The Amityville Horror

Rating:
Summary: The Book Was Better
Review: I've read the book as well as watched the movie. It was, according to the real George Lutz in a television interview I've seen back in October 2003, typical Hollywood overacting in order to draw more interest from moviegoers. The movie was, by far, different from the book itself, though it was the same 28 days of terror a family experienced while residing in a cursed, Long Island home some 35 miles east of New York City.

In the movie there was no mysterious red room in the basement below the staircase. Instead, there was something strange inside the fireplace foundation that the Lutzes' dog, Harry, kept digging and digging because he could sense that there was something sinister behind it until George Lutz (James Brolin) used an axe to break open the foundation and saw what looked like a spitting image of his face looking back at him (which was supposed to be the image of Ronnie DeFeo who murdered his father, mother, two brothers and two sisters the year before the Lutzes moved into the house).

A few of the scenes have come from the book such as the slime oozing from the walls; the crucifix hanging on the wall found turned upside down; George and Kathy Lutz (Margot Kidder) going from room to room to bless the house themselves. In the book, however, they continued their blessings until a voice was heard: "Will you stop!" In the movie, George could feel the crucifix slip and fall out of his hand and onto the floor.

Although the movie was marginal, the book was much better.


Rating:
Summary: Cheesy then, and cheesy now
Review: Based on the allegedly non-fiction book (which has been proved a hoax), the Amityville Horror came off as a cheesy Exorcist rip-off back in 1979, and nothing has changed. James Brolin and Margot Kidder star as a couple who, along with their kids, move into a very, very haunted house, and of course, bad things start happening rather quickly. Rod Steiger appears out of nowhere as a priest who (of course) knows what's going on, and (of course) has the best demise in the film. Everything about the Amityville Horror is pure cheese; from the acting to the effects, with no real sense of horror in sight. Other horror flicks of this type, like Steven Spielberg and Tobe Hooper's original Poltergeist and Robert Wise's original Haunting, are much more worth your time. Amityville Horror was cheesy then, and it's still cheesy now, and the upcoming remake even looks better than this.

Rating:
Summary: Very good haunted house movie!
Review: Lots of critics hold Amityville Horror just as an okay horror film or fair at most. In truth, it succeeds on all levels. The scares are there and so is the acting. James Brolin going into madness is almost as good here as Jack Nicholson in "The Shining." Margot Kidder is also excellent as Kathleen Lutz. The movie is indeed very eerie and spooky.

What does it matter that this story was made up to a large degree? It is still a classic haunted house movie.

Buy it!!!

Rating:
Summary: Wow...I actually sat through it
Review: I kept hoping it would get better and it never did. By looking at the box I thought I was going to be scared, so I was sort of hesitant about watching it. Nothing about this movie was scary, in fact it was more like a comedy. I thought that the boy that murdered his family was 20 years old and when you finally see his picture he looked like George's twin, with a beard and everything.Hahahaha. When George slapped Kathy I was hoping she would pick up something from the mantle and hit him over the head with it, but yet again I was let down. The woman selling the house was the only one with any sense. As soon as she got her money, she ran the hell away from that house.This movie perfectly shows what kind of idiot you would have to be to just sit around and wait for danger.Everytime something happened they just sat around scratching their heads.Please don't waste your time or your money on this garbage.

Rating:
Summary: STILL HAS THE POWER !
Review: THIS FILM STILL HAS THE POWER TO MAKE YOU SCREAM!
I DONT KNOW TO BELIEVE IN THE AMITYVILLE TRUE STORY THING.
BUT EVEN OF ITS TRUE OR NOT ITS STILL IS A GREAT SCARY FILM.
IF YOU DIDNT GET A SCREAM OUT WELL WATCHING THIS FILM,TURN THE LIGHTS OFF TURN THE VOLUME ALL THE WAY UP.SERIOUSLY YOU CAN GET A SCREAM OUT OF LIKE EVER HORROR FLICK IF YOU TURN THE VOLUME UP ALL THE WAY!

Rating:
Summary: The book might have been a hoax, but it was a good hoax
Review: The last time I saw a story about the infamous house from "The Amityville Horror" on television I saw that the current owners had changed the telltale pair of quarter-moon windows that served as the house's "eyes" in the movie posters and the film itself. Doing so has made driving buy the house in Amityville, Long Island a disappointment (amazing how changing two windows can make such a difference in the look of a house). Unfortunately there is nothing that would serve the same function of turning people away from watching this film.

I had read Jay Anson's "nonfiction" novel before I saw the movie, so I was keenly aware of any changes in the screenplay by Sandor Stern. But it was quickly clear that the biggest difference, which most affected the film, was that the documentary aspect of the novel (i.e., the idea that this was a TRUE STORY that had REALLY HAPPENED) was lost. The story is of the Lutz family, George (James Brolin), Kathy (Margot Kidder), and their three kids who move into this house in Amityville. Nobody bothered to tell them that a year earlier the house had been the scene of a mass murder, or that the place is built on an Indian burial ground. Either one of these things would explain why toilets start spurting black goo, flies start covering the windows, and blood starts seeping from the walls. Rod Steiger somehow shows up as a priest who tries to do a low-rent exorcism on the house, only to see the house win. Then comes the LAST NIGHT in which the Lutz's are driven from their home by the final cascade of evil things going bump in the night.

Any movie in which a pig with glowing eyes is the embodiment of all evil is not going to fare well, and "The Amityville Horror" is just too cheesy to succeed. This is one of those films that might have worked better if the three name stars had been replaced by unfamiliar faces. Otherwise you are periodically distracted from the proceedings by thoughts of how low the film careers of Brolin, Kidder, and Steiger had sunk at that time. When George goes off the deep end and starts screaming it is rather laughable. The usual comparison of "The Amityville Horror" is with "The Exorcist," as a way of making this 1979 look bad in comparison, but a better comparison, and equally devastating to this film's reputation, would be to compare it with "Poltergeist," which does a much better job of driving a family (of much better actors) out of their happy home.

Their are a incredibly long list of bad sequels to this film: a pair of theatrical releases, "Amityville II: The Possession" (1982) and "Amityville 3-D" (1983); a pair of television movies, "Amityville: The Evil Escapes" (1989) and "Amityville 1992: It's About Time" (2000); and some direct to video efforts in "The Amityville Curse" (1990), "Amityville 1992: It's About Time" (1992), "Amityville: A New Generation" (1993), and "Amityville: Dollhouse" (1997). Let me tell you that if you actually sit down and watch the original, these movies are not to be confused with potato chips, and you can stop after just one.

Rating:
Summary: One of those films that has a scary rep...
Review: but little deliverance in chills. Hey this is somewhat of a true story. That commands attention right there. As a kid my mother thought me too young to see this movie; turns out it would've been just fine if I had. There's no actual chills in it.