Review #212: 'The Amityville Horror' (2005)

Platinum Dunes production company was formed by Michael Bay, Brad Fuller and Andrew Form in 2001, with the prime proposal of re-making, predominantly 1970's "classic" (albeit well-known) horror films. Their first was The Texas Chain-saw Massacre (2003). They messed around with Friday the 13th (2009), -as if it really needed to be done after nine sequels - and A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010), after producing a "modern" take on 1979's The Amityville Horror. I state modern only in the time of production, as the film is set in the 1970's. After all it is "based on a true story" (I will come back to this later).

The film begins, - as does it's predecessor - with a dramatically edited prologue of the "actual" event that occurred in the house in 1974, when Ronald Defeo systematically shot his parents and siblings whilst they slept in their beds. This did actually happen, and Defeo is still serving a life sentence for the horrific crime. The crime was blamed by Ronald on voices that told him to kill them. Several years later, Kathy (Melissa George) and George Lutz (Ryan Reynolds) purchase the Amityville "dream home" cheaply. They move in with Kathy's three children (from a previous marriage). This is clearly a new arrangement, as - particularly the oldest - child is suspicious of the new father figure.

Well, the film has no build-up of tension at all, as moments into occupying the house, they begin to see things. Now traditionally in the haunted house genre of horror films, ghosts are not really physically seen. However, in this movie, they are simply there! George goes "crazy" practically instantly, and the tensions within the family are automatically tumultuous. The "ghosts" of the Jody, one of the little girls killed, are seen by youngest child, Chelsea (Chloe Moretz - in pre-Hit Girl, use-of-the-word "cunt" mode), and communicates through her.

The opening sequence is endemic of these Michael Bay produced films. Snappy, flash editing; the layering of images, and particularly dirty pen-scribblings on paper. Essentially a title sequence, post-Seven (1997). It does benefit from contemporary footage of news-reels shot at the time of the Defeo murders. These "funky" openings are also quite stylist, and for production value, lends an almost artistic flare to proceedings. However, it does not save a very run-of-the-mill film, that ticks all the boxes of a remake/ghost-horror movie.

So, we come back to the "based on a true story". This is a story that I have been fascinated by from a very early age, when I saw the film, and read the Jay Anson book of the same name. The Lutz family did purchase the house, knowing that it was the scene of the Defeo crime. 28 days later they fled the property, leaving all of their belongings (never to return). They reported the strange and horrific occurrences. Well, they did to a writer, who promised a lucrative publishing deal (ghost stories were hot in the '70's). this obviously led to the money-making deal of Hollywood movie-making. So their story of haunting, Indian burial grounds, and possession, was a highly profitable for the family, who were not well-off at all. With the knowledge of the houses history, it would be easy to conjure up a ghost story in 28 days. "Fuck the possessions, eh?"

As an "after thought", there have been many families that have occupied the house, who have never reported any strange "happenings." The only reason that any of them have left, was simply due to "sightseers" who trample over the grounds, due to the popularity of the film. The grisly statement of "Get Out", becoming simply a "Get off my land".


Directed by: Andrew Douglas
Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Melissa George, Chloë Grace Moretz, Philip Baker Hall
Country: USA

Rating: **

Marc Ivamy