In April of 2005, I and a couple of friends went to the movie theater for the opening night of Platinum Dunes’ remake of the 1979 supernatural horror film The Amityville Horror. I’d seen the original a few times prior to the remake being released and I’d read a few of the books, so I had a serious interest in seeing what director Andrew Douglas and writer Scott Kosar (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Machinist) came up with.
For some reason, I remember being seriously disappointed by the film. I remember thinking that it wasn’t scary, that it didn’t have much of an impact, and that it was an overall unnecessary remake. Since then, I largely ignored it and its existence, passing it over whenever I stumbled across it at the rental store or, later on in life, on various streaming platforms.
But something clicked in me the other day and I suddenly got a hankering to revisit the 112 Ocean Avenue and the Lutz family. I found myself wondering if maybe I was too harsh on the film upon its release. Maybe I was just a dumb 20 year old who wanted to be “hard” and “badass” when it came to horror flicks, not willing to admit that something got under my skin.
I don’t know why but the Lutz story and haunted house films in general creep me out. Therefore, I decided to hop on Netflix and pop on The Amityville Horror to see if I still had as many issues with it or if I was feeling a bit more forgiving. The answer is…both.
We all know the basic story by now, right? The Lutz family, George, Kathy, Billy, Michael, and Chelsea (the names of the children were changed for the movie) as well as Harry the dog, all move into 412 Ocean Avenue (they couldn’t use the real address for legal reasons) and begin experiencing weird shit. Doors opening and closing by themselves, chairs moving for no reason, strange smells, cold spots, weird voices, and more, all plagued the Lutz family for 28 days before they fled in terror, unable to withstand the
The film isn’t poorly made, by any stretch of the imagination. It looks beautiful and there is some damn fine practical FX work throughout. In fact, the amount of CGI is kept to a minimum, only for a few select moments where there isn’t any other way to accomplish the shot. There’s also the creepy basement, which, historical architecture be damned, is a place I’d love to have in my home…minus the prisoner ghosts, of course.
Ryan Reynolds plays George pretty damn well here, although there are still little elements of who we expect Reynolds to be coming forth in his performance. It’s not overwhelming though and it’s obvious that he put a lot of effort into NOT playing himself. However, that final, “You’ll have to kill me!” bit was pretty awful. Melissa George plays a charming Kathy Lutz who starts out somewhat meek and playful but becomes much more determined and resolute as the film progresses. The kids are fine although it should be said that Chloë Grace Moretz did very well as Chelsea. I’ll also say that I wish a bit more had been done with Father Callaway’s character as he basically sat and listened to Kathy, came to the house, ran away, told them to leave, and…well, that’s it. It was the bare minimum that was needed for his character, which simply felt lazy.
What’s interesting about this movie is that some of its weaknesses are also its greatest strengths. Nearly every haunted house ghost cliché is used at some point or another. Flickering lightbulbs? Check. Ghosts in the mirror? Check. Blood dripping from somewhere it shouldn’t? Check. It’s all very routine stuff yet the film openly and unabashedly flaunts them, shoving them so hard into your face that it’s rather impressive how much they believe each scare is going to be a winner. And yet what is most interesting is that the jump scares, of which there are FAR too many, are hit or miss while the times when the movie adds to the story and begins peeling back the horror behind the scenes is when it’s at its most effective.
An annoying aspect is that the house is supposed to be the most haunted part of the film but because of the way it was set up we, the audience, find ourselves more on the lookout for the ghost of young DeFeo girl Jodie as well as who I assume to be Reverend Jeremiah Ketcham, the evil preacher that tortured and slaughtered Native Americans in the 17th century in the cellar of that same house. So, instead of thinking that the house is the biggest threat to the Lutzes, I found myself looking for a shadow of a ghost, which isn’t what scares me. If the environment is against the family, then I feel fear. This wasn’t the case.
Overall, I enjoyed revisiting the remake. It’s not fantastic by any stretch of the imagination but it’s done with the right intentions and it won’t be a wasted 90 minutes of your day. But more importantly, it was a chance for me to recognize that I remembered not liking something and then telling myself, “Maybe time has changed that. Do yourself a favor and don’t live in a state of dislike, hate, or anything negative without giving something a second chance. You’ve changed, so maybe how you view it has too.”
Hopefully many of you will try that with something you remember not enjoying in the past but might find pleasure in now. And even if you don’t, at least you tried and that means something.
