The Amityville Horror (1979)

This is one of the scariest movies from the 70's. Amityville II The possession is scarier. Amityville 4 the evil escapes is also scarier. Amityville cures is also scarier. Amityville it's about time is also scarier. Amityville the new generation is also scarier. Amityville dollhouse is also scarier. The 2005 remake of The Amityville horror is also scarier. But still this is a very scary movie. It has a great story line. It also has great acting. It also has great special effects. 6.2 is underrating it. I give it 9 out of 10 because it is a great horror film. I need more lines and I am running out of thing to say.

Amityville Horror gets off to a rather clichéd start where our fairly average suburban family move into their new home (James Brolin and Margot Kidder complete with 2.4 children). However, soon after they move into the house strange things begin to happen which not only affect many of those within the immediate family, but also to several other people who visit the house.I'll be honest here and say that I'm probably over-selling this when I say that anything happens 'soon' in this film, because let's face it it doesn't. The biggest problem with this film is that the narrative for the most part is tedious and repetitive. Our family move into the house and we're treated to many minor creepy/shock moments which is all well and good, but these moments seem to do very little to advance the story and there are many occasions when the film seems like it's stuck in some kind of loop. Even though the narrative is the weakest part of the film, the writers do enough to keep you involved in the proceedings by at least making many of the characters interesting and for the most part more than one dimensional. Amityville Horror has many moments where it is very creepy and I'll admit that this film passed my own Horror film test (that feeling where you get that shudder down your spine). I think the main reason this film worked for me is that it used the characters and their experiences to create the scares rather than just using cheap tricks such as slamming a door or having an evil being appear out of nowhere (this is something that seems to plague many recent horror films and I'm glad that the writers didn't go down that road).The biggest selling point with this film lies with the acting; firstly, I thought Brolin was fantastic; whether he was playing the every day family man, or the psychotic man possessed by the demons he was simply terrific - he had a crazy convincing look in his eye that few actors seem to be able to pull off. Margot Kidder was also great and very convincing in her respective role.Going back to problems and one must ask themselves if this film really needed to be nearly 2 hours; I honestly feel that films of this nature should run somewhere between 80 and 100 minutes and the elongated running time of this film isn't helped by what appears on screen; Day 1... Day 5.... Day 8... Day 12.... Yawn!! Face Palm. Give me a break. This demon wants them out of the house, but it takes nearly 3 weeks for the family to finally up and leave. Really?Even though I've panned this a lot I have to admit that there is an awful lot to enjoy; the characters are interesting, the film is very creepy for the most part, there's never a dull moment and the performances from all that are involved are excellent. I'll be honest and admit that I even found the house to be creepy (although it was probably a selected filming location for that very reason).Yes, this is a flawed film, but when it's good it's very good and the good far outweighs the bad. It's not perfect, but it's far better than lot of the rubbish that we see nowadays.

I'm generally not a fan of the whole "haunted-house" genre, but I figured since this one's a classic- it'b be alright. First off. I knew this was gonna be a bad movie after: A: a fly caused two priests to spin out of control while they were driving (Hi--llerious) and B: after the ghost(s) stole $1500 from a groom on his wedding day. Wtf? Since when do people need to worry about ghosts stealing money. This movie gets annoying real fast. And here are some reasons why: -None of the characters know how to open doors. -No one can hold an object long enough to NOT drop it. -The kids in this movie have NO personality; and basically act as fillers until they get shot in the end; and they're ALL stupid as hell (P.S little girl; when your babysitter is locked in a closet literally three feet away from you, maybe you should do something as opposed to just sitting there like a nu-bis). -Margot Kidder is way too hot for this movie. -James Brolin looks like a homeless man (yet his legs have no hair/ looks like it all migrated to his face, loll). -Every priest/nun in this movie is bonkers (just cause your a priest doesn't mean you can just waltz right into a house completely unannounced---"But i'm blessing it".."Oh, swell man, we got a doorbell." F#**%in Creep. -The house seems to give everybody "the creeps" --even during the daytime. Oh Jinkies.-There's way too much foreshadowing--the whole movie is basically one giant spoiler. -Apparently, this movie has rewritten the boundaries of anatomy and now blood just squirts out of the epidermis- or anywhere for that matter (the walls). -George is pretty much an a**hole the whole movie. -George goes to the hospital, but doesn't bother to ask about his apparent "flu". -Nothing scary happens in the first hour of the movie. Overall, the 70's was a breeding ground for excellent, stylish horror movies (i.e, The Omen, Black Christmas, The Exorcist, Halloween, Evil Dead, Chainsaw Massacre..etc) that would define the genre and mold it into the billion dollar industry it is today (blah,blah, blah I have no idea what i'm talking about.) The fact of the matter is...this film is not one of those movies. It was born at the turn of the decade, and just missed it's mark, I guess. I think this was the point when horror movies started becoming methodical instead of original. There's the deep drone of a bassist before every startling incident; fake-out jump scares; actual jump-scares; stupid- a** kids with imaginary friends, there's blood. blood..ooh so much blood. So yeah. Just not that great of a movie.Go watch it! ;P

Looking at this movie 35 years after it's release, it's very easy to see it's influence on movies made since, especially more recent (last ten years) horror, including movies like Insidious, paranormal activity etc. There are so many great ideas in this movie, I particularly like the relationship the child has with the spirit, that only she can see, an idea that has been used countless times since. But I feel like it was never fully followed through, it almost seems like they didn't know how to end this movie, how to tie it all together. The plot with the priest just fizzles out, the plot with the ghost on the child can see fizzles out, the idea that the husband is going to kill everyone fizzles out.. it just fizzles. It's just such a shame considering the possibilities. I also think it's overly long, and quite boring in some parts. There are a few jump scares early on but nothing spectacular. I kept waiting for things to get scary but most parts just seemed comical, like when the lead actor saw a ghost head of himself hovering in the cavity behind the wall in the basement. It even had a cheesy bit of music to go with it. I feel like maybe they were channeling some of the exorcist here with the priest plot lines, but it just didn't work. In the end, it was a totally unsatisfying movie, with a really weak ending. Having said that, I have to give it kudos for inspiring the movie makers of today, and I think modern horror is so much better for the ones that went before.