A few years after the sensational ‘The Exorcist’ , which was purportedly based on true events, comes ‘The Amityville Horror’ by Jay Anson. This book becomes an international best seller to mixed reviews but again states that it is based on fact.
Regardless on what truth or untruth this is based on or viewed purely as a sordid ‘cash-in’ on a tragic family murder, the movie is not a documentary and is plainly Hollywood entertainment so let's step carefully on those gooey steps and proceed on.
So to the wind swept, lightning flashing, fly strewn, bloodied menus of disc 1, we have the options of viewing the movie in English, German, French, Spanish and Italian, accompanied by Lalo Schifrin’s haunting child’s lullaby and floating crucifixes setting the tone for what is in store.
Samuel Z. Arkoff, producer of cult weirdness (The Abominable Dr. Phibes, The Pit and the Pendulum ) and quickie cinema (Muscle Beach Party ) of the 60’s brings to the screen an adaptation of Anson’s book written by Sandor Stern (writer of the 2005 remake and writer/director of 'Amityville 4' ). We start off with a family slaughter, a young boy causally going through his house and killing off each individual as they lie sleeping. Title captions give news report like headings to try and establish that real, almost documentary feel, projecting again the basis that this is supposed real events.
One year later, James Brolin (Westworld, Traffik ) and Margot Kidder (still flying with fame from being Louis Lane in ‘Superman’ ) play the newly married George and Cathy Lutz, with three kids and dog in tow move into the Long Island house. This is a dream-come-true as the house was valued way below its market value due to the previous family massacre. The happy family feel at home in this idyllic locale, but things go awry when a friend and local parish priest (a good supporting role from Rod Steiger) comes to bless the house as a favour to the couple. The shot of the door opening introducing Steiger is reminiscent of Max Von Sydow's entry into the MacNeil household in ‘The Exorcist’ . As the priest prepares, flies gather in the room he is in. There are none anywhere else and more and more quickly appear. A disembodied voice shouts in true Mercedes McCambridge fashion ‘Get Out’, of which Steiger quickly does.Apart from the strangeness of moving into a new house all seems well to the Lutzes. Then things start to change and not for the better. Each day is captioned and with it the family changes too. George cannot get warm and gets friendly with an axe, chopping wood and stoking the living room fire continuously. Windows stick and crash down on their own accord and the dog digs at something in the basement.
We have glop coming out of the sink, breaking doors, invisible friends for the children (Captain Howdy from ‘The Exorcist’ I hear you say ?), more and more flies buzzing and George being constantly awoken at 3.15am (the time of the previous murders). Every action taken by the priests (Steiger and Don Stroud) towards the house is thwarted. A small red room is found in the basement, the site of constant digging and barking by the dog. We are told this is a doorway to hell and all of the Indian graveyard hijinks start here that are more dramatically shown in the storyline for the later effects laden ‘Poltergeist’ . Again the days are captioned and we know things are about to go darkly hellish when we are greeted by the caption ‘The Last Night’. We even get close call of Brolin and his axe like Jack and “Here’s Johnny”, and then the walls start to bleed !
The acting is uniformly good with only a few touches of over-acting by Brolin (loosing the plot) and Steiger (when he is blinded). The effects are simple and effective, ok, the glowing red eyes in the dark now do seem cliché. Director Stuart Rosenberg (Brubaker ) does a good job of giving the house a character of its own, the top curved windows with their different back-lighting look like demonic eyes cutting through the night. This is still a far cry from Robert Wise’s masterful ‘The Haunting’ which predates this movie by some years. One of the main reasons this film works is the fantastic score by Lalo Schifrin (THX1138 , Enter the Dragon ), at times a sweet child’s voice and at other times reminiscent of Bernard Herrmann’s excellent and unsettling score for 'Psycho’ .
This movie has been cleaned up and has never looked or sounded so good with an impeccable transfer by the boys of MGM, of which the same cannot be said for the trailer on disc 2.
Dr. Hans Holzer PhD. introduces his audio commentary as being a deposition from a man of science… This is something I cannot gel with at all and seems to me to be of geek value only. You must laugh when you see upturned and blackened crucifix to hear Holzer saying “Oh that’s a baddy!” Would you watch and listen to ‘Jaws’ with an audio commentary given by shark attack victims ? Would 'Schindler’s List' be more ‘entertaining’ with an audio commentary given by Holocaust survivors ? What was MGM thinking of ? <!--page-->
And in the thundering and slashed menus for disc 2 with blood seeping like the walls in the movie we have in English, German, French, Spanish and Italian:
For God’s Sake - Get Out ! – a 20 minute documentary filmed in 2005 with the main cast (with James Brolin and Margot Kidder only) reflecting on the movie. The book was a best seller at the time and the young cast had mixed feelings about the project and meeting the Lutz family themselves. Also includes their outlook on the press constantly asking for the weird and not so wonderful happening on set and their views if they thought the events they were depicting were real to them or not.
History’s Mysteries Amityville : The Haunting – from 2000 for the History Channel, in a series also containing Jack the Ripper, Gladiators, Circus Freaks and the like plays like a true crime documentary presented by Arthur Kent. With Long Island picture postcard views, focussing on the area itself and how the sleepy little town would like to forget its house on 112 Ocean Avenue with its dark history. In 45 minutes we have Indian myth and killing sprees, mixing old-fashioned evil spirits and the brutality of modern man. Even reference to Ketchum from the Salem witch trials residing near the aforementioned house seems too much of a convenience. Finally Ronnie DeFeo Jnr. with the family’s religious icons scattered about and the visitations of the Catholic Church is sped quickly to his 1974 blood bath form the backbone for the following Lutz story. Includes audio from Defeo too from 1979 stating what he did and how powerless he was to stop the massacre on his family. And then enter Hans Holzer PhD, parapsychologist, and the supernatural element is all open again. More interesting are the new interviews from both George and Kathy Lutz, speaking credibly about the events yet again, but for the first time for around 20 odd years. George speaks calmly and his retelling does send shivers up your spine.
History’s Mysteries Amityville : Horror or Hoax – again from 2000 and made for the History Channel and as the title suggests looks upon the events from both perspectives. Including some footage from the previous episode (as detailed above) this time Arthur Kent includes the other side of the spiritual coin. Talking to, amongst others, William Weber, who wanted to write a book based on his investigations and the Lutz’s story was not given permission since the young DeFeo was Weber’s business partner. The blood sucking Vampire hunters The Kaplans were also dismissed for dubious reasons. Along then came the demonologists The Warrens, and so on it goes… Another chapter in the controversy opens. Something definitely smells on Long Island, but that is not for me to say. What is fact or fiction; watch and make your own mind up.
And now for the sneak peak… Yes that’s right, timing or just spooky coincidence that this has been timed to be released at the same time as its cinema remake…. Sneak peak takes you there for just over 5 minutes glimpses of the new Lutz family and the horrors of the house on Amityville are shown….Andrew Douglas (Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus ) is taking on the other side of the crucifix from his previous outing and casting a youthful Ryan Reynolds (Blade:Trinity ) and Melissa George (Home and Away, Alias ) as the besieged couple.
Although with the amount copyright notices after some of the extras you could go out for a walk and make a cup of tea before it’s time to watch the next one. I am sure this could have been easily avoided and a leaner version of the red tape given.
A crackly 70’s theatrical trailer shows its age and seven radio spots finish the extras for this spine tingling experience.
This special edition is available as a 2 disc special edition in the UK via Amazon UK or for better value for your bucks, as a 4 disc boxed set in the US via Amazon , with the added bonus of including 'Amityville 2 : The Possession' (a prequel based on the book by Dr. Hans Holzer who also wrote ‘The Amityville Curse’ ) and 'Amityville 3-D' which introduces a young Meg Ryan and steps up the doorway to hell antics.
Overall this frightfest is a 3 star movie given a royal 5 star treatment.
You can read more about the release in our database .
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