The Amityville Horror

The tale of the Lutz family, who spent less than a month in a spooky old Long Island mansion before fleeing it in terror, was first told in a supposedly nonfiction 1977 bestseller by Jay Anson, which in turn spawned a 1979 movie, two sequels, and a telefilm--all of them awful. The fact that the story has been thoroughly debunked since then didn't stop Hollywood from remaking it a quarter-century later, using every horror movie cliché and special effects trick in its current playbook. The result is a haunted house potboiler that comes across like a low-rent version of The Shining (down to the insert cards indicating the passage of days), with a bit of Poltergeist thrown in to provide a rationale for all the ghostly goings-on. The new flick's chief improvement over its predecessor, apart from the slicker visuals, is the fact that it's shorter--a mere 89 minutes as opposed to 118 (something that happily reduces the role of The Exorcist-inspired priest played so hammily by Rod Steiger back in 1979 to practically nothing). But the thinness of the plot, which is really little more than a succession of crude “gotcha!” moments, still makes this film seem cruelly overextended. The Amityville Horror earns points for being less gory than many contemporary shockers, but husband George Lutz (Ryan Reynolds) offers the best advice when his family abandons the place in this version: “Don't even look at it.” Not recommended. [Note: Available in either widescreen or full screen versions, DVD extras include audio commentary by costar Ryan Reynolds and producers Andrew Form and Brad Fuller, the “making-of” featurette “The Source of Evil” (26 min.), an 18-minute “Supernatural Homicide” featurette with a discussion of the DeFeo murders and what really happened, eight deleted scenes with optional commentary (8 min.), clips of the home movies from the film (4 min.), a “Scare Reel” of the scary scenes from the movie (2 min.), nine multi-angle on-set peeks, photo galleries, and trailers. Bottom line: a whopping extras package for a disappointing horror flick.] (F. Swietek)[Blu-ray Review—Sept. 28, 2010—MGM, 2 discs, 89 min., R, Blu-ray: $24.99—Making its first appearance on Blu-ray, 2005's The Amityville Horror boasts an excellent transfer with a DTS-HD soundtrack. While there are no Blu-ray extras, the set includes a DVD copy of the film which features audio commentary by costar Ryan Reynolds and producers Andrew Form and Brad Fuller, “The Source of Evil” making-of featurette (26 min.), an 18-minute “Supernatural Homicide” featurette with a discussion of the DeFeo murders, eight deleted scenes with optional commentary (8 min.), clips of the home movies from the film (4 min.), a “Scare Reel” (2 min.), nine multi-angle on-set segments, photo galleries, and trailers. Bottom line: a decent two-fer release of an unimpressive remake.]