The Amityville Horror *** (1979, James Brolin, Margot Kidder, Rod Steiger) – Classic Movie Review 2520

Director Stuart Rosenberg’s surprise blockbuster 1979 horror movie The Amityville Horror recycles the old, old haunted house story once more. It has been used over and over again and yet it is popular every time.

James Brolin and Margot Kidder play this movie’s terrorised couple, newlyweds George and Kathy Lutz, who move into a spooky large old lakefront Dutch Colonial house in Amityville on the coast of Long Island, New York, with their three children — sons Matthew (Meeno Peluce) and Gregory (K C Martel) and daughter Amy (Natasha Ryan). They think that it is their dream home in the ‘deal of a lifetime’ and don’t heed the info the real estate agent tells them about the house’s history: the son of the previous owner shot and killed his parents and four siblings (the DeFeo murders). Eventually, though, it’s a case of ‘For God’s sake, get out!’

Soon after moving in, George becomes obsessed with having a fire lit in the fireplace and hears noises at night, while Amy acquires an imaginary friend named Jodie. Shortly after that, grisly things happen at the house and the couple have to call in their local priest, Father Delaney (played by Rod Steiger), who believes that the house is haunted by an evil spirit. He has clearly just seen a rerun of The Exorcist, so he decides to perform an exorcism on the house.

Steiger in an equally grisly wig is entertainingly hammy and the best thing in an enjoyable but pretty poor movie, based on the book The Amityville Horror by Jay Anson that claimed to be based on real events, with a screenplay by Sandor Stern. Certain characters and events have been changed from the book supposedly to heighten dramatic effect. It is quite a long movie at 117 minutes, whereas the 20005 remake is only a taut 90 minutes. There is distinguished work, though, in Lalo Schifrin’s score, which was Oscar and Golden Globe nominated.

Don Stroud, Murray Hamilton, John Larch play Father Bolen, Father Ryan and Father Nuncio. Also in the cast are Michael Sacks, Helen Shaver, Natasha Ryan, Val Avery, Amy Wright, K C Martel, Meeno Peluce, Irene Dailey, Marc Vahanian and James Tolkan.

Three sequels followed: Amityville II: The Possession (1982), Amityville 3-D (1984) and the made-for-TV Amityville 4: The Evil Escapes (1989), as well as The Amityville Curse (1990), Amityville: It’s About Time (1992), Amityville: A New Generation (1993) and Amityville: Dollhouse (1996). The rebooted Amityville: The Awakening followed in 2017.

It was remade as The Amityville Horror in 2005 with Ryan Reynolds.

The owners of the real house in Amityville have replaced the ‘evil eyes’ windows with normal rectangle-shaped windows. Brolin became friendly with George Lutz and his children, but remained doubtful of their story. Kidder also said she didn’t believe the Amityville story, and she told her friends that she hated the film. Father Ray said his experiences in the house were real. Kathy and George passed a polygraph test, and George stood by his accounts until the day he died.

The reported events in the Amityville house took place over 28 days in December 1975 and January 1976. The Lutzes fled the house on 14 January 1976. They divorced in the late Eighties. George died of heart disease on 8 May 2006 and Kathy died of emphysema on 17 August 2004. Their three children, Daniel, Christopher and Missy, are out of the public eye.

The outdoor scenes were not filmed in Amityville, Long Island, but in Toms River, New Jersey, where police and ambulance workers played extras.

The low-budget film became one of the highest grossing independent films of all time and American International Pictures’ biggest hit. On a budget of $4,700,000, it grossed $86,432,520 in the US. In 1979 it was in the top ten most successful films of all time.

James Brolin and Barbra Streisand.

Brolin agreed to less money up front but 10 per cent of the gross, sales after its release, which netted him about $17 million back then, worth more than $55 million in 2015. He has been married to Barbra Streisand since July 1 1998.

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 2520

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com