:
James Brolin,
Margot Kidder,
Rod Steiger,
more...
:
Stuart Rosenberg
see all cast/crew...
: 
: MGM Home Entertainment
: Horror, Supernatural/Occult, Ghosts
: 117 min.
: English, Spanish, French
: English, Spanish, French
see additional details...
|
|
"Just keeping telling yourself: IT'S ONLY A MOVIE...IT'S ONLY A MOVIE...IT'S ONLY A MOVIE..." was the ad campaign for the 1979 shocker The Amityville Horror. The film was based on the allegedly true story of the luckless Lutz family, who move lock, stock, and barrel into a new home, only to find that it is possessed by the demonic spirits of its previous owners. Variations of the Seven Deadly Plagues emanate from virtually every household fixture, while other forms of otherworldly mischief are suffered by the Lutz children. Enter kindly Father Delaney (Rod Steiger), who does his utmost to exorcise the house. The Amityville Horror was frequently greeted with laughs from its first-run audiences, especially after it was discovered that the "actual" events depicted in the film (based on a book by Jay Anson) were complete fabrications. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
|
| A Horror... Classic?
by Maasgarid
December 7, 2005 - 9:05 AM PST
|
|
|
2 out of 2 members found this review helpful
|
I love a good horror film, but I'd never seen "The Amityville Horror", so I figured I should bone up on my classics, as it were. After having seen it, my reaction is a resounding "Meh."
The thought that kept running through my mind while I was watching the film is this: "'The Shining' did the whole 'possessed house' theme so much better. This film is such a rip-off." Imagine my surprise when I discovered this film actually came out one year before the film version of "The Shining" (but two years after the book version). At any rate, that's pretty much the standard set for the entire film: the whole enterprise feels secondhand, with bits cobbled together from other, better horror films and stories ("The Shining" and "The Exorcist" prime among them). And, to boot, it's not even that scary!
Horror fans might want to rent this purely for historical value, but everyone else probably wouldn't find much enjoyment in it.
SHINING MOMENT: Holy CRAP, Margot Kidder was sexy back then. |
|
|
GreenCine Member Rating
(Average 5.02)
126 Votes
add to list 
|
|
|
Your cart
filmz
nettylehn
© 2006 All Media Guide, LLC. Portions of content provided by All Movie Guide®,
a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC.