2005 horror film by Andrew Douglas
The Amityville Horror is a 2005 American supernatural horror film directed by Andrew Douglas and💋 starring Ryan Reynolds, Melissa George, and Philip Baker Hall. It also featured the debut of actress Chloe Grace Moretz. Written💋 by Scott Kosar, it is based on the novel The Amityville Horror by Jay Anson, which was previously adapted into💋 the 1979 film of the same name, while also serving as the ninth film in the Amityville Horror film series,💋 which documents the experiences of the Lutz family after they move into a house at 112 Ocean Avenue, Long Island.💋 In 1974, real-life mass murderer Ronald DeFeo Jr. killed six members of his family at the same house in Amityville,💋 New York.
The film was released in the United States on April 15, 2005, by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) and Dimension Films. It💋 received negative reviews, with many calling it derivative to the original film but saying it didn't deliver anything new. It💋 grossedR$108 million on aR$19 million budget.
Plot [ edit ]
At 3:15 AM on November 13, 1974, Ronald DeFeo Jr. murdered his💋 entire family at their house at 112 Ocean Avenue in Amityville, New York. He claimed that he was persuaded to💋 kill them by voices he heard in the house.
One year later, a married couple George and Kathy Lutz move into💋 the house along with Kathy's three children from a previous marriage, Billy, Michael, and Chelsea. The family soon begins experiencing💋 paranormal events in the house. Chelsea claims that she has befriended a girl named Jodie, a name belonging to one💋 of the murdered DeFeo children.
One night the couple decide to go out, and they hire a babysitter to watch the💋 three kids. When the babysitter, Lisa, arrives, they come to find out that she had previously been hired to babysit💋 for the DeFeos. Lisa tells them about the murders that took place in their house. When she goes to Chelsea's💋 room, Chelsea tells her that she is a bad babysitter, claiming that Jodie told her so. Lisa begins to scold💋 Jodie for being the reason behind her getting fired. Then Billy dares Lisa to go inside the closet (the same💋 closet where Jodie was murdered), and she gets locked inside. After a few seconds, she encounters Jodie herself and begs💋 to be let out. She goes into shock and the paramedics arrive to take her away; on the way to💋 the hospital, Lisa tells Kathy that she had seen Jodie.
George's behaviour towards Kathy and her children becomes abusive and the💋 paranormal activity continues. One night, George hears Harry barking in the boathouse. Seemingly possessed, he grabs the axe and proceeds💋 to murder the family dog after mistaking it for a demonic apparition. The children look for Harry the next day,💋 with George denying he knows where he is, despite Billy's suspicions.
Kathy asks the priest Father Callaway (Philip Baker Hall) to💋 bless the house, as a protective measure to prevent any future paranormal incidents, but Father Callaway flees the house when💋 he encounters such occurrences himself. Kathy discovers that the house once belonged to a cult preacher named Reverend Jeremiah Ketcham,💋 whose evil actions towards Native Americans during his "mission" in 17th-century Amityville are said to be the cause of the💋 haunting. Meanwhile, as George is walking through the basement of the house, he encounters the apparitions of the various Native💋 Americans who were tortured and killed there by Ketcham centuries ago. Entering a dimly-lit room, George encounters Ketcham himself (though💋 he is not aware of who he is), and the ghostly figure of the evil missionary turns around, picks up💋 a knife, and slits his throat in an act of recreating his suicide, covering George with blood, and causing him💋 to become nearly completely possessed.
Kathy becomes convinced that George's abusive behavior is owed to a spiritual possession. Following urgent advice💋 from Father Callaway, Kathy tries to evacuate her children from the house and escort them to safety, but the possessed💋 George attempts to kill her and the children; Kathy knocks him out to prevent him from doing so and transports💋 him away from the residence via boat. Subsequently, George is released from the spirit's control and the family permanently leaves💋 the house. A title card states that the family left within 28 days of arriving and never returned. Jodie is💋 shown standing in the now-empty house and screaming in terror while the house rearranges itself back to its original state💋 before the family's arrival. Subsequently, she is pulled beneath the floor by a pair of disembodied hands.
Cast [ edit ]
Production💋 [ edit ]
Although the film is set on Long Island, it was shot in Chicago, Antioch, Buffalo Grove, and Fox💋 Lake, Illinois, and in Salem and Silver Lake, Wisconsin. The house used is a real 1800s home that was temporarily💋 converted to add the famous quarter moon "eye" windows. The house is in Salem at 27618 Silver Lake Road. The💋 movie facade costR$60,000. After production the movie facade remained on the house for a while and was eventually carefully removed.💋 The famous quarter moon "evil eye" windows were preserved in sections of the walls which still have the movie bedroom💋 wallpaper on the inside and siding with old looking movie paint on the outside. The windows were in good shape💋 but were "aged" to match the house using peeling paint. In 2024 an estate sale was held at the movie💋 mansion and the famous quarter moon "eye" windows, which had been in the attic since filming, were sold. The buyer💋 lives in the same neighborhood and has the windows on display.
MGM claimed the remake was based on new information uncovered💋 during research of the original events, but George Lutz later claimed nobody ever spoke to him or his family about💋 the project. When he initially heard it was underway, his attorney contacted the studio to find out what they had💋 in the planning stages and to express Lutz's belief they didn't have the right to proceed without his input. Three💋 letters were sent and none was acknowledged. In June 2004, the studio filed a motion for declaratory relief in federal💋 court, insisting they had the right to do a remake, and Lutz countersued, citing violations of the original contract that💋 had continued through the years following the release of the first film.[3] The case remained unresolved when Lutz died in💋 May 2006.
Release [ edit ]
Box office [ edit ]
The Amityville Horror opened on 3,323 screens in the United States on💋 April 15, 2005[4] and earnedR$23,507,007 on its opening weekend, ranking first in the domestic box office. It eventually grossedR$65,233,369 domestically💋 andR$42,813,762 in foreign markets for a total worldwide box office ofR$108,047,131.[2]
Critical reception [ edit ]
The film received negative reviews. It💋 holds a 23% score on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 163 reviews, with an average rating of 4.13/10.💋 The site's consensus states: "A so-so remake of a so-so original."[5] Metacritic reports a 33 out of 100 rating, based💋 on 31 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[6]
Manohla Dargis of The New York Times said, "Low-key creepy rather than outright scary,💋 the new Amityville marks a modest improvement over the original, partly because, from acting to bloody effects, it is better💋 executed, and partly because the filmmakers have downgraded the role of the priest, played in all his vein-popping glory by💋 Rod Steiger in the first film and by a considerably more subdued Philip Baker Hall here."[4]
Peter Travers of Rolling Stone💋 rated the film one star and commented, "First-time director Andrew Douglas crams in every ghost cliché, from demonic faces to💋 dripping blood. This house springs so many FX shocks it plays like a theme-park ride. Result? It's not scary, just💋 busy. For the real thing, watch Psycho . . . The Shining . . . The Haunting . . .💋 or The Innocents . . . What all those films have in common is precisely what the new Amityville Horror💋 lacks: They know it's what you don't see in a haunted house that fries your nerves to a frazzle."[7]
Ruthe Stein💋 of the San Francisco Chronicle thought "the truly shocking thing about the new version is that it's not bloody awful💋 . . . The decision to use minimal computer-generated effects, made for monetary rather than artistic reasons, works to Amityville's💋 advantage. It retains the cheesy look of the 1979 original, pure schlock not gussied up to appear to be anything💋 else."[8]
Marjorie Baumgarten of the Austin Chronicle stated the original film was "an effective little tingler whose frights are steady, implied,💋 and cumulative . . . but in the remake the frights are such that you’re wondering why the stubborn Lutzes💋 don’t flee after the first night. Obviously, the filmmakers were keen to remake this film exactly because the technological advances💋 of the last 25 years now permit more graphic displays of horrific imaginings and computer enhancements that can render the💋 invisible world visible. Strategically, the new Amityville never intended to go for the subtler, implied horror of the original; this💋 one would be all about scaring the pants off viewers. And in this, the movie generally succeeds as sudden scares💋 and flashes of yucky imagery cause audience members to yelp aloud as if on cue . . . The most💋 irritating aspect of the new movie, however, has nothing to do with comparisons but rather with some of the inherent💋 illogic of the story. Why are we seeing
of a hanged girl when we know she’s been shot in💋 the head? Images seem to be grafted into the film that have little to do with the actual story. Maybe💋 it’s a technique that succeeds within quick advertising spots, but it piles confusion onto the art of storytelling."[9]
James Christopher of💋 The Times observed, "There is something pleasurably batty about the way the family blunders on. The chills are satisfyingly creepy.💋 The gory special effects are lavish and effective. And the wooden house itself is a sinister architectural pleasure. It’s total💋 nonsense of course, but I left the lights on that night anyway."[10]
The real George Lutz denounced the film as "drivel"💋 and was suing the filmmakers at the time of his death in May 2006.[11]
Home media [ edit ]
The film was💋 released on DVD and UMD in separate widescreen and fullscreen editions on October 4, 2005. Bonus features include commentary by💋 Reynolds and producers Form and Fuller; eight deleted scenes; On Set Peeks, a seamless branching feature with nine behind-the-scenes vignettes;💋 Supernatural Homicide, with discussions about the murders that are the basis for the film with police and local residents; The💋 Source of Evil, a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the film; and a photo gallery.
A VHS version was released💋 the same day and was the final Dimension film released on VHS. Paramount Pictures (via Miramax) handles the digital distribution💋 rights, including its own logo (though Warner Bros. Home Entertainment handles the home media distribution rights to the film in💋 some countries along with the rest of MGM's post-April 1986 library[12]).
