My advice is to read the book and stay clear of the movie.
By the end of this film, I sat there with my mouth wide open in pure astonishment at how the film´s creators blatantly lied about the events that took place. What´s even more insulting is to think of the millions of people who have never read the book seeing this movie and thinking it´s the truth. Had the filmmakers simply followed the book detail for detail, they may have had a decent film, and I could say the same for the 1979 version. However, this 2005 version is a sham, a mirage, and a complete insult to one´s intelligence. The novel was a chilling tale of strange events that spanned twenty-eight days, and it was accomplished without all the blood and gore of the movie. The many things that were missing were no toilet water that turned black, no demonic ghost pig, no red creepy eyes staring into the windows, no brass band playing music in the house, no front door slamming, and no other of the many small events described in the novel. The shame is that the filmmakers had a plethora of information to work with but did not bother to use much of it. In fact, and after some of my own research, I found out that they didn´t even bother to consult with George Lutz himself. It just goes to show you that this film was simply made to sell tickets. If it has blood, a man chasing his family with an axe and the words "based on a true story," people will come running. Well, as much as I know the facts of this tale, I really hope people out there realize this film was nothing more than a fraud.
It´s a shame between both versions of these films that neither one of them took the story further into the events that happened afterward. The Lutzes' claim that when they fled the house on a stormy evening that whatever entity was there followed them to Kathy´s mother´s home. There was plenty of investigation into this done by professionals in parapsychology, namely a couple known as the Warrens. They concluded that something very powerful and dark existed within the home. However, there are people who live in the Amityville house today who claim no such entity exists. Of course, Mrs. Warren explains this as people having different kinetic energies that cause spiritual entities to react and cause chaos in different ways. She describes it as one person entering a haunted house and never experiencing a thing, while another person enters the same house and experiences events based on the type of psychic energy they unknowingly encounter. After experiencing a few paranormal events myself, and studying the topic, I know exactly what Mrs. Warren is talking about; however, anything in parapsychology is hard to prove and really asks any given person to have blind faith, which is almost impossible when dealing with science. Nevertheless, and as Mrs. Warren says, "the greatest defense the Devil has is a person with a skeptical mind."
Shortly after the investigations and the many stories that followed, there was a series of mysterious deaths among the men involved. One of them was Mrs. Warren´s husband and another was Jay Anson, the writer of the novel. There were others who died, too, but what was mysterious is that they all died due to some type of heart failure. Nevertheless, this didn´t keep harassers from calling the entire event a hoax and blaming George and Kathy for making a desperate attempt to gain money. From what I found out, neither of the Lutzs gained any money off the book, and part of George´s law suit is due to the fact that the movie studios have never paid him. Much of this information can be found by searching "The Amityville Horror" on your favorite Internet search engine. George Lutz even runs his own official site where you can find interesting information and a copy of the actual law suit he filed in Los Angles in June of 2005. You will also find another site that claims the entire event is a complete hoax and yet another site that pokes fun at the whole story.
It´s really a crying shame when movie studios stoop so low as to give us lies and cheap thrills when it comes to telling this story the way it should be told. Resorting to blood and gore is a complete cop-out when trying to scare an audience. Films like "The Others" and 1963´s "The Haunting" managed to stay clear of the gore factor and still tell chilling tales. "The Amityville Horror" has the potential to be just as scary as those aforementioned films, and it has the potential edge of being a true story. Sadly, though, as long as we have corrupt cheats and liars in the film industry, this story will never get the justice it deserves. My advice is to read the book and stay clear of the movie. Trust me, if you´re looking for a good scare, the novel will certainly do the trick.
Video:
The video has a running time of 89 minutes and is presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen. The picture itself seems to have an artistically gritty touch to it, and the colors are mainly dark and moody. I can only assume it was made this way to evoke the effect of fear, but since it´s a style that is being done quite often these days, the fear factor just doesn´t seem to work. On the brighter side, the picture is sharp and detailed for what it has to offer.
Audio:
The audio comes in English and French Dolby Digital 5.1 and is mastered for high definition. Subtitles are in English, French and Spanish. I found the audio very suitable and well balanced in its dynamic range. The front and rear channels are clear and resonate beautifully throughout the room. There is really no major issue to complain about, and between the audio and video, they are the only decent things about the DVD.
Extras:
There are the usual single-disc extras that come with this DVD. There´s an audio commentary with Ryan Reynolds and the producers of the film. There are also the usual deleted scenes, and trust me, the entire movie should be deleted. After that, there is a photo gallery and the special treat of watching multi-angle on-set scenes.
The real goodies are two other features. One is a feature that talks about the Defeo murders and the Lutzs´ experience, along with real people that were at the crime scene. It´s kind of odd because you get the sheriff´s skeptical view, Mrs. Warren´s paranormal view, and an odd coroner who seems to be grinning the entire time as he talks about the Defeos´ dead bodies. I can´t say you´ll get much information out of this, but it´s slightly interesting enough to waste ten minutes on. The final feature is--drum roll please--the making of the movie. This, of course, is pure comedy as we watch the actors and filmmakers brag about how great this movie is going to be. I especially love it when one of them mentions how they are finally going to tell this story the way it was meant to be told. I´m not sure what they meant by that. I can only assume that if they meant to fabricate the story the way it was fabricated, then they succeeded with flying colors. Otherwise, and if it was my studio, I´d fire Bay and his cronies tomorrow.
Parting Shots:
One thing is sure: "The Amityville Horror" challenges you with the question of whether you believe the tale or not. And I´m talking about the real story and not the shameless movie versions. It´s easy for anyone to be skeptical, but it´s much harder to have the faith to believe that ghosts and evil spirits exist. Being a person of faith, I have to believe that there is some kind of paranormal activity that does exist in the world; it´s just that I´ve never read about paranormal activity happening at the velocity and level the Lutzs experienced it. However, with all the thousands of ghost stories, UFO encounters, and alien abductions, don´t you think that at least someone out there is telling the truth?
Unfortunately, the new "Amityville Horror" tarnishes any hope of challenging the skeptical mind because it is so far off the map when it comes to telling the truth. If anything, it was a blatant attempt to tarnish the reputation of real living people. The film is nothing but shenanigans, tomfoolery, and ballyhoo. I stand strongly behind freedom of speech and freedom of expression; however, this film is the one exception where I would have no problem seeing it banished from film history forever!
It´s a shame between both versions of these films that neither one of them took the story further into the events that happened afterward. The Lutzes' claim that when they fled the house on a stormy evening that whatever entity was there followed them to Kathy´s mother´s home. There was plenty of investigation into this done by professionals in parapsychology, namely a couple known as the Warrens. They concluded that something very powerful and dark existed within the home. However, there are people who live in the Amityville house today who claim no such entity exists. Of course, Mrs. Warren explains this as people having different kinetic energies that cause spiritual entities to react and cause chaos in different ways. She describes it as one person entering a haunted house and never experiencing a thing, while another person enters the same house and experiences events based on the type of psychic energy they unknowingly encounter. After experiencing a few paranormal events myself, and studying the topic, I know exactly what Mrs. Warren is talking about; however, anything in parapsychology is hard to prove and really asks any given person to have blind faith, which is almost impossible when dealing with science. Nevertheless, and as Mrs. Warren says, "the greatest defense the Devil has is a person with a skeptical mind."
Shortly after the investigations and the many stories that followed, there was a series of mysterious deaths among the men involved. One of them was Mrs. Warren´s husband and another was Jay Anson, the writer of the novel. There were others who died, too, but what was mysterious is that they all died due to some type of heart failure. Nevertheless, this didn´t keep harassers from calling the entire event a hoax and blaming George and Kathy for making a desperate attempt to gain money. From what I found out, neither of the Lutzs gained any money off the book, and part of George´s law suit is due to the fact that the movie studios have never paid him. Much of this information can be found by searching "The Amityville Horror" on your favorite Internet search engine. George Lutz even runs his own official site where you can find interesting information and a copy of the actual law suit he filed in Los Angles in June of 2005. You will also find another site that claims the entire event is a complete hoax and yet another site that pokes fun at the whole story.
It´s really a crying shame when movie studios stoop so low as to give us lies and cheap thrills when it comes to telling this story the way it should be told. Resorting to blood and gore is a complete cop-out when trying to scare an audience. Films like "The Others" and 1963´s "The Haunting" managed to stay clear of the gore factor and still tell chilling tales. "The Amityville Horror" has the potential to be just as scary as those aforementioned films, and it has the potential edge of being a true story. Sadly, though, as long as we have corrupt cheats and liars in the film industry, this story will never get the justice it deserves. My advice is to read the book and stay clear of the movie. Trust me, if you´re looking for a good scare, the novel will certainly do the trick.
Video:
The video has a running time of 89 minutes and is presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen. The picture itself seems to have an artistically gritty touch to it, and the colors are mainly dark and moody. I can only assume it was made this way to evoke the effect of fear, but since it´s a style that is being done quite often these days, the fear factor just doesn´t seem to work. On the brighter side, the picture is sharp and detailed for what it has to offer.
Audio:
The audio comes in English and French Dolby Digital 5.1 and is mastered for high definition. Subtitles are in English, French and Spanish. I found the audio very suitable and well balanced in its dynamic range. The front and rear channels are clear and resonate beautifully throughout the room. There is really no major issue to complain about, and between the audio and video, they are the only decent things about the DVD.
Extras:
There are the usual single-disc extras that come with this DVD. There´s an audio commentary with Ryan Reynolds and the producers of the film. There are also the usual deleted scenes, and trust me, the entire movie should be deleted. After that, there is a photo gallery and the special treat of watching multi-angle on-set scenes.
The real goodies are two other features. One is a feature that talks about the Defeo murders and the Lutzs´ experience, along with real people that were at the crime scene. It´s kind of odd because you get the sheriff´s skeptical view, Mrs. Warren´s paranormal view, and an odd coroner who seems to be grinning the entire time as he talks about the Defeos´ dead bodies. I can´t say you´ll get much information out of this, but it´s slightly interesting enough to waste ten minutes on. The final feature is--drum roll please--the making of the movie. This, of course, is pure comedy as we watch the actors and filmmakers brag about how great this movie is going to be. I especially love it when one of them mentions how they are finally going to tell this story the way it was meant to be told. I´m not sure what they meant by that. I can only assume that if they meant to fabricate the story the way it was fabricated, then they succeeded with flying colors. Otherwise, and if it was my studio, I´d fire Bay and his cronies tomorrow.
Parting Shots:
One thing is sure: "The Amityville Horror" challenges you with the question of whether you believe the tale or not. And I´m talking about the real story and not the shameless movie versions. It´s easy for anyone to be skeptical, but it´s much harder to have the faith to believe that ghosts and evil spirits exist. Being a person of faith, I have to believe that there is some kind of paranormal activity that does exist in the world; it´s just that I´ve never read about paranormal activity happening at the velocity and level the Lutzs experienced it. However, with all the thousands of ghost stories, UFO encounters, and alien abductions, don´t you think that at least someone out there is telling the truth?
Unfortunately, the new "Amityville Horror" tarnishes any hope of challenging the skeptical mind because it is so far off the map when it comes to telling the truth. If anything, it was a blatant attempt to tarnish the reputation of real living people. The film is nothing but shenanigans, tomfoolery, and ballyhoo. I stand strongly behind freedom of speech and freedom of expression; however, this film is the one exception where I would have no problem seeing it banished from film history forever!
Average user rating (1-5):
[release]16593[/release]