Deserves more than a 6/10 - The Amityville Horror (2005) Discussion

[–] Bruarvatn 9 years ago

I would give it a 5 at most.

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I was disappointed in that this was billed The Amityville Horror.

The iconic 1925 Dutch Colonial and certain elements of the story are what gives The Amityville Horror its place among horror stories and all of this was absent from this movie.

The story line did jduplicate /replicate The Shining (1980) rather closely.

They also got the character of George Lutz very wrong. George Lutz in the original novel was losing it because he was desperate to save his family from supernatural entities and events threatening his family (kind of like the Freeling father in Poltergeist) -- whereas in THIS movie, George Lutz himself is the threat -- kind of like the father in The Shining -- an axe-wielding maniac.

Also, this movie relied heavily on jump scares. A story like The Amityville Horror needs treatment sort of like The Conjuring, or Insidious -- relying on more subtle things or weird atmosphere or non-threatening things coming across nonetheless as creepy.

When I am really scared, doorbells or a person whistling scare me. But if people are getting pulled through the floor I know its just a movie -- and if someone's killing me with an axe that's just the neighborhood -- nothing supernatural or particularly scary about that. I can explain a man with an axe I cannot explain why my daughter's imaginary friend is taking too much interest in her living forever in a house that's creeping me out.

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[–] Bruarvatn 9 years ago

Yes most of the jump scares were stupid and did not even fit the story. Lazy.
And I seem to remeber some cgi also. Moves like this does not need cgi. Just see how great The Others is.

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[–] JamesMcFly 9 years ago

The Others was probably one of the best ghost movies to come out in the last 15-20 years. Yes, I said it!

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[–] 9 years ago

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[–] JamesMcFly 9 years ago

I agree and that's why I gave it a 8.

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[–] AmyJolamb 8 years ago

I don't know. By itself it's great. It's great story and good movie. That alone I'd say it's a 7.

But when you look at the real story of the Defeo murders and the Lutz I give the movie at 4 or 5 at the most. The intro killings were not shown how it happened. The bodies were all found face down so no way the little sister would have acknowledged Ronnie. Then the way the family is portrayed isn't right either. Many things are wrong.

Yet nothing is perfect and this wasn't meant to be a docudrama or perfect research about it.

I think this is why many people don't rate it that high.

I've been fascinated with Amnityville since my teens when I discovered my grandparents best friends were The Warrens. I met them a number of times and grew up hearing often about them from my grandparents. So I quickly dove into the famous Amnityville case and other cases they did. They were wonderful people who cared deeply about those they helped. They didn't do their work for money. So it's hard for me to separate the real story to what I see in this movie.

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[–] AmyJolamb 8 years ago

Just because this is often asked I'll say my dad did question Lorraine about Amnityville and that it is called a hoax. She felt a demon presence there and felt the Lutz's were terrorized to the point of fleeing their home. She felt they were truthful in all they said and she believes they believe what they say.