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Amityville Horror" was always a rather strange choice of films to revisit,
given that it lacks the instant recognition and built-in fan bases of other
recent remakes such as "The
Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and "Dawn
of the Dead". In fact, the original film is not particularly well
thought of, even by the most diehard of genre fans, possibly as a result of
having inspired an astoundingly gratuitous and unwanted franchise, which to date
has included no less than seven sequels of unwaveringly poor quality.
This new version returns to the original source
material, proudly bearing the 'Based on a True Story' tag, a fact which
has supposedly incensed the real life Lutz family. Of course, any debate
over factual accuracy is likely to be of little interest to the average
horror fan, which has left the film makers free to let their creative
imaginations run riot and to include all manner of ghoulish goings on
which have only a passing resemblance to the actual events. Fortunately,
this undeniably exploitative approach serves the film well, and allows
for a great deal more action and scares than the original, which was
hamstrung by being slow, dull and episodic. As a result, the 2005
incarnation of "The Amityville Horror", whilst by no means a
great film, is that rare beast – a remake which actually improves upon
its inspiration.
The film takes place in an old Dutch colonial style
house in Long Island, New York, where in 1974 a young man named Ronald
DeFeo went insane and killed his family as they slept, claiming to have
been tormented by demonic 'voices'. One year later, the Lutz family
moves into the same house, thinking to have found their dream home.
Before long, father George (Ryan Reynolds, "Blade
III") is acting strangely, haunted by ghastly visions, and the
youngest daughter has a mysterious playmate that only she can see. Over
the next twenty eight days, the family is put through hell, as George
goes slowly insane, driven by the ghosts of the past to ill temper,
violence, and finally, homicidal mania.
Although ostensibly based on the actual events
which befell the Lutz family, "The Amityville Horror" plays
more like a suburban retelling of "The Shining" than a remake
of the original film. Rather than cataloguing the strange occurrences in
the house, it chooses instead to focus mainly upon George Lutz, and
attempts to draw tension from his transformation into a red-eyed, sweaty
maniac. There are a few minor subplots, one involving an incompetent
babysitter, and the other the ghost of the original mass murder's
youngest victim, though these are included solely for a few cheap
scares. This approach is actually quite successful, and despite never
really fleshing out the character of George, his growing violence is
quite engaging, and makes for a number of effectively threatening
scenes.
The main source of the horror comes through George's
visions, a rather shameless device which allows director Andrew Douglas
to throw in all manner of grotesque spirits and demons. Although this
move seriously undermines any pretences to realism, it does mean that
the film is considerably less boring than its predecessor, and the
frequent flashes of bloody special effects means that it moves along at
a relatively fast pace. The film also benefits from a hackneyed piece of
exposition towards the end, which serves not so much to explain the
source of the haunting as to provide an excuse for a montage of gore and
torture.
The film's
main failing comes from the fact that director Douglas too often reverts
to employing the tired clichés of the modern horror film, including
mysterious figures with shaking faces, and the current bane of the
genre, the omnipresent creepy little girl ghost. Almost every scare
scene in the film is clearly telegraphed, and the moments of horror,
when they finally arrive, are inevitably accompanied by loud crashes on
the soundtrack. This over reliance on such overused techniques is rather
depressing, and suggests a complete lack of ambition and imagination.
The film would have benefited from a more subtle approach, and had
Douglas taken a less obvious route, the eventual descent into madness of
the father would have been far more terrifying.
Still, although over-familiar and tacky in many ways,
"The Amityville Horror" is generally quite agreeable, and
provides a reasonable number of atmospheric thrills. As well as
improving upon a sterile and overly earnest original, the 2005 remake
offers a genuine alternative to the vacuous 'teens in peril' genre films
which sadly still dominate Hollywood's horror output.
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