MovieChat Forums > The Amityville Horror (1979) Discussion > 'Find the well. It's the passage... to h...

'Find the well. It's the passage... to hell! COVER IT! (question)

posted 12 years ago by mountainjam819
24 replies | jump to latest

So, is it literally suppose to be the passageway to hell? And I'm talking within context of the movie, obviously. Because, in the book, the Lutzes find a mysterious red room in the basement, but it's never established what it was used for, at least to my recollection.

I'm 50/50 when it comes to this movie. I find the first half to be rather good and creepy as hell (pun sort-of intended). However, when the "paasage to hell" aspect is introduced, I felt it brought the movie down to a cheesy level. Upon a recent viewing, I've come to the conclusion that the screenwriters meant for it to be the heart of the house, or at least the main source of its evil, and not a "passage to hell" in the literal sense. This approach makes the later half of the movie more tolerable for me anyway. In the end, I just wish they stayed truer to the book.

[–] fiatlux-1 12 years ago

The demon(s) come and go through there, hence why they refer to it as the 'passage to Hell".
The red room, I figured, was used in some kind of devil worship.

I liked that scene where the woman is 'possessed' momentarily (because she is a Sensitive) by Father Delaney. It was creepy, and the horrified face of the woman is chilling.

"I'd say this cloud is Cumulo Nimbus."
"Didn't he discover America?"
"Penfold, shush."

[–] mountainjam819 12 years ago

Exactly. But most people assume that it is a literal passage to Hell. Just like a lot of people don't realize that it's Father Delaney's voice coming from the woman. Most believe it's Satan's voice. But the movie itself doesn't explain a lot of things very well. It's like the filmmakers assumed you, the viewer, have read the book and don't have to explain these things.

"The red room, I figured, was used in some kind of devil worship."

In the book, a former acquaintance of the DeFeos tells George the he, and several others, encountered the red room at a party the Defeos threw at their house one night. He tells George that afterwards, he had nightmares depicting of animals being slaughtered in the red room.

"It was creepy, and the horrified face of the woman is chilling."

I agree!

Btw, I was looking at your list of favorite movies, fiatlux. It's cool you like Blair Witch Project. I believe it's one of the best horror films ever made,

[–] euro4569 12 years ago

So, really, the "well" only went so deep. But somehow the spirts could come and go through the bottom of the well. Kinda like the film "The Sentinel", where there wasn't an actual "gate" but was a place where it was possible for Satan to pass through to our universe.

[–] thegreatheep1 12 years ago

The well thing was made up for the movie, just like how the red room was behind a brick wall, and how it wasn't part of the house plans. In Amityville 2, it was behind a hidden door, but not a red room. Amityville 3D, the well is suddenly out in the open, near a different corner, and is covered only by a few boards.

In reality, there may have been a well on the property, but it was covered by a slab. The red room was nothing more than a closet space with peeling red paint, and it wasn't difficult to find. On youtube, look up the episode of That's Incredible that has the Cromarty family, who bought the house after the Lutzes left. A girl who was Allison DeFeo's friend displays where the red room is and how normal it is.

I always hoped that this story was real, as it was the first ghost story I ever learned about. After new info has come out in the past few years, I did a 180 and consider George to be a bullsh!t artist. And Kathy's sons say that it was George himself who brought on the activity. Christopher (Lutz) Quarantino said that George was heavily into occult practices.

[–] falseprophet616 9 years ago

Interesting suggestion with the youtube vid, cheers for that.

Any sources for the kids and occult things?

[–] CSM_Model_101 9 years ago

Danny says that George was into the Occult in the documentary "My Amityville Horror".
The documentary is on Netflix if you want to watch it.

[–] captgage-1 11 years ago

I guess I gotta see Amityville again, along with the remake. I caught the second half on cable today, and I could hear the passage to hell part in the bathroom, which made me wonder if I should've gone to the bathroom when I did LOL. Sounds cool. Yes, I vaguely recall The Sentinel being similar. Event Horizon kind of is too.

[–] kurt-2000 11 years ago

The '79 version is a horror classic. A lot of techniques in horror film making have been learned from the making of this film. It deserves a better rating on this stupid board.

[–] 11 years ago

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[–] capnmrvl 11 years ago

How pissed would Satan be if he had free access to Earth, and he ended up on Long Island??

[–] velvetjoneslives 8 years ago

Is there really much of a difference between Hell and Long Island?

[–] koffeenkreame41-1 11 years ago

I'm always shocked that people don't notice that was Father Delaney's voice. They show him during and after that scene.

"I am the ultimate badass, you do not wanna `*beep*` wit me!"- Hudson in Aliens.

[–] thegreatheep1 11 years ago

It wasn't Rod Steiger's character providing that voice. The girlfriend/wife of George's friend claimed to be a psychic, so she would somehow be channeling the dead. Father Delaney was still alive at the time. All we know is that Kathy said to George that he should know whose voice that was, so I'm guessing it was meant to be one of the DeFeo family. And of course, the face that materialized in the red room. Since the film claims that Ronnie DeFeo looked like George, it was meant to be Ronnie's face. In reality, the ghost face was none other than James Brolin's brother.

[–] fiatlux-1 11 years ago

I read that it was supposed to be Father Delaney's voice. There was no reason to assume the Sensitive woman could only channel the dead.

"I'd say this cloud is Cumulo Nimbus."
"Didn't he discover America?"
"Penfold, shush."

[–] 11 years ago

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[–] earthman34 11 years ago

In my opinion, where all these "demon/possession" movies fall down is when they bring "the devil", Satan, and the Christian mythology or whatever into it. It's a lot more effective if the horror is something unknown. Seriously, if the devil was real, he's got nothing better to do than hide in a well by an upscale house in Long Island? The world is full of crime, evil, war, and inhumanity. We don't need a devil, we're our own worst enemy.

[–] fiatlux-1 11 years ago

It wasn't the devil in the house, it was a demon.
And demons are said to do the devil's work, whatever he wants them to do.

"I'd say this cloud is Cumulo Nimbus."
"Didn't he discover America?"
"Penfold, shush."

[–] kurt-2000 11 years ago

"So, is it literally suppose to be the passageway to hell?"

You are correct Mountain. The board and Lutz account never established the room as a portal, but the movie did.

[–] capnmrvl 11 years ago

http://amityvillefaq.com/truthboard/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=7794

Click or copy & paste this link, then scroll down about 1/3 of the way.
This is the mysterious red room from the actual house. Spooky isn't it?? Look what's sitting on the ground. You don't suppose that's SATAN'S thermos, do you?? You know why this room is red?? Because one day the DeFeo kids found some red paint. I know the family lived in the house for 9 years, from 1965 - 1974, which of course is when Ronald shot and killed his whole family. I don't know at what point the secret room under the basement stairs was discovered.

[–] 11 years ago

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[–] Heustonmah 11 years ago

Apparently the family that purchased the home after the Lutzes fled and lived in it until I think 2009 stated that the room was always there. The parents had grown up with the family that lived in the home prior to the DeFeos moving into it, had spent many fun times there especially in the basement, and said back then it was a crawl space that was filled with toys and board games and such. The reason they bought the house was they had such good memories of it. And they state they've never experienced any sort of phenomenon.

[–] kurt-2000 11 years ago

The Warrens stated they performed an exorcism on the house. Maybe it worked.

Defeo stated the evil entity followed him to prison and tormented him. Daniel Lutz stated that something attached itself to him as well. Who knows.

[–] CSM_Model_101 9 years ago

Actually, the house has had 5 different owners since the Lutz family left.

Most have been driven out of the home due to the "haunting" from people who believe the Lutz story of the house being really haunted when really it never was haunted.

[–] Mr_Ectoplasma 8 years ago

You know, there are so many mishmashed details about the Amityville story (the red room included), that it's hard to decipher what happened, if anything.

First, there's the DeFeo murders themselves, and then the claims of spirits in the house that drove DeFeo to kill. If you go further back than that, there's the theory that there was some evil colonialist who settled on the property and tortured Native American slaves there (has there ever been anything that's substantiated this??) and that was the source of the evil on the land.

Then, you have the Lutzes and their book, which claims everything from devilish pigs to blood coming out of the walls to the "portal to hell" red room under the stairs—there are just so many layers to the history of the house and all of the things that did happen there, and the things that purportedly happened there. We know for a fact that Ronald DeFeo killed his entire family in the house. The details of that case are admittedly bizarre. But as far as the haunting goes, I find it difficult to differentiate what may have actually occurred from what may have been fabricated or completely made up. Do I think it's possible that house is haunted? Absolutely. Do I think Kathy Lutz saw a devil pig and that the walls bled? I'm not so sure.