The Amityville Horror
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George Lutz, his wife Kathy, and their three children have just moved into a beautiful, and improbably cheap, Dutch colonial mansion nestled in the sleepy coastal town of Amityville, Long Island. However, their dream home is concealing a horrific past and soon each member of the Lutz family is plagued with increasingly strange and violent visions and impulses.
What critics thought
Critics largely dismissed this remake as a loud, effects-heavy haunted-house ride that trades the slow dread of the 1979 original for jump scares and CGI excess. A handful of reviewers found it competently assembled schlock, but the majority felt it was neither scary enough to work as horror nor interesting enough to work as anything else.
“First-time director Andrew Douglas crams in every ghost cliché, from demonic faces to dripping blood. This house springs so many FX shocks it plays like a theme park ride. Result? It's not scary, just busy.”
Peter Travers·Rolling Stone
“Low-key creepy rather than outright scary, the new Amityville marks a modest improvement over the original, partly because, from acting to bloody effects, it is better executed”
Manohla Dargis·The New York Times
“The truly shocking thing about the new version is that it's not bloody awful . . . The decision to use minimal computer-generated effects, made for monetary rather than artistic reasons, works to Amityville's advantage.”
Ruthe Stein·San Francisco Chronicle
“the new Amityville never intended to go for the subtler, implied horror of the original; this one would be all about scaring the pants off viewers. And in this, the movie generally succeeds as sudden scares and flashes of yucky imagery cause audience members to yelp aloud as if on cue . . . The most irritating aspect of the new movie, however, has nothing to do with comparisons but rather with some of the inherent illogic of the story.”
Marjorie Baumgarten·Austin Chronicle
“There is something pleasurably batty about the way the family blunders on. The chills are satisfyingly creepy. The gory special effects are lavish and effective. And the wooden house itself is a sinister architectural pleasure. It's total nonsense of course, but I left the lights on that night anyway.”
James Christopher·The Times
Parents guide
- Violence
- severe
- Sex
- mild
- Profanity
- moderate
- Substances
- mild
- Intensity
- moderate
Genres
Horror
Cast & Crew
Andrew DouglasDirector
Ryan ReynoldsGeorge Lutz
Melissa GeorgeKathy Lutz
Jesse JamesBilly Lutz
Jimmy BennettMichael Lutz
Chloë Grace MoretzChelsea Lutz
Rachel NicholsLisa
Philip Baker HallFather Callaway
Annabel ArmourRealtor
Rich KomenichChief of Police
David GeeER Doctor
Steve JablonskyComposer
Sandor SternWriter
Jay AnsonWriter
Peter Lyons CollisterCinematographyThe Amityville Horror
George Lutz, his wife Kathy, and their three children have just moved into a beautiful, and improbably cheap, Dutch colonial mansion nestled in the sleepy coastal town of Amityville, Long Island. However, their dream home is concealing a horrific past and soon each member of the Lutz family is plagued with increasingly strange and violent visions and impulses.
What critics thought
Critics largely dismissed this remake as a loud, effects-heavy haunted-house ride that trades the slow dread of the 1979 original for jump scares and CGI excess. A handful of reviewers found it competently assembled schlock, but the majority felt it was neither scary enough to work as horror nor interesting enough to work as anything else.
“First-time director Andrew Douglas crams in every ghost cliché, from demonic faces to dripping blood. This house springs so many FX shocks it plays like a theme park ride. Result? It's not scary, just busy.”
Peter Travers·Rolling Stone
“Low-key creepy rather than outright scary, the new Amityville marks a modest improvement over the original, partly because, from acting to bloody effects, it is better executed”
Manohla Dargis·The New York Times
“The truly shocking thing about the new version is that it's not bloody awful . . . The decision to use minimal computer-generated effects, made for monetary rather than artistic reasons, works to Amityville's advantage.”
Ruthe Stein·San Francisco Chronicle
“the new Amityville never intended to go for the subtler, implied horror of the original; this one would be all about scaring the pants off viewers. And in this, the movie generally succeeds as sudden scares and flashes of yucky imagery cause audience members to yelp aloud as if on cue . . . The most irritating aspect of the new movie, however, has nothing to do with comparisons but rather with some of the inherent illogic of the story.”
Marjorie Baumgarten·Austin Chronicle
“There is something pleasurably batty about the way the family blunders on. The chills are satisfyingly creepy. The gory special effects are lavish and effective. And the wooden house itself is a sinister architectural pleasure. It's total nonsense of course, but I left the lights on that night anyway.”
James Christopher·The Times
Parents guide
- Violence
- severe
- Sex
- mild
- Profanity
- moderate
- Substances
- mild
- Intensity
- moderate
Genres
Horror
Cast & Crew
Andrew DouglasDirectorRyan ReynoldsGeorge LutzMelissa GeorgeKathy LutzJesse JamesBilly LutzJimmy BennettMichael LutzChloë Grace MoretzChelsea LutzRachel NicholsLisaPhilip Baker HallFather CallawayAnnabel ArmourRealtorRich KomenichChief of PoliceDavid GeeER DoctorSteve JablonskyComposerSandor SternWriterJay AnsonWriterPeter Lyons CollisterCinematographyStream
Rent & Buy