by Jeffrey K. Lyles

Not that anyone was really clamoring for a remake of the 1979 semi-horror classic "The Amityville Horror," but for those interested in a good scare, this is one remake that doesn’t disappoint.
Director Andrew Douglas doesn’t waste anytime getting the thrills rolling as his opening scene depicts a young man killing his family in a disturbing sepia toned flashback that fully establishes the film’s rapid fire pace.
George (Ryan Reynolds, "Blade Trinity") and Kathy Lutz (Melissa George, "Down With Love") are ready to take their newlywed life to the next level by moving to a home big enough to accommodate George’s business and Kathy’s three kids from her previous marriage.
One of the film’s best scenes occurs fairly early on as a frazzled-looking real estate agent gives George and Kathy the two-cent tour of the place, not even bothering to show them the basement.
After learning the house’s legacy, George decides "houses don’t kill people, people kill people." Sounds like famous last words to me George.
This remake is set in 1974 although to be honest, I’d find the whole buying a house that a family was murdered in a whole lot more believable if it was set in the present day. Have you tried buying a house with multiple-levels for less than $200,000? If anyone wanted to do a real life horror movie they could just follow a family looking to buy a home, as the housing market is murder.
It always helps a horror film’s credibility when the events are based on real life events. It’s a lot easier to laugh off an indestructible guy running around in a hockey mask than something that might actually have happened.
Clocking in at 89 minutes, the film doesn’t allow much time for the viewer to catch their breath, which both works for and against Douglas.
The early scares are effective and frightful, as he doesn’t bother with horror cliches like a door opening and some ghastly creature appearing behind one of the family members. Douglas however simply just does his best to scare the family and the audience as often as he is able.
Of course, a horror director can only push the audience’s panic button so many times before and by the film’s climax, despite some truly frightening visuals, the thrill is all but gone.
Screenwriter Scott Kosar (whose previous horror remake the 2003 "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" didn’t exactly make anyone forget the original) does infuse some humor into the proceedings so it’s not completely one scare to the next.
This especially benefits Reynolds, who even in a seemingly poor fit for his comedic talents gets big laughs without seeming out of place in a horror/thriller.
Reynolds doesn’t steal the scenes he’s in as he’s the only actor really called upon to do more than simply reacting to something strange going on in the house.
It doesn’t take long for things to start getting weird in the house as George starts hearing voices and seeing things while his stepdaughter Chelsea (Chloe Moretz, "Heart of the Beholder") has befriended Jodie, one of the murdered family members.
Another good moment occurs when George and Kathy go out for a romantic evening and hire a babysitter to watch the boys with unpredictable results.
While the rest of the family is adjusting to their new digs just fine, George’s personality is becoming decidedly warped and he appears to be on the verge of being the latest resident to take a shotgun to his family.
It says quite a bit about Reynolds’ charisma that he can run around with an axe trying to chop up his surrogate family and still be the most engaging figure on screen.
There has been a rash of horror films released in the past seven months.
The fact that they were released with the thought that people would pay to see it usually was more frightening than the movies.
"Amityville Horror" is as efficient and entertaining a movie as you need a horror/thriller to be and with another solid performance by Reynolds, if you like cheap scares in the slightest go ahead and pay a visit to this house.