The Amityville Horror

Supposedly based on a true story, this is a remake of the 1979 horror film about strange goings’on in a house that’s haunted. George (Reynolds) and Kathy (George) move into what they think will be their dream home, but of course all is not what it seems. They learn that their home was in fact the location for a mass murder. So that was why the estate agents were so desperate to flog it!

The evil of course from the previous gruesome scene has not gone away and gradually it begins to affect George. In the original ‘supposedly true’ story, the history is that in November 1974, Ronald DeFeo shot all his family in their beds and confessed later that voices told him to do it. This 2005 remake is a slick revamp complete with horror clichés such as the parent going mad with an axe (as in The Shining), and blood spurting from places it shouldn’t for no apparent reason (any number of horror movies).

In the 1979 film, the parts of George and Kathy were taken by James Brolin and Margot Kidder. Here, you’ve got comic Ryan Reynolds (Van Wilder Party Liaison) playing George and Home and Away actress Melissa George playing Kathy. Philip Baker Hall plays the local priest into exorcism which in the original was a role given over to Rod Steiger, although some may have wished this particular exorcist was made of sterner stuff.

Andrew Douglas’s film mostly works on a fairly basic level. Some will find it scary, many will shy away from the gory bits (it does seem gorier than the original) and some may enjoy the funnier moments. Others will wonder why a remake was necessary and may certainly feel that a true horror film should stick to dosing up the scare factor and forget about adding in the jokes.

Matt Arnoldi