Directed by Stuart Rosenberg (“Cool Hand Luke”) it follows George (James Brolin) and his wife, Kathy Lutz (Margot Kidder) as they start a new life together with Kathy’s three children at their new home in Amityville, Long Island. They purchase the large house with accompanying boat shed for a mere $80, 000. The catch? A year prior, Roland DeFeo Jr. murdered his parents and four siblings in the same house. After moving in the Lutz’s begin to find themselves plagued by the supernatural phenomena of the house, in the most violent of ways.
What makes this film eerie even before watching it, is the fact that it was based on the supposed ‘real life’ happenings within the house, as told by the Lutz family. They claimed that within days of moving into the house, strange things started happening that could not be explained, such as George waking up every morning at 3:15 am, which was later known to be the estimated time of the DeFeo Jr. killings.
Let’s look at the house first. If the house is merely just the setting and more like another character then you know the director has got it right. The two windows that act like the houses angry eyes, the way that it is situated on it’s own and the rapid jump cuts between present and past at the beginning of the film to show what happened in each room the night of the murders, feel almost as if the house has a secret it doesn’t want the Lutz’s to know. Although it was not filmed at the original DeFeo house, there’s still a sense of authenticity that adds weight to the creepiness of the whole film.
What especially captured me to the film was the score. Rosenberg was not afraid to utilize the powerful tool of silence. I’m not used to seeing this in many current horror films, which is refreshing. This gives the audience an opportunity to get lost in the scene and make the creepier moments even creepier, exactly what you want out of a horror film. The times when there was music, it would start slow and accumulate to an intense scene or moment, urging you to jump.
Brolin and Kidder are excellent in their roles. Kidder is the perfect medium between guarded and maternal. Brolin goes from being a strong stepfather and husband, to being hostile and consumed with the house. There are numerous close-ups of the characters eyes; I found it remarkable that they were able to show rather than tell, which made their performances all the more believable.
If you are partial to a haunted house type of horror film, then do yourself a favour and see this classic.
– by Adrianna Jakimowicz
