The Amityville Horror (DVD)

...children from a former marriage. The couple are aware that the house was the scene of a mass murder some months before, but are not unduly concerned, believing that the house cannot harbour any evil as a result of someone else's wrongdoings. However, within a few days of moving in, George in particular becomes aware of an uncomfortable feeling within the house, and his mood quickly changes from laidback to aggressive. And daughter Chelsea starts ...
.../> As a fan of the horror/thriller genre, it is perhaps shocking that I have never seen The Amityville Horror before, either the original, made back in 1979, or this re-make, made in 2005. It is certainly a very appealing story, and is supposedly based on fact - certainly it is true that six people from the Defeo family were murdered by another member of their family, who claimed to have committed the crime because voices told him to do so. It would ... more

When George and Kathy Lutz find a beautiful house that is within their price range, they are delighted, and quickly move in with Kathy's three children from a former marriage. The couple are aware that the house was the scene of a mass murder some months before, but are not unduly concerned, believing that the house cannot harbour any evil as a result of someone else's wrongdoings. However, within a few days of moving in, George in particular becomes aware of an uncomfortable feeling within the house, and his mood quickly changes from laidback to aggressive. And daughter Chelsea starts talking to a little girl who no-one else can see. Kathy quickly begins to realise that her new life is falling to pieces before her eyes. Is there any solution to their problems?

As a fan of the horror/thriller genre, it is perhaps shocking that I have never seen The Amityville Horror before, either the original, made back in 1979, or this re-make, made in 2005. It is certainly a very appealing story, and is supposedly based on fact - certainly it is true that six people from the Defeo family were murdered by another member of their family, who claimed to have committed the crime because voices told him to do so. It would therefore seem almost certain that a film based on that was going to do well. Unfortunately, that is not the case, with this version at least; I hope that the original is much better than this one, otherwise I cannot really understand why it is so well known.

Ryan Reynolds plays George Lutz, an actor who is relatively unknown to me, although fans of Van Wilder and/or Two Guys, A Girl and A Pizza Place may recognise him. I thought he was probably the best part of the film; at least, he plays what is probably the main role in the film, one that actually has some character development. As the house begins to influence George's behaviour, he changes from a happy-go-lucky, loving family man to a bad-tempered and aggressive one. Reynolds manages to portray all this very convincingly and he left me with a sense that I had actually witnessed something worth seeing. The change is perhaps a little too sudden, but I think this has more to do with the length of the film than any fault on the part of Reynolds. The fact that he has the most amazingly toned upper body didn't harm my opinion of him either!! Wow.

I didn't like Melissa George in 30 Days of Night, primarily because she had a toothy thing going on that I found distracting. As Kathy, I managed to look beyond that, but her performance has done little to convince me of her acting skills. I found her performance to be bland, boring and flat. There is no chemistry between her and George, or really any of her children, although she spends a great deal of time hugging them. As far as I'm concerned, any reasonably attractive actress could have played this role just as well, if not better. Sorry, Melissa, but I'm not very impressed. The children, played by Jesse James, Jimmy Bennett and Chloe Moretz, do an adequate job as Kathy's children. The older son (James) is struggling to come to terms with the fact that his father is dead and he now has a step-father, which adds a bit of depth to his character. However, he isn't particularly likeable, despite the predicament in which he finds himself, and so he didn't really strike much of a chord with me. The other two are cute to look at, but bring little else to the film.

The story is an intriguing one. We learn from flashbacks at the beginning of the film about the murders, committed for no obvious reason by a family member. However, through Kathy's research, we also find out that the house is on the site of a burial ground. All this, along with the strange happenings that take place after the Lutzes move in, should ensure that this film is a compelling one. Sadly, it doesn't quite work this way. Perhaps because the story is based on something that apparently really happened, there is much that is left unexplained, and whereas some may argue that this is what makes it scary, I was left with a lot of questions. I was also disappointed with the pacing of the film. It is quite short at just 90 minutes, but seemed to drag on much longer than that for me, and I was quite relieved when it was all over.

Another factor that didn't overly impress me was the special effects. Considering that the film was made in 2005, I thought that they were rather weak. We get to see ghosts, particularly the ghost of a little girl that was murdered in the house, yet she always looks fake, and I didn't find her in the slightest bit frightening. Other effects, such as blood running down the walls and items of furniture moving about, felt basic and not very scary. However, there were a couple of things that did stand out. One was the way that the house was filmed, from below looking up, which made the windows on the upper floors look like eyes - this was very effectively done and is probably what stands out most of all for me. The other was George killing the family pet. This isn't shown in any great detail, but it is quite distressing and upsetting. Take note of the 15 rating; this film is not for children.

There are a number of special features. Firstly, there is an audio commentary accompanying the film if you have the inclination to watch it all over again (I didn't). Then there are a number of deleted scenes, none of which are very exciting, and it is easy to see why they were deleted. There is a featurette on the original Amityville killings, which includes interviews with police officers involved in the case and supernatural experts. There are a number of pictures of dead bodies and blood spatters - I'm not sure whether these are real or fake, but they are certainly unpleasant - something to avoid if you have a weak stomach. Different theories are also discussed - for example, did the murderer have an accomplice? Was his behaviour caused by paranormal activity? Another featurette discusses the Amityville house and why the film was made, including clips from the making of the movie and interviews with the key players. On top of that, which I found to be overkill, is something called 'on set peeks', which plays a scene, then shows the viewer how it was put together from a production point of view. Finally, there is a photo gallery, including stills from filming, and previews of Deuce Bigalow, European Gigolo.

This isn't a bad film. The fact that the story is based on a true one makes it interesting for that reason alone. However, it just isn't very good either. The Japanese and Koreans have cornered the market for ghost stories, and it has to be said that they do it so much better than director Andrew Douglas has done here. I will probably still look out for the original version at some point, but after this, I am not in any great rush, and I certainly don't think I will bother to watch this version again. Recommended if you like films of this genre, but don't expect to be amazed.

The DVD is available from play.com for £5.99.

Classification: 15

Running time: 90 minutes 

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