InsidePulse DVD Review – The Amityville Horror

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(Credit: Amazon.com)

Directed by:
Andrew Douglas

Starring:
Ryan Reynolds……….George Lutz
Melissa George……….Kathy Lutz
Jesse James……….Billy Lutz
Jimmy Bennett……….Michael Lutz
Chloe Moretz……….Chelsea Lutz
Rachel Nichols……….Lisa
Philip Baker Hall……….Father Callaway
Isabel Conner……….Jodie Defeo
Brendan Donaldson……….Ronald Defeo

The Movie

The Amityville Horror is based on a true story and by “based on a true story” I mean in the loosest sense of the phrase possible. The parts that are fact include the slaying of a family by their eldest son, and the Lutz’s buying the home a year later. Everything that follows is a complete farce, and has been admitted by just about everyone involved. Now while the entire Lutz story is all but debunked by the family themselves that doesn’t overshadow the fact that the story that was conceived is an entertaining one. Who wouldn’t find it scary that the creaking of their newly purchased home wasn’t it just “settling in” that it was something more… something far scarier.

The movie takes place in 1975 where we find the recently wed George and Kathy Lutz off looking for a new place for their family. They come across the steal of a lifetime when they arrive at 112 Ocean Avenue, only to find out the reason for such a marked down price was because of the murder of a family only a year earlier. While George hesitates to buy the house due to the price tag, he has no problems with the horrific events that took place a mere 12 months earlier.

Things begin to get strange from day one, and not mundane things like misplaced boxes or having a door suddenly close on its own free will. No, we see the youngest child talking to a dead girl who used to sleep in her room, George seeing a dead child hanging from the ceiling while making love to his wife, really blood chilling things. So why not pack up and move then? Well for starters that would leave around 60 minutes of dead air. Alas, the family stays put and over the course of 28 days the family is pulled to the brink of insanity.

Kathy Lutz is suppose to be the mother of three with the eldest being 12 years old, but actress Melissa George who plays the part doesn’t look a day over 26, and that includes her figure. Baring that one oversight she certainly captivates that protective mother motif. The only actor on screen given much of anything to work with is Reynolds who portrays the master of the house hold George Lutz. Unlike in 1980’s The Shining with Jack Nicholson the story never gives us anything to like about George, there are maybe 3 short moments in the beginning where he lightly shows what a kind man he is. While he’s slowly becoming possessed by the house it’s just not as impactful as it could have been were we given any sort of real backstory for him.

If you try to sit down and logically try to understand the movie from beginning to end you’ll slowly begin to see that the majority of the story is riddled with plot holes and is as cliche as it comes. Scary house? check. Hot baby sitter? check. Scary dead child? Check. Mean step father? Check. The list goes on and on and ofcoarse Amityville has one of the biggest cliches of them all “jump scenes”. All horror movies are designed to make you jump, to make you scared and for the first 30 minutes or so the movie captures that aspect in spades. But after a while all those little “jump” moments are expected, the director loses the trust of his audience. They know he’s just going for cheap thrills and he’s never able to recapture their respect because of it.

Remaking classic and Japanese horror movie has become a large market over the past few years, studio’s have been buying rights to just about every movie they can get their grubby little hands on. The Amityville Horror is the most recent to get caught up in the craze. With the success of the 2003’s remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre it didn’t take Michael Bay long to acquire the rights to yet another classic 70’s horror title. And much like with Massacre Bay has managed to make another visually stunning yet cliche filled story for the MTV generation.

Score: 3/10

The Video
(Presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen)
The video presentation here is one of the best looking I’ve seen in a long time, the detail is so fine you can literally see the edges of the contact lenses in Ryan Reynolds eyes. Black levels are perfect and it’s an overall well done transfer.
Score: 9/10

The Audio
(English and French Dolby Digital 5.1)
What’s here leaves much to be desired, more times than most the audio just becomes over powering.
Score: 7/10

The Extras

Feature Length Commentary – Ryan Reynolds and Producers Andrew Form and Brad Fuller are here and for the most part it’s an enjoyable commentary. Not a lot of insight is given about the movie, mostly talked about is Ryan’s experience and how he prepared for the role.

Deleted Scenes (8 mins) – 8 scenes are included here, and it’s clear why most were left out of the movie only two could have really added anything to the story. Optional commentary is available with Reynolds, Form and Fuller but nothing ground breaking is talked about, it’s just your average “yeah this was best left out of the film” type of commentary track.

Supernatural Homicide (18 mins) – This featurette is a retrospective look at the Defoe murder case included are the chief of police and deputy chief medical examiner who worked on the investigation. Also here is a woman who believes that the house is indeed haunted and begins to talk about evil spirits. If anything this actually hurts the idea of the house being haunted more than helps it.

The Source of Evil (27 mins) – For a standard “making-of” piece made by the studio it goes in to greater detail than one would expect. Michael Bay talks about how he created his production company to help budding directors break in to the business, They also have the writer talking about his experience of penning the screenplay. The majority of what is shown here is a behind the scenes look at how the scene where Chelsea is standing on the roof was put together.

Also on the disc are 3 Galleries, and 14 movie trailers.

Score: 4/10

Currently residing in Washington D.C., John Charles Thomas has been writing in the digital space since 2005. While he'd like to boast about the culture and scenery, he tends to be more of a procrastinating creative type with an ambitious recluse side. @NerdLmtd