The Amityville Horror (1979): "For God's Sake, Get Out!"

George Kouri
George Kouri, Yahoo! Contributor Network
Dec 8, 2006 "Share your voice on Yahoo! websites. Start Here."
George and Kathy Lutz are struggling newlyweds with three children looking to buy their family home. Not wealthy by any means, George and Kathy find what they believe to be a steal when they find a beautiful large home that is barely in their price range. Kathy, a religious woman, sees finding a house this cheap as a godsend.

Shortly after moving in, strange occurrences begin to happen, and George grows more testy and Kathy keeps having reoccurring nightmares of them being murdered in the house. In an attempt to reclaim their house, Kathy asks her priests to come by and bless the house. Upon his arrival, the priest instantly feels the presence of evil and before he can finish blessing the house, he is driven out by a demonic voice and becomes violently ill. George, who also seems to be coming down with something, is beginning to become violent.

Kathy takes it upon herself to find out the history of the house. After researching the house at the local library, she finds out that the previous owner murdered his wife and kids with a shotgun. It's now up to her to get back to her family in time to save them.

Based on a true story that was claimed by writer Jay Anson, the movie tells the story of a family who bought a haunted house and was terrorized by it. Being that is supposed to be based on actual events I thought that it added to the creepiness of the story. At times it left me breathless as the plot slowly thickens, knowing that the family spent everything they had on this house.

There were not a lot of special-effects used in this movie but there was not a lot needed because it is more implied horror than graphic horror. Even without all the special-effects, the movie still retains a very creepy atmosphere.

Probably one of the best haunted house movies ever made. Throughout the years, no matter how many times I see it, I'm still creeped out by it. I think it's one of the classic horror movies of all time with great acting and great scenery. I would definitely recommend this movie to anyone has not seen it before or suggest, if you have seen it but it was years ago, to check it out again. All that's left to say is it was awesome. I would give it 4/5 stars.

Published by George Kouri

I'm 30 yrs old. I have muscular dystrophy.I aspire to be a published fiction writer.  View profile

  • The movie was based on a true story that was claimed by writer Jay Anson.
  • There were not a lot of special-effects used in this movie.
  • Probably one of the best haunted house movies ever made.
James Brolin was hesitant when he was first offered the role of George Lutz. He was told that there was no script and that he must obtain a copy of Jay Anson's novel and read it as soon as possible. Brolin started the book one evening at seven o'clock and was still reading at two o'clock in the morning. He had hung a pair of his pants up in the room earlier and at a really "tense" part in the book, the pants fell down from wherever they had been hanging. Brolin jumped out of his chair, nearly crashing his head into the ceiling. It was then that Brolin said, "There's something to this story." He agreed to do the movie.

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  • Bonka's Mom8/6/2007

    This is one of my all-time favorites! Great job :-)

  • Shana Dines12/8/2006

    very good review, and i also felt that the money that they had to put into it was not the least of the horror of the story. I remember seeing the real people on a talk show and how people were saying it was a hoax.They swore that it was true though.

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