The Amityville Horror (1979)

"Get out!"

-The House

George and Kathy Lutz (James Brolin and Margot Kidder) move into a new house with their three kids.  The house is very large and should be way out of their price range, but because one year prior a man killed his entire family in the house, George and Kathy got a good deal.  As they start to settle in, the family begins to notice strange occurrences.  Some people get sick if they go inside the house, strange noises occur, the dog behaves erratically, but worst of all, George begins acting different.  He is much more angry, seems to be on the brink of sanity, and has taken to chopping wood with alarming frequency.  Kathy has to save her family from the house, but will she be able to save George, or is he too far gone?

What Works:

The performances of all three main actors are excellent.  Josh Brolin has some really great range.  He starts off as a loving step-father who just wants his step-kids to start calling him Dad, but as the movie goes on, he goes more and more crazy.  Watching him walking around with an axe is pretty terrifying and reminds me of The Shining.

Margot Kidder is an excellent protagonist and is very likable.  We really feel bad for her as her world falls apart.  She looks everywhere to get help, but no one is there for her and she has only herself to rely on. 

Although I have issues with his storyline, Rod Steiger is excellent as Father Delany.  He has some of the best scenes of the movie.  His entry into the house is very unsettling and a great tone setter for the rest of the film.  He also has some very moving moments when trying to get help for the Lutz family from both the Catholic Church and God himself.  

The entire priest storyline has issues, but there are aspects of it I liked.  Watching the priests trying to get to the house, but nearly get killed in the process is an excellent sequence.  I really like the idea of priests trying to get to the demon's location, but constantly being prevented.  The phones don't work and their cars crash.  It's a fun idea that I wish had been executed better.

There are some neat scares and cool practical effects.  Watching the walls and stairs of the house bleed is pretty insane.  We also get one of the funniest jump scares I have ever seen when George is scared by a cat.  Finally, we get another terrifying moment when a window slams shut on one of the kid's hands.  It's a shocking moment and bloodier than I expected.

What Sucks:

The priest storyline has some major problems.  The events of this movie take place over three weeks or so and Father Delaney figures out what is going on pretty quickly.  He does attempt to help the Lutz family, but seriously, in three weeks the guy tries to drive over once and calls twice.  This would be acceptable if it took place over a day, but come on.  Use a little creativity and ingenuity to help these people.

Even worse is the fact the story doesn't go anywhere.  Father Delany is built up and developed, but in the end it doesn't matter.  He plays no part in the resolution of the film and honestly should have been killed off.  This would have made much more sense than what ultimately happens.

There are a few boring stretches in the film.  Sometimes this works to the film's benefit, lulling you into a false sense of security before scaring the crap out of you, but all too often, it's just because nothing interesting is happening.

Finally, part of the 3rd act doesn't make much sense.  George has gone completely nuts and is trying to chop down a door to kill the kids, but then Kathy stops him and he's suddenly back to normal?  Why?  I don't get how she saved him.  That seems like a major plot point and it should have been explained more.

Verdict:

The Amityville Horror has some excellent acting, some nice scares, and some interesting ideas, but it suffers from poor explanations, lack of logic, storylines that don't go anywhere, and some boring stretches.  It's at least better than the remake.

 6/10: Okay