The Amityville Horror(1979) Review

6/10

All of our lives, we have been surrounded by haunted houses. Whether they are the attractions we go to during the Halloween season, or a laughable subject of a horror film, every person has some connection to them.  Did you ever think about what it would be like if the connection that you had was that your house you have resided in was actually one of them?  This harsh reality became life for the Lutz family in the 1979 classic "The Amityville Horror." Based on a 1977 novel by Jay Anson, this story tells of a family that moves into a house that had been abandoned after a son murdered the rest of his family. Slowly as they reside in this mysterious home, things begin to get weirder and weirder.  Over the decades, this film has become a huge hit with horror fans, although it has been universally panned by critics. I find the film to be good, but not great, with a slow pacing and unsatisfying ending really dragging a film with huge potential down.

The film does something that not many do, and it gives its best parts right in the beginning. As the first shots come on to the screen, we see a family murdered by the oldest child. Two parents, and four children dead for no motive whatsoever. Is this possible though? Why would anyone just kill their family for no reason?  As the caption telling this story comes up, they make sure to really emphasize this point, causing the thoughts to begin racing into our head as to what might've happened.

The film then skips a year into the future, and we see a couple played by Margot Kidder and James Brolin looking at the very house that the murder took place in. One of the really cool things about this scene was that as the realtor showed a different bedroom to the couple, there were flashbacks to each individual killing.  At the moment I saw this, a few questions went through my head.  Does the couple know of the events that happened? And if they did, why would they want to bring their family into a house with this kind of psychological baggage?  Regardless of these obvious questions, the Lutz family buys this house, and the film skips another year so it becomes present time, and they are shown living in the house with their children. As we meet the children in the family, something ironic came into my mind. Two parents, and four children. Weird isn't it?  When I looked at the elements that the film had given me so far, I knew something crazy was going to happen. 

This entire film goes off of this slow revelation of details. Every day the family lives there, something new occurs in the house.  On one of the first days of living there, a priest by the name of Father Delaney(Rod Steiger) comes to visit the family. When he enters the house, no one is there, and he looks around to find someone. As he is in one of the bedrooms, he is apparently seen to be attacked by a swarm of flies.  This becomes the first of his problems, as his physical and mental state deteriorates throughout the entire film.  Another victim of this growing craziness is Brolin's character George Lutz.  Originally a very easy going and kind man, he slowly turns into an easily angered, threatening and paranoid man that honestly shows a lot of potential to murder.  This really scares Kathy(Kidder) as she has nightmares of him murdering the family and such.  Outside of the people being harmed, the house starts to be weird.  Toilets overflow with black water, closets trap people even though they don't have locks, and windows automatically come down on the fingers of the children.  I really love how the film does this, because it builds up the tensity you feel toward the house, and it gives you the idea that a huge climax was on the way. 

One of the positives to this film was the cast. Both Margot Kidder and James Brolin do a great job in the lead. They both start out as very likable people, but as the film goes on, they have a great way of conveying the previous kindness into a newfound insanity.  Brolin especially does this well, because he is almost like a chameleon. He goes from moments where he seems like a mindless drone, then to a paranoid freak, and in just the next second he could be completely normal.  Rod Steiger was fantastic in his role, because he has such an amazing speaking voice.  Whether he is just talking or yelling in a huge outburst, his voice is so easy to listen to, and his delivery of words are absolutely stellar. 

Another positive to the film was the Oscar nominated score by Lalo Schifrin. The music in the movie is extremely tense and eerie, and it's great at setting up for disaster.  The instruments used were very diverse, and it gave the sounds gave me the same kind of fascination as the score in "Planet of the Apes."  Even though the music was such a big part of the movie for me, another cool thing I noticed was the moments without any sounds.  These scenes were very true to reality, because it depicts the times of loneliness in our own lives.  One of the greatest examples I noticed was a scene where George was just walking outside by himself, and the only thing you could even hear was his footsteps. This was a great technical decision for the movie, because it helped it set itself apart in a unique way.

The special effects were done extremely well, given the time the movie was made. Everything was quite realistic, and extremely creative.  One of the greatest examples of this was the iconic scene where the blood comes out of the walls.  Even though the blood was pretty fake, it still had a very cool look to it, and was colored very well. I liked the way that it streaked down the wall, because it gave a chilling feeling to the scene.  The only special effect that didn't stand the test of time at all was the floating head of the spirit of Ketcham. This was done very cheesily, and I had to laugh at the fake nature of it. 

One of the main weaknesses of the film was the slow pacing. Throughout the whole movie, there was a lack of life in the scenes, and quite a few of them really dragged on. I almost feel like a half hour could've been condensed from the two hour running time, being there was at least four long scenesof unnecessary   content.  If the film had been more around the hour and a half range, I feel it would've been a lot more enjoyable for sure. 

Another weakness for me was the ending. As I mentioned before, the film builded itself up for an intense climax the entire time, and this began to happen in the last five minutes. I was so excited about the craziness that was taking place, and I was totally set up for something I'd never forget. As the house started to shoot blood out of the walls, and everything started to collapse, I thought that in some way, shape or form, this family was going to die like the last one that lived there.  Sadly, this never happened.  The fact that the movie ended happy doesn't bother me as much as the fact that it came so quick. The exciting part of the movie finally came, and it only lasted about a minute. I can't even tell you how upset I was by this, because I felt like this made the entire movie a tease.  If I use a roller coaster as an analogy, the car went up and up all the way to the top of the roller coaster, and everyone is ready for the craziest ride of their life, and just as the free fall starts, we find out it was only about twenty feet, and the ride ends.  I really think that if the filmmakers were truly serious about what they were doing, they could've come up with something much better.

Overall, I enjoyed many things about this film. There was a great cast, a brilliant idea for a film, and some really great special effects.  Sadly, this all was thrown away by what I may have to call one of the worst endings ever.  I can't say that the film isn't worth a watch, because there really are a lot of positives to it, but in the end it really was a disappointment.