FILM

The Amityville Horror is a 2005 American biographical horror film directed by Andrew Douglas. It is a remake of the 1979 film of the same name which itself was based on the 1977 novel of the same name by Jay Anson, which documents the alleged experiences of the Lutz family after they moved into a house on LonG Island which had been the scene of a mass murder committed by Ronald DeFeo, Jr. who shot six members of his family there in November 1974.

TRAILER

PLOT

• On November 13, 1974, at 3:15am, Ronald DeFeo, Jr. shot and killed his family at their home, 112 Ocean Avenue in Amityville, New York. He killed five members of his family in their beds, but his youngest sister, Jodie, had been killed in her bedroom closet. He claimed that he was persuaded to kill them by voices he had heard in the house.

DirectorANDREW DOUGLAS

• Was Director Douglas Nervous About Doing a Remake?: “No. you know, it’s a generation ago. I remember it, you may remember it, but really a lot of people don’t. It was a good film at the time, but it’s a great story.

• Does the Director of “The Amityville Horror” Believe the Story?: “I sure believe the serial killing because that’s documented. And I’m inclined to believe the other just because if I doubt the other, that means when I die, I’m dead. But if I believe there are ghosts then maybe I’ll have another go-round.”

RYAN REYNOLDS• “Houses don’t kill people. People

kill people.”

• As far as the acting in this remake, Ryan Reynolds is decent  and does a good job of hitting the humorous moments and also portraying rage as his character speedily descends into madness.

• What it all ultimately boils down to is whether or not the movie did its job of scaring the audience. There were plenty of jumpy moments, but they were buttressed by unintentionally funny scenes. It wasn’t the horror movie I wanted it to be, but it wasn’t a complete disaster either.

PRODUCTORSAndrew Form AND Brad Fuller

• The first movie was released in 1979 and did pretty well at the box office. But the producers felt that that the original movie, while a good film, could use an update.

• The Attraction of Remaking “The Amityville Horror:”=:“We had a big meeting after ‘Chainsaw’ and Michael Bay loves true crime, so we were thinking of what great true crime stories were out there and that led us right to Amityville. I grew up on Long Island so I had seen the house as a kid. 

• Combating Moviegoers Who Are Anti-Remakes: “We don’t really look to combat it. I think that’s a real thing and I understand the response. What we hope to do is kind of do is to pay tribute to the film that we’re remaking, and hopefully make it better or more exciting. And that’s the best way that we can combat it, I suppose,” 

REMAKE• Jodie Transitions from a Demonic Pig to a Little Girl

Ghost: I remember reading the book years ago and watching the original “The Amityville Horror” film. The image of Jodie the demonic pig and those beady red eyes staring in at the Lutz family has stuck with me since then. But in this version of the Amityville events, the pig’s gone and in its place is the ghost of 'Jodie' DeFeo (the real name of the DeFeo's youngest daughter was Allison, not Jodie). Allison was one of the six members of the DeFeo family who were murdered in their beds by Ronald DeFeo Jr on the night of November 13, 1974.

• The Pig’s Gone and Other Changes – Is This Really Classified as a Remake?: Fuller believes that even with the changes from the original movie, this 2005 film is still considered a remake. “It is in that we used the same source material and we’re telling the same story. We chose different things in the book to talk about. And we tried to amp it up. It’s been 30 years since the original. Horror audiences have seen a lot of horror movies in the interim and we just wanted to make it what it would be if they were making it in 2005. “

RELIGION

• in the movie there is a scene where strong evidence that the Catholic religion is crisitana overcome by evil .. this scene is referring display a message that evil triumphs over good, that devils have more power than God. This scene can be misinterpreted religion and leads be criticized

DARK SIDE

• •In the house, windows flew up and down and doors were repeatedly ripped off their hinges in the house even though they were securely locked.

• •Mrs. Lutz levitated a foot above her bed on several occasions and floated toward an open window. On one of the occasions, when her husband pulled her back, her 30-year-old face had been transformed into the face of a 90-year-old woman - "the hair wild, a shocking white, the face a mass of wrinkles and ugly lines and saliva dripping from the toothless mouth."

• •In the dead of winter, hundreds of buzzing flies materialized in one of the upstairs rooms of the house.

• •A 12-inch crucifix hung in a closet by Mrs. Lutz revolved until it was upside down and gave off a sour smell.

• •The insides of the toilet bowls in two upstairs bathrooms turned absolutely black, "as though someone has painted (them) from the bottom to the edge just below the rim" even though Mrs. Lutz had recently scrubbed both bowls with Clorox.

• •Lutz discovered a small secret room in the basement, a room that appeared in no blueprints of the house. It was painted solid red - and had the smell of blood. In one of the red walls, Lutz saw a vision of a face - a face that he would later find from newspaper photographs was that of Ronald DeFeo.

• •Every time the family priest would attempt to help the Lutz family, bleeding blisters would erupt on his hands. Telephone calls between the Lutz family and the priest were continually interrupted or cut off by loud noises and eerie sounds, making it impossible for them to communicate.

3:15 am

• George would wake up around 3:15 every morning and would go out to check the boathouse. Later he would learn that this was the estimated time of the DeFeo killings.

• Some people say that the hours of three and four am no better grasp of the spiritual life. For my part this may be because of the silence and concentration at that time but this is relative to spiritual beings can be negative (demons)

SOUNDTRACK• 1 Amityville Horror (Main

Title)• 2 Father Delaney• 3 One Year Later• 4 Screams• 5 Windshield• 6 Kathy's Dream• 7 Staircase• 8 Babysitter• 9 At the Park• 10 Window• 11 Ghost• 12 Wall• 13 Bleeding Walls• 14 Ax• 15 Crucifix• 16 Postludium• 17 Amityville Horror (End

Credits)