Delayed Reaction: The Amityville Horror

The Pitch: What if The Exorcist but with a house?

A family moves into the house where some brutal murders were committed and begins to be affected by an evil presence.

Horror is all about eras. Someone has a good idea, and everyone in town milks it until it stops being successful. German expressionism came and went in the 20s. The Universal monster movies dominated the 30s. Sci-Fi B-Movies had their time in the 50s. The 80s had slashers. The 90's went meta. Found footage took hold at points throughout the 2000s. The Amityville Horror serves as a nice reminder that there aren't always neat little dividing lines. The prevailing theme of the 70s was religious, normally Catholic, horror. Rosemary's Baby in 1969 opened the door with the deal-with-the-Devil story. The Exorcist was the game changer, and became one of the 10 highest grossing movies ever (It still is, adjusted for inflation). Movies like The Omen (adopting the Devil's child) kept it going. The Amityville Horror marks a sort of transition point. It's very religiously themed, but it's ultimately a haunted house and paranormal story, fitting in nicely with Poltergeist a few years later.

And, you can feel the demonic horror angle running out in Amityville Horror. It seems like most of the time in the movie is spent keeping religious figures away. And the movie is at its scariest when it's just a house scaring the shit out of people.

Some of the charm of this movie was lost by the fact that I saw the 2005 remake, which didn't try to change a whole hell of a lot, and Poltergeist and The Conjuring really ran with the idea. I'm kind of curious to see the Amityville sequels though, because this strikes me as a series that goes off the rails quickly and spectacularly.

This was OK though.

Verdict: Weakly Don't Recommend