“For God’s Sake, Get Out!”
Despite being panned by critics, 1979’s The Amityville Horror rose above the negative press to become one of the most financially successful independent films of all time. The cast included James Brolin, Margot Kidder, and Rod Steiger. Brolin and Steiger were already well established actors and Kidder, despite having been acting for quite sometime, was just beginning to ride the success of her appearance as Lois Lane in 1978’s Superman. The film is based on the titular book by Jay Anson which in turn was based on the paranormal experiences of the Lutz family in Amityville, New York in one month of terror in 1975.
The film opens with the brutal murder of the DeFeo family from the viewpoint of the murderer, eldest son Ronald. The film then jumps ahead one year to a scene of George and Kathy Lutz (Brolin and Kidder) touring the home and deciding to purchase it despite its dark history. As the family settles into their new home, odd things begin happening. The first incident involves Kathy’s friend, Father Delaney (Steiger), who becomes violently sick while attempting to bless the home. He runs out of the home in fear, the family unaware that he is even on the property. From there, more strange things happen. The phone line fills with static, one of Kathy’s sons is injured when a window slams down on his hand, her daughter’s imaginary friend, Jody, is blamed for locking the babysitter in the closet and lashing out at family members on a number of occasions, and George seems to spiral into insanity, constantly chopping wood for the home’s fireplace and becoming violently angry with the family.
As things become worse, Kathy attempts to get help from Father Delaney, who seems to be MIA all of a sudden. In actuality, he makes a number of attempts to return to the home with the help of another priest, Father Bolen (Don Stroud), but is stopped by what appear to be supernatural forces. When George’s friend and co-worker, Jeff (Michael Sacks), and his wife, Carolyn (Helen Shaver), come over to babysit the kids so that George and Kathy can take a break from the home, Carolyn discovers a secondary room in the basement. From there, things really spiral out of control and the family has to do battle with a malevolent force. Do they survive? Does George succumb to the demands of the demonic forces to kill his family? You’ll have to check out The Amityville Horror to find out!
The film works well on a number of levels. For starters, the music by Lalo Schifrin was amazing. The score was nominated for an Academy Award and deservedly so. The film’s cast is also superb, especially Brolin and Shaver, who both portray characters that seem to lose their minds at different points in the film. Steiger’s role is somewhat limited and Kidder proves to be the anchor for the audience. She does her best to keep it together but even she gives in to the evil forces at times. The special effects are limited to glowing eyes, black ooze coming from the toilets, and an amazing sequence where the walls bleed during the film’s climax. These effects work quite well, especially the bleeding walls. The film’s setting has become iconic. The house featured in the film is probably known just as well as the faces of Freddy Krueger, Michael Myers, and Jason Voorhees.
The only real complaint that I have about this film is that the pacing is off in the first act. The film drags on from day to day until the second act finally begins to ramp up both the action and the plot. There are some genuinely spooky moments in this film and thankfully there are enough of them to pull the viewer out of the plodding first act.
If you haven’t watched The Amityville Horror or have only seen the boring 2005 remake or any of the multiple sequels (all of which are pretty bad except for Amityville II: The Possession (1982) which is pretty decent), I highly recommend it. It’s not the greatest horror film ever made, but it works on a ton of levels and features awesome performances from almost the entire cast.
Thanks for checking out my trip down nightmare lane with The Amityville Horror. Tell me your thoughts on the film in the comments and let me know if there are any films that you’d like me to review as well.
Ken's Alternate Universe! 