The Lutz family is haunted by evil spirits in their new home, very loosely based on a true story.
The real life story of the Amityville Horror house is a truly terrifying one, when in 1974 the Defeo family was brutally and methodically murdered, all seven of them by the father, who was said to be possessed by some sort of otherworldly force. After that incident the large home residing on 112 ocean avenue has never been the same, and one family, the Lutz's are put to the test when the father George (Ryan Reynolds, Deadpool) buys the haunted house for a steal of a deal, not knowing what terrors reside beyond the old doors. Things start off well for the family, but soon they are terrorized by a malevolent spirit that wants nothing more than to see the family gone. And that's where the similarities of the true story and this cinematic waste of time end, the opening should say "very loosely" based on a true story with every horror cliche you can think of thrown into the mix.
Haunted house horror movies can be a gamble, the goal is to create an atmospheric mood that encapsulates fear and dread, with dark lighting and colors, jump scares that don't feel cheap that are timed perfectly and still fit into the narrative, and the evil entity must be the antagonist, the fear between the supernatural and the mortal world is essential for an effective thriller. Unfortunately Amityville Horror barely gets any of these things right. Trading a slow burn story into a fast paced action movie, with actual set pieces that drastically take away from any tension. The climax is a full fledge action sequence that doesn't work at all, it makes sense that Michael Bay was a producer on this. It takes the supernatural element almost completely out and turns into a mind numbing nonsense. While there are a couple decent scares, such as seeing the daughter (Chloe Grace-Moretz, Suspiria) with her ghostly friend Jodie through the upstairs window staring down, but other than a few decently placed scares this horror remake falls flat.
Ryan Reynolds does a surprisingly adequate job with what little he's given to work with, there isn't much in the way of character development so none of our protagonists really mean anything to the audience and that's one of its fatal flaws. Other horror house films like "The Conjuring" build the family dynamic to the point the audience feels a connection which makes the dread all the more scary. In Amityville Horror the characters are paper thin and don't give much in the way of development, the only time we get to the family acting as such is the very beginning before they enter the house. Once they enter the home though things start to get weird, and quite silly. There's whispering voices that repeat the same thing about a hundred times throughout the short duration and at no time is it frightening. There's actually a part where the house audibly yells at George Lutz to "get out!" It throws any and all subtlety out the door, and makes for a comical moment.
This film feels like a cheap PG-13 horror film (even though it is R), catering to a teen demographic with cheap and silly scares rather than making an atmospheric engrossing movie. The story beats are forced just to get to the next 'scary' thing, such as when the family brings a priest in to investigate the home, at which he begins throwing holy water all over the room he is in, the water begins to sizzle and the music takes a backseat, I was honestly hopeful that this scene could work. Unfortunately after all the holy water has been emptied, the priest is then attacked by a swarm of flies that randomly come through a vent in the room, this spooks the priest and he drives away. I get why the scene was there, showing that even a man of God isn't able to fight this supernatural force is a pretty sobering thing, but unlike films that do that better like 'The Exorcist' it's done in such a tasteless and silly manner that any suspension of disbelief is gone, as if there was any to begin with.
Overall The Amityville Horror is not worth the time to watch, unless you're someone who scares easily (like, very easily) then I'd suggest one of the better films I've mentioned above. This feels like a juvenile attempt at a horror movie, with nothing in the way of good scares or creepy atmosphere, despite a couple moments of decency there's not too much going on with this one. A dull script with pointless story beats that even Reynold's performance can't make up for it. Also, there's no need to put dogs in these movies, especially when they aren't in the original true story, it's a sick gimmick and an excuse to kill the poor animal for the sake of a scare, which I personally can't stand. I'm looking at you as well, Conjuring! As a whole, Amityville Horror is a skip this Halloween season, fill your minds with something more substantial.
I give The Amityville Horror 2 stars out of 5.
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