The Amityville Horror
I read Jay Anson's non-fiction novel The Amityville Horror back around the time the same named 1979 film was released. I don't recall much about the writing style, but the skepticism surrounding the book and the story of the Lutzes was thick. Then and now I don't much care, especially if there's a good tale to tell. There are all sorts of apparently suspicious stories about how that malevolent looking house with the evil attic window eyes was filled with enough horrifying activity to cause George and Kathy Lutz and family to bolt outta there after not even one month, leaving all their possessions behind. But not the family dog, thankfully. That's your film's climax. You're welcome.
THE AMITYVILLE HORROR opens with a flashback to the grisly murders committed by a young man named Ronald DeFeo Jr., who in the wee hours of November 13, 1974 killed his entire family in their Long Island home. This does not faze George (James Brolin), who purchases it with his wife Kathy (Margot Kidder) a year later. "Houses don't have memories." Maybe, but this one does have something evil within. There are lots of flies. Black stuff coming out of the toilets. Blood dripping from the walls. Windows with a mind of their own. Oh, and a portal to hell in the basement. No wonder Carolyn (Helen Shaver), some kind of clairvoyant, gets the willies when she approaches the house.
Director Stuart Rosenberg does manage to create some forboding, spooky atmosphere. I have to give props to the set dressers, who make the interior of the house look hideous and very uninviting. This was created on a set in Hollywood, while the exteriors were shot in Toms River, NJ as the filmmakers were denied permission to film the actual house. This project would've worked far better if it were conceived as a "Less is More" psychological thriller, rather than relying on B-movie tropes.
I was embarrassed for the actors. Brolin is wooden at best and Kidder, known for her brash, sassy performances is stifled in what amounts to little more than a victim role. Worst of all is Rod Steiger's turn as Father Delaney, a family friend asked to bless the house. It's ham fat of the lowest order. His scene in an office with the disbelieving diocese is laughably awful. There are other unintentional laughs throughout the movie.
It's interesting how similar this movie is to THE SHINING, released a year later. George gradually transforms, eventually sinking an axe into a door. His step daughter has an imaginary friend. And so on. But the similarities are only plot related. Stanley Kubrick's film truly is "a masterpiece of modern horror." THE AMITYVILLE HORROR, fact or fiction, is merely schlocky and tedious.
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