AMITYVILLE
HORROR
Movie Reviews
If, by chance, you are searching for a film that has a story, sticks to it, and pays us off for following it, you’ll be highly disappointed by “The Amityville Horror”. However, if you are searching for a film that was made for the sole purpose of scare effect, then leave the computer, buy a ticket and see it. This is flick that does not care that it leaves behind practicality before it even considers it. It does that because all that is desired here is a jolt or a scream from the audience. It truly, deeply, desperately wants to scare you.
Now, how much it scares you is well, entirely up to you. Every single gag may fail to make you so much as flinch. But I, I who have not even felt the hairs on the back of my neck raise at a horror movie in years, was astounded at just how much “The Amityville Horror” wanted to change that.
In the 70s, the horror genre was twisted, torn, and reshaped into all different forms. Directors were looking for new material to use because the public had not been truly frightened since “Night of the Living Dead”. Then William Friedkin unleashed “The Exorcist”. It was a phenomenon; one of the most unsettling and shockingly disturbing films ever made. Suddenly Hollywood got the notion that if this demon-infested movie did so well, why wouldn’t every other demon-infested movie they decided to make? On came “The Omen” three years later in 1976. And, yet again, three years later the story of “The Amityville Horror” was put on celluloid.
In my personal opinion, the 1979 original was not only boring, it was grossly unscary; failing every attempt to even intrigue me. I enjoyed its sincerity, but that was about it. This new one is large, fast, and unstoppable. It never drives to the side of the road to take a breather, nor does it care that you probably need one. Instead it feeds off your shock and your unawareness to catch you off guard some time later. The scares that come are real, but they are regrettably cheap.
The story goes the young Lutz family finds a house in Long Island. It’s three stories and so big that it is barely manageable, but the price is an once-in-a-lifetime deal. They decide to make some sacrifices and buy it, even after hearing how an entire family had been murdered in the house while they slept about one year prior. They keep the story from the children in order to let themselves forget about it all. But as time wears on, the Lutz family grows farther apart as the house begins to overcome them with loud noises and scary images.
In the same way, the security we find in our emotions grows the farther apart as the movie overcomes us with loud noises and scary images. This is a practice in stupid filmmaking, but at least it’s loud and scary enough to keep you awake, unlike its predecessor. ** ˝