|
 |
||||||||||
|
|||||||||||
|
|||||||||||
|
|||||||||||
THE AMITYVILLE HORROR
DVD Review
Worth the remake?
Some films don’t need to be remade; especially when they’re classics in their own right. The Amityville Horror is an exception.
Newcomer Andrew Douglas directs the update to the 1979 horror film about a young family who moves into a house in Amityville, Long Island. The house, a beautiful two story semi-mansion sold at a price too good to be true – and wouldn’t you know it… it was.
The premise is old – the house is haunted and the new family realizes a little too late. Anyone who has seen the original movie (or read the book, for that matter) knows the story well. Ronnie Defeo murdered his entire family while they slept, then blamed it on whispers in the house bringing credence to the saying, “the devil made me do it.” One year later, The Lutz family purchases the house in the hopes of making their dreams come true, and slowly, the demonic forces in the house turn George Lutz, a loving family man, into an axe-wielding maniac.
Watching Ryan Reynolds, who’s known for his comedic performances in Van Wilder and The In-Laws surprises us by making us believe he is slowly going crazy. He carries the movie flawlessly alongside Melissa George (T.V.’s “Alias”) who plays the beautiful Kathy Lutz, a wife torn between the love of her husband and the safety of her three children. The cast alone is worth the remake.
The film isn’t even 90 minutes long, and the scare fest makes the film seem even shorter, but by the end, you’re trying to catch your breath. A rollercoaster of fun that makes you jump out of your skin and creeps into your very soul every time one of the Lutzs makes their way into the house’s basement or down a long, lonely corridor. If anything, the movie will teach its viewers to look into a house’s history before making the purchase.
The DVD’s special features offer the usual commentaries and trailers, but a 15-minute documentary entitled "Supernatural Homicide" is the most intriguing. People who were actually involved in the Defeo murder case try to debunk and substantiate the evil that allegedly possesses the house and leaves you with the question; is the story actually true? If it is, it makes the movie all the more terrifying.
With superior being a bright full moon, this movie rates:
© Savournin, 2005
