The Amityville Horror, based on the purportedly true bestseller by Jay Anson, focuses on the Lutz family, whose dreams of home ownership after purchasing a rather stunning waterfront home in Amityville, New Jersey, quickly change to horror when they realize that the house appears to be haunted by a malevolent presence, which ends up driving them out after less than one month.
Whether or not you believe the premise as fact (I do not - especially since none of the subsequent owners have experienced anything similar to what the Lutz family claimed), The Amityville Horror was a huge hit and all anyone talked about for months on end in 1979. Critics dismissed the film with derisive sniggers, but the box office was astronomical. Stephen King wrote in Danse Macabre that he thought the film was awful, but realized when exiting that people were spending time debating and discussing it, which meant it had impact. In my humble opinion, the film is definitely flawed and I am uncertain that it will actually scare anyone or change their opinion on hauntings, but I find it undeniably enjoyable and fast-paced.
The haunting events start small and pick up steam. The Lutz's are depicted as a fairly likable and relatable family. Their reluctance to leave immediately after sinking so much of their finances into the house are understandable. One could argue that some of the obstacles they initially face (windows sticking, toilets backing up, swarms of flies invading the house) can be easily attributable to non-supernatural forces, but it builds fairly believably from those founding events. Given that the family is in the house for less than a month, there are a lot of events that come to a head quickly, so the fleet-footed pacing does not give one a lot of time to contemplate some of the absurdities.
One of the main plot threads centers on the tragedy of the family prior to the Lutzs in the home, where son Ron DeFeo assassinated the entire DeFeo family in their sleep with a shotgun. The film focuses on George Lutz's uncanny resemblance to DeFeo and his increasingly antagonistic manner with his family as the stress and the events spin out of control. It is something that would be touched on in the following year's The Shining, which was labeled by some detractors of that film to call it a mannered Amityville Horror.
James Brolin and Margot Kidder share the heavy lifting as George and Kathy Lutz. Brolin was never considered a spectacular actor, but he was rarely better than he is here and does a fairly commendable job of communicating George's love for his family along with the stress and outside influence that near drive him mad. Fans of Brolin may also appreciate the number of scenes of him wandering about in tighty-whities to investigate disturbances in the night. Kidder is even better in an exceptional performance as Kathy (not looking too shabby herself in the couple's one love scene), whose fear gives way to concern over her deteriorating husband and the safety of her children.
If the film has one inexcusable lapse, it is in the third member of its acting trio. Rod Steiger is cast as a priest, a family friend of the devout Kathy, who is called upon to bless the house. For some reason, he shows up when the Lutzs are out and proceeds to make himself at home to do the blessing, before being assaulted by the flies, sickness and a demonic voice that demands he "Get Out". He shares no scenes with the family and spends the remainder of the film trying to unsuccessfully reach the Lutzs to warn them of the impending evil and convince his dismissive superiors to exorcise the house. He has no real role to play after the initial visit to the house, but the film keeps leaving the family (who are deserving of our attention) to return to Steiger overacting to the heavens. He sputters, he gesticulates, he spits, he snarls - apparently thinking this role is going to nab him another Oscar. It descends quickly into howling embarrassment and audience annoyance culminating in a ridiculous moment (not in the book) where Steiger tries to exorcise the house long distance from the church only to have the evil forces invade the church and symbolically blind him with debris from crumbling religious statuary. Steiger's acting in this sequence would make Shatner and Heston blush and crosses the line into the laughable. Truly, the majority his scenes should have been cut.
Whether or not you believe the premise as fact (I do not - especially since none of the subsequent owners have experienced anything similar to what the Lutz family claimed), The Amityville Horror was a huge hit and all anyone talked about for months on end in 1979. Critics dismissed the film with derisive sniggers, but the box office was astronomical. Stephen King wrote in Danse Macabre that he thought the film was awful, but realized when exiting that people were spending time debating and discussing it, which meant it had impact. In my humble opinion, the film is definitely flawed and I am uncertain that it will actually scare anyone or change their opinion on hauntings, but I find it undeniably enjoyable and fast-paced.
The haunting events start small and pick up steam. The Lutz's are depicted as a fairly likable and relatable family. Their reluctance to leave immediately after sinking so much of their finances into the house are understandable. One could argue that some of the obstacles they initially face (windows sticking, toilets backing up, swarms of flies invading the house) can be easily attributable to non-supernatural forces, but it builds fairly believably from those founding events. Given that the family is in the house for less than a month, there are a lot of events that come to a head quickly, so the fleet-footed pacing does not give one a lot of time to contemplate some of the absurdities.
One of the main plot threads centers on the tragedy of the family prior to the Lutzs in the home, where son Ron DeFeo assassinated the entire DeFeo family in their sleep with a shotgun. The film focuses on George Lutz's uncanny resemblance to DeFeo and his increasingly antagonistic manner with his family as the stress and the events spin out of control. It is something that would be touched on in the following year's The Shining, which was labeled by some detractors of that film to call it a mannered Amityville Horror.
James Brolin and Margot Kidder share the heavy lifting as George and Kathy Lutz. Brolin was never considered a spectacular actor, but he was rarely better than he is here and does a fairly commendable job of communicating George's love for his family along with the stress and outside influence that near drive him mad. Fans of Brolin may also appreciate the number of scenes of him wandering about in tighty-whities to investigate disturbances in the night. Kidder is even better in an exceptional performance as Kathy (not looking too shabby herself in the couple's one love scene), whose fear gives way to concern over her deteriorating husband and the safety of her children.
If the film has one inexcusable lapse, it is in the third member of its acting trio. Rod Steiger is cast as a priest, a family friend of the devout Kathy, who is called upon to bless the house. For some reason, he shows up when the Lutzs are out and proceeds to make himself at home to do the blessing, before being assaulted by the flies, sickness and a demonic voice that demands he "Get Out". He shares no scenes with the family and spends the remainder of the film trying to unsuccessfully reach the Lutzs to warn them of the impending evil and convince his dismissive superiors to exorcise the house. He has no real role to play after the initial visit to the house, but the film keeps leaving the family (who are deserving of our attention) to return to Steiger overacting to the heavens. He sputters, he gesticulates, he spits, he snarls - apparently thinking this role is going to nab him another Oscar. It descends quickly into howling embarrassment and audience annoyance culminating in a ridiculous moment (not in the book) where Steiger tries to exorcise the house long distance from the church only to have the evil forces invade the church and symbolically blind him with debris from crumbling religious statuary. Steiger's acting in this sequence would make Shatner and Heston blush and crosses the line into the laughable. Truly, the majority his scenes should have been cut.