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The Amityville Horror, 1979
George (James Brolin) and Kathy (Margot Kidder) move into a new house with Kathy's three children. But soon after their arrival, strange things begin to happen. Unbeknownst to the family, the house was the site of a terrible family murder. As George becomes more and more susceptible to the weird energies of the house, will history repeat itself?
After more than a decade of hearing about how underwhelming this movie is and about how the only scary thing about it is Brolin swanning around in a pair of underpants and a shirt, I ended up liking this one a bit more than I expected to. Oh, don't get me wrong, it's decidedly a step below being good. But I did find a few moments here or there that were pleasant surprises.
I did like some of the initial things that happened in the movie. I think that with haunted house type stories, the events have to be creepy, but not so much that the people would immediately pack up and bolt. This includes things like strange swarms of flies appearing in the house. I also liked a sequence where a young babysitter gets trapped in a closet and can't get out, while the young daughter simply ignores her cries for help. The babysitter's hands are bloodied from pounding on the door, and I liked how in the background as George and Kathy are arguing about it you can see a bloody smear on the inside of the closet door.
But from there, eh. There are a lot of aspects to the film that just don't really go anywhere. A priest and nun who visit the house become strangely ill, and the priest almost dies in a freak car accident. So the house is . . . telekinetic? A friend of George's who is sort of psychic talks about the house having been home to some sort of satanic worship and trapped spirits. So the house is . . . haunted by the spirits of those people? Also there's a well that is a portal to hell? Or something?
It's also really hard to watch Kathy enduring increasing abuse at George's hands, including him hitting her full in the face. I mean, I'm not saying that it's unrealistic, per se. We see that Kathy can be timid, as when she tries to find the priest who has gone because of his affliction.
There are also some side characters that seem like they should be more involved, but just aren't. This is especially true of a priest played by Don Stroud. He's kind of shown as this young, hunky modern priest. You'd think that he'd maybe develop a relationship of some kind with Kathy or at least doggedly pursue what's happening in the house. Nope.
It's all just very . . . okay. The actors are fine, but no one really rises above in my opinion.
The Amityville Horror, 1979
George (James Brolin) and Kathy (Margot Kidder) move into a new house with Kathy's three children. But soon after their arrival, strange things begin to happen. Unbeknownst to the family, the house was the site of a terrible family murder. As George becomes more and more susceptible to the weird energies of the house, will history repeat itself?
After more than a decade of hearing about how underwhelming this movie is and about how the only scary thing about it is Brolin swanning around in a pair of underpants and a shirt, I ended up liking this one a bit more than I expected to. Oh, don't get me wrong, it's decidedly a step below being good. But I did find a few moments here or there that were pleasant surprises.
I did like some of the initial things that happened in the movie. I think that with haunted house type stories, the events have to be creepy, but not so much that the people would immediately pack up and bolt. This includes things like strange swarms of flies appearing in the house. I also liked a sequence where a young babysitter gets trapped in a closet and can't get out, while the young daughter simply ignores her cries for help. The babysitter's hands are bloodied from pounding on the door, and I liked how in the background as George and Kathy are arguing about it you can see a bloody smear on the inside of the closet door.
But from there, eh. There are a lot of aspects to the film that just don't really go anywhere. A priest and nun who visit the house become strangely ill, and the priest almost dies in a freak car accident. So the house is . . . telekinetic? A friend of George's who is sort of psychic talks about the house having been home to some sort of satanic worship and trapped spirits. So the house is . . . haunted by the spirits of those people? Also there's a well that is a portal to hell? Or something?
It's also really hard to watch Kathy enduring increasing abuse at George's hands, including him hitting her full in the face. I mean, I'm not saying that it's unrealistic, per se. We see that Kathy can be timid, as when she tries to find the priest who has gone because of his affliction.
There are also some side characters that seem like they should be more involved, but just aren't. This is especially true of a priest played by Don Stroud. He's kind of shown as this young, hunky modern priest. You'd think that he'd maybe develop a relationship of some kind with Kathy or at least doggedly pursue what's happening in the house. Nope.
It's all just very . . . okay. The actors are fine, but no one really rises above in my opinion.