There is a house on Ocean Avenue in Amityville that is suspected to be haunted by an evil so palpable that it possessed a drug-addicted Ronald DeFeo to murder his entire family at 3:15 AM on a cold November evening in 1974, and then attempt to possess the new owner, George Lutz.
I learned about the haunted Amityville house when I was in junior high school, when the Jay Anson book and film The Amityville Horror (directed by Stuart Rosenberg and starring James Brolin, Margot Kidder, and James Steagner) were released.
I still recall how much of a stir The Amityville Horror created in the hallways and classrooms. (I can still picture those pages within the novel that had a graphic of a fly in the header or side area.) And I still recall the shivers that ran up and down my spine hearing about the strange phenomena that occurred those 28 days the Lutz’s lived in the house. You probably are familiar with them too:
- Mysterious and repulsive odors pervaded the home.
- A strange green slime leaked from the walls.
- Swarms of flies inundated the sewing room.
- Drops of black goo oozed from the keyholes in the doors.
- Footsteps could be heard walking about the house.
- In the middle of night, you would hear the front door slam
- They would also see things peering in through the windows at them at night
- Shadows would move about the house
- Kathy would feel a presence embracing her from behind.
- Their daughter Missy befriended an imaginary friend named "Jodie,." who, at one point, told Missy that she would live there forever.
- Even their personalities changed. George Lutz, in an interview at a paranormal conference, spoke of this fact:"[I] would suddenly awake precisely at 3:15 am each morning... with an uncontrollable urge to check the boathouse. He would go for days without bathing. George was often sick, losing a lot of weight, and energy. Kathy began having nightmares. The children often fought and argued with one another."
When the Lutz’s left the home (without packing their belongings), they contacted Ed and Lorraine Warren (psychics) to come to the house and investigate. You can read the account of their visit here.
There’s a remake of the film being released April 15. It is directed by the newcomer Andrew Douglas and stars Ryan Reynolds (Blade Trinity) and Melissa George (Mulholland Drive).
This brings me to the question of the season: Why remake The Amityville Horror?
You know, maybe I’m at an age that I’m just going to have to get used to the fact that everything and anything is going to be recycled for the next generation. Maybe that is what is happening here.
Maybe the film project analysts at MGM were under deadline late one Friday afternoon when one of them had this knock-on-the-head epiphany: "You know what we need?"
No answer.
"We need another haunted house movie! Yah, yah.....we need to redo that movie that had that pig....you know," he said throwing his hands up and down as if that would jog his memory, "that pig that stood at the window with glowing red eyes!"
And a giant roar of approval came from the We’re-Desperate strategy room.
Ok. So maybe that’s not what happened. But I am curious, especially when the last one wasn’t received well at all. In fact, Roger Ebert only gave it 1 and a half stars. In a scathing review, he wrote:
[W]e've all made bad real estate investments. But the question isn't so much whether those terrible things really happened as whether (please forgive me for my lack of reverence) they've been made into an entertaining movie.
They have not. They've been made into a dreary and terminally depressing series of glum things that happen to the residents of the Ocean Boulevard house....
In order to be a horror movie, a horror movie needs a real Horror. The creature in "Alien" was truly gruesome. The case of possession in "The Exorcist " was profoundly frightening.
The problem with "The Amityville Horror" is that, in a very real sense, there's nothing there. We watch two hours of people being frightened and dismayed, and we ask ourselves . ., what for? If it's real, let it have happened to them. Too bad, Lutzes! If it's made up, make it more entertaining. If they can't make up their minds. . . why should we?
In closing, I thought it would be fitting to review a top ten list created by one of the Amityville-Horror-is-True groups on the web.
In order for this to be a good film, they pose, this version needs to have these elements:
10.) Stick to ACTUAL Events.
9.) Don't exaggerate.
8.) The house is a key character.
7). Get Producers who produce.
6). Get A Director who has directed.
5). Get Scottie Gee to consult.
4). Get Dan Farrands to write it.
3). Cast the characters appropriately.
2). Improve on the original - Don't insult it.
1.) Involve the family.
I’ve seen the trailer for the new film. It looks very inviting, filmed in grays, lots of shadows. There’s a rich quality to the cinematography that makes it feel atmospheric, if that makes any sense. But some shots depicting windows opening and shutting, blood flowing in a pre-made channel (reminiscent of Blade), and a half-zombie-half-alien looking creature all seem quite hokey. But I’m sure it will keep the teens from turning off their lights for a couple of nights.
I validated some of my knowledge about the events in the house at the following sites:
http://www.amityvillehorrortruth.com/articles/lutzinterview3.html
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