After seeing and being scared by the original years ago I decided that I would give the 2005 remake a go. Now I am going to try a different approach to writing my film reviews so let me know if the other way was better.

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What is it about?

(Reading from the back of the box)
From Michael Bay, the producer of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre comes the true story of Amityville. In November 1974, a family of six was brutally murdered. Now a year later, an unsuspecting young couple George and Kathy Lutz and their children move into the house that was the site of the horrific event and is now haunted by a murderous presence.

What follows is 28 days of unimaginable horror.

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Verdict on the story;

Now as always the fact that the film is based on true events makes it that more intriguing to watch. I did some research on the internet about the actual murders and the story behind them before I watched the remake and if you expect the film to follow the true events then you will be disappointed and I think this is one of the reasons that I didn't enjoy the film as much as I could. You see when I was watching the film and saw that they had changed bits that they really didn't need to it just annoyed me.

If you ignore the fact that it is a true story however and just take it as the modern horror that it is you will probably enjoy it. The actual story that a guy killed his family because voices told him to do it is very creepy and the film gets this across to the viewer very well. The story in the film is quite creepy and will probably freak a lot of people out as the whole prospect of a haunted house is a prospect that many people believe could happen.

One complaint I do have about the story line though is that the only explanation for why the things that are happening are happening is skimmed over in literally about a minute which lead me to turn to my sister Sam who had seen it before and ask her what the explanation was. I really feel they should have gone into this a bit more as it was a bit confusing. This is the problem you get with many modern horror movies though, that they concentrate on trying to scare the viewer but not necessarily explaining the story that well.

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Cast;

Ryan Reynolds - George Lutz.
Melissa George - Kathy Lutz.
Philip Baker Hall

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Verdict on the acting and characters;

First the acting is superb. Ryan Reynolds has established himself as a fantastic comedy and action actor and here he has a go at an altogether more serious role which must have drove him mad because throughout the film he only had one sarcastic line that I noticed. However he pulls off the part perfectly and for the girls on this site, he is topless at times in the movie so he provides some eye candy for us. Melissa George is also fantastic in this film. I hadn't seen her in anything since her 'home and away' days so I wasn't sure what to expect but she was great at being in one of the lead roles.

The characters in this movie are pretty good and they don't actually get annoying which in a horror film is a shock. They are believable and there are some scenes that I found the characters to act exactly as I would act in that situation. Now stereotypes are the other thing that I always worry about in horror movies such as why are they running upstairs when they should be getting out the door and why do people always think they can face things that they really cant, well this movie actually does not give in to stereotypes so the characters actually act as if you can imagine the majority of the population doing which is a refreshing change.

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Verdict on sets and special effects;

Now the actual set of the Amityville house is spot on. The house in the film looks exactly like the real one did. On the inside they have made the house look very homely apart from the basement and lets be honest everybody thinks basements are kind of creepy. The whole film takes place in the house practically so the set people on the film must have had quite an easy time.

There are some special effects in this film and when they appear they are done well and some of them do make you go ewwww! There are not that many though which actually made me like the film even more as they didn't rely on loads of effects but just the talent f the actors to create the atmosphere of the film.

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Verdict on the special features on the DVD;

Commentary - Now I will admit that I have not watched the entire commentary as I did only watch the film last night. I did however watch it for scenes that I enjoyed and it was quite interesting to hear what the producers had to say. They explained a lot about why they chose to shoot scenes how they did and Ryan Reynolds who was also on the commentary gives you a bit of an insight into what it was like to act in this sort of movie. His natural charm for being a comedy actor does come across with some of his comments on the film as he makes many sarcastic comments which are very funny.

Deleted scenes - There are 8 deleted scenes to have a look at with the option of having a commentary by Ryan Reynolds while watching them. They do not really elaborate more on the film but are interesting to see and they last a couple of minutes each. The best one is entitled 'Kathy and George arrive and lights flashing'.

Supernatural homicide - This feature gives you a little insight into what the real events were by interviews with people who can remember it and were involved in it. I found this really interesting as you get to see some pictures of the actual house in 1974. This whole feature lasts for about 15 minutes.

The source of evil - This feature tells you more about the house and the impact the house had on the murders in 1974 and how they have incorporated this into the film. Don't worry it's a completely different type of feature from the one above and includes snippets from the movie and explanations onto how they created the house and atmosphere in the film. This feature does go into more about the film though than real events so expect a lot about the actors to come through and how they felt about the film. This feature lasts about 25 minutes.

On set peeks - this feature allows you to watch the film but every so often (exactly 9 times) you will be sent to what it was like on the set while they were filming. Each of these only last for about two minutes and to be honest they are a bit pointless. Me and my sister forwarded to where they were and I would just prefer to watch the movie normally.

Photo gallery - This gives you three photo galleries to choose from, ghosts and torture, crime scene and house interior. As the title of the feature suggests they are just photos of documents and books and are quite interesting to go through.

Previews - This was a bit of a rubbish feature as it just gives you the trailer of Deuce Bigalow, European Gigolo. I do appreciate them not making you forward them before you even get to the movie menu though like they do with a load of DVDs now.

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Other things to know about the DVD;

Certificate - 15.
Runtime - 1 hour 26 minutes.
1 disc DVD.
Price - £13.99 from Amazon.co.uk.

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Final verdict;

The film was enjoyable and although it was not as good as I hoped it was I did enjoy it. I have told you guys before that I am a fan of horror movies and this one was not exactly a make you jump horror but some of the scenes are quite disgustingly gory. It was refreshing to watch a horror with all superb actors and with none of the characters being annoying.

I am going to give the film three stars because it was a good attempt at a horror and I did actually enjoy watching it. It loses stars because of the weak explanation for the whole film and the fact that it does not follow real events. Yes I do know it says based on real events but there is no harm with changing silly things that didn't need to be changed like what happened to Jodie (you will know what I mean if you do some research and then watch the film).

The film is quite short at 86 minutes so it does not drag on at all which makes it nice to watch as they do not do stupid things in the movie just to make the film a little longer.

I think the film was very good value for money and the extras were interesting to watch. If you like modern horrors then you may enjoy this but if you expect a decent remake which sticks to the documented events then I would give this one a miss.

Thanks for reading.

xxx