Rating: 
Summary: THIS MOVIE SCARED THE HELL OUT OF ME,
Review: THIS MOVIE SCARED THE HELL OUT OF ME. A A NEWLY MARRIED COUPLE, AND HER 3 KIDS AND A DOG MOVE INTO THIS HOUSE THAT IS VERY HAUNTED. THEY KNOW BEFORE THEY MOVE IN THAT THERE WAS A TEENAGE BOY WHO KILLED HIS ENTIRE FAMILY IN THAT HOUSE ONLY YEARS EARLIER AND THAT'S WHY THE HOUSE (BEAUTIFUL THAT IT IS) WITH ALL THIS LAND, A BOATHOUSE AND LAKE IS SO VERY CHEAP, AND THEY MOVE IN ANYWAY. THEY CALL A PRIEST TO COME AND BLESS THE HOUSE AND A DEMON'S VOICE TELL HIM TO "GET OUT"! I WOULD BE PACKING MY STUFF AND HEADING OUT THE DOOR. BUT THEY STAY AND THINGS GET WORSE AND WORSE. THE STUFF THEY UNPACK, WINDS UP REPACKED BY ITSELF THE NEXT DAY, THE PHONE DOESN'T WORK RIGHT WHEN THE PRIEST TRIES TO CALL THEM, HER AUNT IS A NUN AND SHE GETS VIOLENTLY ILL JUST STEPPING IN THE DOOR, THEIR'S BLACK OOZE THAT COMES OUT OF THE TOLIETS AND OUT OF THE WALLS, AND THEIR YOUNGEST DAUGHTER HAS A "MAKE BELIEVE FRIEND" THAT'S A PIG NAMED JODIE. WHAT ELSE COULD YOU ASK FOR. TRUE STORY OR NOT? YOU DECIDE. GREAT MOVIE, GREAT CAST. NOTHING SCARED ME MORE THAN EXORCIST BUT THIS COMES CLOSE.
Rating:
Summary: An undervalued classic
Review: This underrated classic from 1979 was a huge finacial success when it was released, though it fared less well under the boots of the critics who stomped all over it. And I never figured out why. This is a haunted house tale, pure and simple. Not once does it betray the conventions of this sub-genre. In fact, it embraces them. It's no surprise that most people seem to respond to the films most distracting element: an overacting Rod Steiger who as a priest finally realizes that evil is real. But the fact is, the films very simplicity and transparency are really its strength. Simplicity is what makes camp fire ghost stories fun. Indeed, the story is great: George and Kathy Lutz (James Brolin and Margot Kidder) sink all they have, and some they don't, into their Long Island dream home. Turns out the reason the house was so cheap was because everyone who lived in it before was murdered in their sleep at 3:15 a.m. by a member of their own family, who claimed to have heard voices. What follows is a catalogue of events that never strays from their correct order and slowly builds up the story to give off its one true feel: a sinister unease. The Amityville Horror allows viewers to appreciate the haunted house sub-genre in a very uncomplicated, though sincere, way. As for wether or not the story is true -- who cares? It's a valid horror film.
Rating:
Summary: CREEPY AS HELL FOR IT'S TIME
Review: This is a very, very underrated horror movie. One of the best "haunted house" movies ever made, in my opinion. When watching this movie, you have to keep in mind that it was made 25 years ago, before CGI effects and the like. With what was available at the time, this is a very creepy movie. This film didn't rely so much on effects as it did atmosphere. Watch the movie with the controvesy over the accuracy out of mind, and just sink into it and listen to the sounds, the music, and look at the sets and appreciate it for what it is. This is a great scary movie if you watch it as just that, a movie, and don't worry about if it really happened or not. The performances (with the exception of Rod Steiger hamming it up in every frame he is in) are excellent, the set design is awesome, the house is creepily beautiful, and the music is some of the most haunting that you'll hear. Plus, the puking Nun is a hoot! The grossest, most violent sounding vomit I have heard! Anyway, the widescreen print is gorgeous and so very appreciated by me, who has waited for years to have it in widescreen. Would have liked an updated sound, but I'll take what I can get! Love the movie, love the house, love it all!
Rating: 
Summary: Scary, efficient and effective horror flick
Review: Based on the controversial real-life claims of the Lutz family in the 1970s (in the book of the same name), The Amityville Horror soon gives up any horror "faction" pretentions (that so strongly benefited superior stablemates like The Haunting) in favour of visceral, post-Exorcist sensationalism. The result has predictably polarised horror fans, with some viewing it as unnecessarily schlocky and exploitative (coming from Samuel Z. Arkoff's AIP stable pretty much nails this down from the outset!) and others as a neglected frightfest that suffered too harshly at the hands of mainstream critics hostile to the genre anyway. The truth is probably somewhere in-between. The Amityville Horror is neither a horror masterpiece or entirely as rotten as you may have heard. Certainly, retro-comparison with Tobe Hooper's mainstream-pleasing, Spielbergian, pyrotech-heavy Poltergeist only renders Amityville's unashamed lack of pretention somewhat refreshing. An effective, scary little horror film with enough Z-grade under your skin ideas (blood seeping through your walls anyone?) to prevent you from watching this alone at midnight. What else would you necessarily want from a horror movie?
Rating: 
Summary: Still shivering.
Review: Finally !. I've been waiting an eternity to see this very underrated ghostly gem in widescreen, and now at long last it's here. MGM may not exactly be known for superb DVD transfers, but this disc actually looks pretty good. (I had to have it no matter what though.) Brolin and Kidder make a great couple, and their acting is spot-on. They may experience some quite incredible things in their new home, but their performances stay believable throughout. -And guess what, I don't think Steiger is hammy at all !. It's too bad Hollyweird doesn't make that many haunted house movies anymore, because if you know what you're doing, they can be (relatively) easy to make. -Just keep it simple, and stay the heck away from CGI if you can. I saw "The Amityville Horror" in a theater when it first came out back in '79, and it scared me like few other films had before it. (-It also helped sitting in the balcony, getting all the action on the big screen smack right in the face.) The friend I was with thought it was a silly movie, but I think he was just too spooked to admit it affected him. Seen with modern eyes I'm sure this movie now looks oldfashioned, but don't call it dated. -That word ("dated") is so easy to throw around these days, and what people really mean is "bad". But what's bad/dated about it ?. If it's scary (which I think it is), it must be good and so it has served its purpose to me as a piece of entertainment. Most modern horror movies tend to leave me rather cold, but then again, I don't see them with the eyes of 15-year old f/x nuts; I only think they're missing out in the spooky atmosphere department. -"T.A.H." has plenty of that, and it's about time it got dug out of the turkeys bin, and received the recognition it so rightfully deserves. I can think of only one other haunted house movie since then with a similar kind of power; the 1991 TV movie "The Haunted", starring Sally Kirkland and jeffrey DeMunn.
Rating:
Summary: The Amityville Horror
Review: This is an above-average film about haunted houses, and makes it a little creepy and fun to watch because of the so-called true story behind the book and this film. Margot Kidder and James Brolin are pretty good as the young couple who purchase a large house, to bring their children to as well. When strange things occur, the family begins a suspenseful escape from the house, which apparently has a life of its own.
The special effects are sometimes imaginitive and scary (such as the blood and ooze ejecting from the walls), but they can also be silly and embarrassing (the red eyes watching from the window). The music score is really absorbing and eerie, adding more atmosphere. It's no wonder the score was nominated for an Oscar. Overall, like I said, it's an above-average film with some good suspense, but something just feels missing. I don't know what, but it's apparent in its absence.
Rating: 
Summary: Amityville Horrible (sort of)
Review: The movie Burnt Offerings is commonly compared (unfavorably) to Amitiville Horror. After seeing both, I prefer the former. Amitiville Horror is popular mainly by reputation, and suffers from stock characters that make no significant contribution to the movie (the nosy detective, the renegade priest and his skeptical protoge, etc), not to mention cheesy effects (I know, it's the 70's but special effects don't make up for a good story). I keep thinking these extra characters are going to show up later at critical times in the movie and play some part in helping the family, but they don't. The priest and his protoge do show up in the movie again, but they have no further contact with the main characters and theirs is a minor side story that does not further the plot (unlike say, The Exorcist). The movie Burnt offerings is scary because it is . . . creepy. It has only a few characters but all have an important part to play, and the movie doesn't rely on demons or flies. There is an undertone of something wrong that gives you the chills without other things to distract you. That is why I prefer it to Amityville Horror.
Rating:
Summary: 4 BD 1 BA 1 Demonic Spirit
Review: There is a lot of controversy surrounding the truthfulness of this supposed "true story". While a horrible crime did happen here, what is presented in this movie, and the book, seems to be, or what many believe to be, a complete and total hoax. On November 13, 1974, 23 year old Ronald DeFeo Jr., took a shotgun and murdered his entire family. His parents, both 43 years old, and his four siblings. Two sisters, 18 and 13, and two little brothers, 12 and 9. He later said that he heard "voices" telling him to do it and that many were trying to make the people believe that he was possessed(which would figure into the story for the sequel), and was just a convenient excuse for his case. George and Kathy Lutz(here played by James Brolin and Margot Kidder), moved into the house at 112 Ocean Avenue in Amityville, N.Y., with her 3 kids, and after 28 days(although they originally said they were there for 10 days, which already makes you doubt their story), they moved out saying that the place was haunted and strange things happened. Things like weird smells, opening and shutting windows, glowing eyed pigs that levitated, a demonic pit in the basement, slime and blood from the walls, an abundance of flies, and urges to re-enact the DeFeo murders. George also seems to become possessed by the house's demonic spirit. While the publicity afterwards seemed to totally reak of "hoax", it has never actually been proven. Although, if you know the story and the details, you would never believe that any of this was ever true. It has been stated that the family moved in with a relative because of feeling unhappy living in the house, and this so called relative suggested that they exaggerate their "feelings" into a good ghost story. Right there tells you that this was nothing more than a grand hoax to fool the world, and it apparently worked. It was something made for a good ghost story, and it turned out that way. Some people, because of the scam factor of the "haunted" story, thought that the real murders were fake as well. That nothing ever happened at this house. The murders were real. The DeFeo's were real. The movie itself is quite in-effective, and is never as ghostly or scary as it tries to be. The book it's based on is much creepier and more worth your time than this movie, if you are interested in the story at all. The acting is mediocre, with Brolin hamming it up, and Kidder just going through the motions. Rod Steiger also appears as a priest here, and it's a pretty one dimensional role. The effects are pretty cheesy and cheap looking, and the so called "scares" offer very little in that regard. There is an undeniable creep factor to it thanks to the scary windows and the decent musical score, but that is about it. It is a rather uneventful movie and it moves like molasses. What would be interesting is to have an actual movie about the real "Amityville Horror". The life of the DeFeo's and what brought Ronald Jr. to that fateful early morning on November 13,1974 to murder his entire family. They tried doing that in the sequel a few years later, but that too was not the DeFeo family and it incorporated the hauntings of this movie into that one as well. While the film doesn't hold up well at all, the only other unfortunate thing to come out of this besides the horrible murders of the DeFeo family, is the curse that George and Kathy Lutz have put upon the small, idyllic town of Amityville. To this day, 30 years later, there are still people bugging the citizens of the town over the story. Where to find the house. People who may or may not believe the story, but are there anyway. It will probably continue for as long as the house is standing. The whole story is great for a good book and an interesting ghost tale, but it did not translate well to film, and this movie is one that should of been left alone to the imaginations of the book's readers.
Rating:
Summary: Scary, efficient and effective horror flick
Review: Based on the controversial real-life claims of the Lutz family in the 1970s (in the book of the same name), The Amityville Horror soon gives up any horror "faction" pretentions (that so strongly benefited superior stablemates like The Haunting) in favour of visceral, post-Exorcist sensationalism. The result has predictably polarised horror fans, with some viewing it as unnecessarily schlocky and exploitative (coming from Samuel Z. Arkoff's AIP stable pretty much nails this down from the outset!) and others as a neglected frightfest that suffered too harshly at the hands of mainstream critics hostile to the genre anyway. The truth is probably somewhere in-between. The Amityville Horror is neither a horror masterpiece or entirely as rotten as you may have heard. Certainly, retro-comparison with Tobe Hooper's mainstream-pleasing, Spielbergian, pyrotech-heavy Poltergeist only renders Amityville's unashamed lack of pretention somewhat refreshing. An effective, scary little horror film with enough Z-grade under your skin ideas (blood seeping through your walls anyone?) to prevent you from watching this alone at midnight. What else would you necessarily want from a horror movie?
Rating: 
Summary: One Of The Worst Ghost Movies Of All Time
Review: I just don't see how this could get such good reviews. It's an awful movie with awful acting and no horror at all. They should put this movie in the drama section so people who like horror movies won't buy it. The sequels are ok and would get a 5/10 from me but this one horrible. A young family moves into a nice new house onlt to find out it's haunted and the dad goes crazy. They rip off alot of movies in this like The Shining and the original The Haunting. MGM also did a bad job on this disk for we get a trailer and that's all. I know alot of people like this movie because it's an older haunted house cheaply made movie, and that's ok with me because we all have our own opinians. But just listen to me and stay away from this movie unless you can watch any of the sequels or Poltergeist 3.
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