The Amityville Horror (1979)

Not having had enough ghosts this week, I decided to watch The Amityville Horror. Specifically, the original film from 1979. I'm not sure if I'll have time to see the remake during the month, what with all the other films I want to get to first. But you never know. I wanted to see this film mainly because the house is so recognizable to me. As usual, I wanted a context to the bits and pieces I've seen in the past. This time around, I haven't seen or heard anything about this film besides seeing images of the "house with eyes." If you'd like to know what I thought, then you'll need to dare to step over the threshold of the jump!


The story here is about a newlywed couple, George and Kathy Lutz, looking to buy a house and start their life together. There is a huge old home up for sale for a really low price because of the well known murders that happened there about a year ago. They decide to go for it, despite its bloody past, by resigning themselves with the fact that "houses don't have memories." It isn't long though before strange things start happening, the least of which is that every member of the church who steps inside quickly becomes ill to the point of vomiting after only a few minutes. The young daughter starts talking about her "friend" Jody, and all the things this friend tells her. It also seems to start effecting George as he becomes constantly sick, waking in the night, and constantly chopping fire wood because he claims it's always so cold. What will become of this family in this hellish house?

The infamous house!

This is a weird movie. There, I said it. Sure, it follows your standard plot of a family moving into a haunted house, playing on childhood fears of moving to a new town. But how else are you going to do it? If the house is haunted, no one is going to stay in it for an inordinate amount of time unless they're the Adams Family. So I didn't have a problem with the initial setup.

What I did have some issues with where some of the scenes that seemed to happen for no reason. I can't quite remember them all, but there was one scene in which George leaves the house as if he's on a mission. He goes to the Town Hall and seems to get what appear to be building plans, and then he goes to the library and steals a book. Maybe in the 70s you couldn't just take a book from a library? I have no clue. At any rate, we soon see what the book is for, but it is never made clear what the rolled up papers he got were for. Why specifically show him go get them if they're not for anything? There's also a storyline with the sheriff that just never gets resolved. It just seems like little bits of movie were cut in the editing process, and we're left with several loose ends.

George isn't looking so hot

While I complain about what I want to call "missing scenes," the truth is that I don't think any of them are that crucial to the story. I'm probably just being nit-picky on that. There were certainly more scenes that I could point to that I liked. Pretty much all the haunting scenes were fun, if also really dated in the effects now. But they were fun enough that I was able to look past dated visuals to see some of the spookiness. I particularly liked the idea of something with glowing eyes peering in through the second story windows at night! Just thinking about the idea gives me the shivers. Simple effects like doors closing on their own, or a rocking chair moving by itself are just spooky if you're in the right mindset.

I also want to bring up the acting job of James Brolin who plays the role of George Lutz. At the start of the film he's a cool, calm and collected guy who seems like he would make a great father to Kathy's kids (oh yeah, the kids are her's from a previous relationship). But as the movie progresses, the house gets to him more and more, weakening him and trying to make him go crazy. Not only does he deteriorate in the way he looks thanks to some good make-up work, but he also starts falling apart pretty convincingly in the way he acts. By the end of the movie he's like a totally different person than who I saw at the start!

Father Delaney is attacked in the house with flies, heat, sickness, and finally a screaming voice demanding he "GET OUT!!!"

Another thing I liked was the side story of Father Delaney. He first shows up at the house while the family is in the backyard playing with the dog. He is there to bless the house, as I guess is/was a tradition for some people. He knocks on the door and he hears voices, so he comes in looking for them and follows the sound of voices upstairs. He sees the family outside through a window, and assuming he heard them through the window, he proceeds with the blessing. Almost immediately he is "attacked" and frightened away. What I liked, besides this pretty cool encounter early in the film, is that he keeps coming up in the story. He constantly tries to warn the family, but the "house" keeps stopping him. I thought he was a good side character and a good side plot, if kept a little disconnected from the main story.

The only other thing I want to touch on is the ending. Without getting into spoilers, I thought the ending felt kind of abrupt and also a little unsatisfying. I really don't want to get into it any more to avoid spoilers.

Maybe it's just a cat?

Overall, while the story had some loose ends it never ties up, I liked the spooky events and the ghost story nature of it. Earlier in this review I said I thought this movie was weird. I say that because it has just enough good, and not-so-good to make me unsure about it as a whole. Also, The Amityville Horror seems like a combination of The Shining, and Poltergeist, both of which I've seen, but both of which were made after this film. It's hard to say if this was inspired by original written works, or if this inspired the ideas for the films, or parts of them, afterwards. I think it's still worth checking out if you like ghost stories or haunted houses, but just go in knowing that it's not the greatest film in that genre. I keep using the word "spooky" throughout this review, and I guess that's ultimately how I felt about it. It wasn't really scary, as much as it was spooky. If you're looking for a fun movie with some spooks, this might be a good starting place.