Susan Granger’s review of “The Amityville Horror” (M.G.M)
There’s a lesson to be learned from the box-office success of this film: horror pictures make money, even if they’re quite dreadful. Why? Audiences like to be scared. So, once again, we’re back with an unsuspecting couple, George and Kathy Lutz (Ryan Reynolds and Melissa George), buying a huge, creepy but surprisingly inexpensive old Dutch Colonial house at 112 Ocean Avenue on Long Island and moving in with their three children and a dog. No matter that, a year early, a 23 year-old nutcase claimed that sinister voices from his TV test pattern told him to murder his entire family at 3:15 a.m.. After all, as George insists, “Houses don’t kill people; people kill people. There are no bad houses, only bad people.” But then their little daughter makes friends with Jodie, a ghost who lives in the closet, blood pours from the water faucets and kitchen magnets spell out a warning: “Katch ‘Em & Kill ‘Em.” Could something really be wrong here? You betcha! A priest (Philip Baker Hall) who tries to sanctify the house with holy water is attached by killer insects, the face of Satan beckons from a gateway to hell and ghouls abound. Within 28 days, the Lutz family runs for their lives. The 1979 version with Margot Kidder and James Brolin built on the real-life 1974 tragedy that put Amityville on the map but, back then, many of writer Jay Anson’s “facts” were not yet contested. Now, at least, hunky Ryan Reynolds demonstrates that he can tackle big-screen drama and beautiful Melissa George is delightfully distraught. Too bad director Andrew Douglas lacks subtlety, innovation and imagination. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Amityville Horror” is a shocky, schlocky 4. With the psychological horror, it’s a real estate nightmare.
