style production you may find it ok.

The second best sequel of the series. (they saved one of the best for last)

[atinder · 8/10 · 21 September 2010]

This family have just moved into a normal house,

this family has a Mother named Claire who as one son called Jimmy , Claire is Married to Bill who has a daughter Jessica and she as a older brother Todd but Jimmy (who is very annoying) dose not seem to like his step family, however the other do like his step-mum.

When Bill goes to the shed, he finds the doll house, that is the Amityville House.

Soom strange thinks start to happen in the house, the haunted doll house break the daughter bike, that they were going to give her for her Birthday , so they end up giving the doll house instead but she soon finds out that the doll house is evil.

Jimmy is also affected by the evil force, as they got his dad back from the dead to see him, at first his happy to see his dead dad, that look like a Zombie but soon starts to get scared of him as he think he dead dad is going kill his step dad.

My favourite scene is this movie as to be, when Jimmy Mouse goes to Jessica room and enter the doll house. As the mouse goes in the doll house, goes under the bed in in the doll house, that when Jessica bed starts shake and she see an enormous white mouse appears under her bed.

I really liked that scenes it was really well made, I enjoyed that scene and the whole movie, it was very entertaining from start to the end and it was not boring or predictable like previous movies at all.

I liked the way the the movie ended and the acting was great in this movie.

I am going to give this movie 8 out of 10

Nothing Spectacular, But a Good Watch Nonetheless

[boyinflares · 6/10 · 23 September 2005]

It was a good premise, having a doll house replica of the original Amityville House, and the film has it's moments, but it is not the sort of film which will leave you amazed. The cast are all decent, particularly Starr Andreff and hottie Allen Cutler. There are not really any decent scares in it, but some eerie cinematography and fairly-good special effects. It was a nice idea having a family made up of two "broken" families, as it enabled some good themes to be touched upon like the adjustment of the new siblings to each other, the parents having to side with their blood children against their new children or their new husband/wife and so on. No need to go out of your way to watch this movie, but if you come across it, then watch it, as it is an okay film.

Amatuer hour in Amityville

[stevelivesey67 · 2/10 · 3 November 2022]

I am here because of the fabulous Rated H podcast that did a review of this. They told me not to watch it. I didn't listen. They were right.

It is nonsense. It feels like a TV movie so no wonder it was a straight to DVD with no theatrical release.

The main problems with this are the stupid plotlines, namely, the return of the rotting dad and the ouija board which culminate in the silly sitting up doll In the seance and cosplay demons and Devil's at the end.

The Amityville horror was found out as a fake story in the end which made millions for the creators in book and film sales so can we just stop now, please. It's not scaring anyone anymore.