Movie Info
Movie Name: The Amityville Horror
Studio: Platinum Dunes
Genre(s): Horror
Release Date(s): April 15, 2005
MPAA Rating: R
Death is coming!
George and Kathy Lutz (Ryan Reynolds and Melissa George) are a new couple. As George adjusts to being a father to Cathy’s children, the Lutz discover the perfect home for a steal. Unfortunately, the home has a history…Ronald Defeo (Brendan Donaldson) killed his entire family in the home and claimed he was possessed when he did it. The Lutzs move in only to find the rumors might be true. The youngest Lutz daughter Chelsea (Chloë Grace Moretz) finds herself with a friend named Jodie (Isabel Conner) who claims to be the girl who lived in the home and George begins to grow increasingly violent. As Cathy tries to stop the horror with Father Callaway (Philip Baker Hall), the true origins of the evil are about to be uncovered…if it isn’t already too late!
Listen kid…you’ll bomb at some movies too…remember Kick-Ass 2?!?!
Directed by Andrew Douglas, The Amityville Horror is a remake of the 1979 movie which was based on The Amityville Horror: A True Story by Jay Anson. The story has basis in the true story of George and Kathy Lutz and the murders that preceded the Lutzs in the home of 112 Ocean Avenue in Amityville on Long Island, New York. The movie was panned by critics but was a big success at the box office.
I enjoy The Amityville Horror from 1979. There is that weird ’70s atmospheric soft-focus feel to it. This movie is clear, crisp, and loaded with more horror…and in turn loses any scares that the first film had.
Get out!!! (save yourself from this movie)
It isn’t that I believe the story in The Amityville Horror, but this story seems so obscenely fake that there is no semblance of reality. Even with an invisible pig, I felt that The Amityville Horror was at least believable. Here, it is laughable…including the rooftop rescue. The terrifying “GET OUT!!!” is just an overproduced CGI fly-fest. Scares are traded for attempted jumps, and they don’t work.
The cast is also really strange. Ryan Reynolds attempts a “serious” role from his usual humor role (and I guess he went method actor by not interacting with the kids). Melissa George also is a strange choice as the mother. Both Ryan Reynolds and Melisa George feel like the casting for Stephen King’s version of The Shining more than The Amityville Horror. Philip Baker Hall is also critically underused as the minister that tries to help. The bright note is Chloë Grace Moretz who has gone on to bigger and better things after this first big screen role.
Scream if you’re happy it’s over!
The movie is slick and clean. Though technically set in the ’70s, it doesn’t have a very ’70s feel. I didn’t love some of these ramped up ’70s remakes where they are set in the ’70s but some have adopted the ‘’70s style. That could have benefited this film along with less computer generated effects. The house in the film doesn’t have that darkness that the first house did…plus it doesn’t look much like Long Island.
The Amityville Horror isn’t a very good film and isn’t really worth your time. It has no ghostly feel because there is no soul in the entire movie and has no semblance to the original story. It feels like a poor attempt at a moneymaker and isn’t very memorable. Stick to the original, though many might find it too corny to scare, it probably is a decent for a kid’s “first horror”.
Related Links:
The Amityville Horror: A True Story
