The Amityville Horror (1979)

“The Amityville Horror” is one of the quintessential horror movies from the 1970’s, complete with a stellar cast, a memorable and outstanding story, numerous sequels, and its fair share of controversy. The movie is based on the book of the same name which a recounting of real events of a mass murder in a house in New York and the supposed occurrences that took were witnessed by the Lutz Family who had moved in after the tragedy. Although this is clearly a great ghost story, the possession element is obvious when George Lutz slowly goes mad and begins acting like the crazy father that killed his family without reason in the past. Luckily for George and his family, he recovers quite easily from his possession unlike many of the others who become possessed in the other film I’m reviewing this week.

George and Katy Lutz decide to buy and move their family into a beautiful old house that happened to have been the location of a mass murder the year before. In that event, a father killed his wife and four children with a rifle for no apparent reason. George and Katy are well aware of this (which is very refreshing) and realize that this is why the house is so cheap. It doesn’t take long after they move in for the weird ghost like occurrences to begin such as objects moving, chairs rocking, and a room full of flies. A catholic priest that he couple had asked to bless their home realizes that something is amiss and his judgments are only confirmed when the wife of George’s business partner senses the paranormal activity. George becomes withdrawn and begins acting oddly and is slowly possessed by the evil within the house while Katy has persistent dreams that reveal minor details of the murders. Eventually the family learns that their house is/has a gateway to Hell. Katy finds a picture of the killer and sees that it looks just like George, is able to get back to the house just in time to save her children from a possessed George, and the family safely escape the house and never return.

Favorite moment – I really like the flashback scenes of the murders as George and Katy are first walking through the house with the real-estate agent. I also like George’s very 70’s look and his hair that just becomes more and more crazy and unkempt as he loses his self-control and sanity.