The Amityville Horror
1979, Horror, 1h 57m
44 Reviews 50,000+ RatingsWhat to know
Dull and disappointing, the best that can be said for The Amityville Horror is that it set a low bar for its many sequels and remakes. Read critic reviews
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The Amityville Horror Videos
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Movie Info
Cast & Crew
George Lutz
Kathy Lutz
Father Delaney
Father Bolen
Amy
Greg
News & Interviews for The Amityville Horror
Critic Reviews for The Amityville Horror
All Critics (44) | Top Critics (8) | Fresh (13) | Rotten (31)
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[The Amityville Horror] begins with the promising premise of a haunted house in the suburbs (poltergeists in the barbecue pit?) and quickly degenerates into a display of pretentious camera angles.
March 20, 2019 | Full Review… -
The Amityville Horror is a horror. What is supposed to be the true story of a young couple driven from their dream house by demons turns out to be nothing more than a rip-off, and a tedious one at that.
March 20, 2019 | Full Review… -
Its pacing is off, there are too many go-nowhere subplots, & it seems just to come to a clunking halt at the end [but] the film's lack of commitment to any single reading of its narrative architecture is precisely what makes it so uncanny.
June 26, 2017 | Full Review… -
It's definitely a house that audiences will enjoy visiting, especially if unfamiliar with the ending.
March 26, 2009 | Full Review… -
Tautly directed, but the thin material, and a dreadfully hammy priest from Steiger, effectively wreck what little suspense remains.
February 9, 2006 | Full Review… -
Mr. Steiger bellows and weeps and overdoes absolutely everything. He won't even pick up the phone before it's rung 12 or 15 times.
May 9, 2005 | Full Review…
Audience Reviews for The Amityville Horror
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Mar 14, 2013[img]http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/user/icons/icon13.gif[/img]Directors C Super Reviewer
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Oct 23, 2012It's just awful. The tension is laughable throughout and I struggle to empathize with any of the characters.Jason 123 D Super Reviewer
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Oct 14, 2012*1/2 out of **** Jay Anson's "The Amityville Horror" is considered to be one of the most important, controversial, and polarizing pieces of horror literature ever committed to a few hundred pages. At the time of its release and afterwards, it was subject to speculation whilst Anson faced various lawsuits. I haven't read it in full but I have read excerpts from the book before, and I can already tell you that it's a more terrifying supposed "real-life" story than this poor, messy film adaptation makes it out to be. Regardless of what you believe and how honest the story being told may actually be, Anson had conjured up an accumulated sense of dread that this 1979 adaptation helmed by Stuart Rosenberg never quite captures. George (James Brolin) and Cathy Lutz (Margot Kidder) are a young couple who have just purchased a new home that rests by a lake of sorts. The film starts off by showing us horrible things that happened in that house just months earlier; namely a homicide case involving a father killing his entire family in the middle of the night at random with a shotgun. The couple is unaware of these things and until further notices settles down quite nicely with their three children (two boys, one little girl; they also have a much older son who is to be wed soon). The house is quite large and creepy; and you know something's really up when the daughter has a new imaginary friend and the local priest comes to bless the house and hears a loud, booming voice that tells him not-so-kindly to "Get out!" The one most affected by the haunting aesthetic of the house is George. His mental state starts to collapse very slowly and he comes down with a cold. He also stops attending work and instead spends hours on end splitting logs outside in the yard; something that a co-worker takes notice of. I only mention the co-worker because his wife, a woman with a peculiar interest in the paranormal, agrees to come to the Lutz residence to do some paranormal investigating after George expresses concern. Perhaps those who died in that house are communicating from beyond the grave, hmm? It wouldn't anything particularly new, would it? Everything is in place. You've got a large and demeaning house, creepy theme music by Lalo Schifrin with children singing an ominous tune, and a set-up that calls for some seriously surreal and ghostly going-ons. Instead of taking advantage of all these things that are essentially handed to him on a silver platter, Rosenberg decides to essentially direct this one on auto-pilot. It's not God-awful, annoying direction; but it's so bland an uninspired that it might as well be either better or worse than, well, that. Even the scenes intended to be scary and strange, like the one with the babysitter getting locked in the closet and another involving two red inhuman eyes being seen outside of the daughter's bedroom, are practically useless and completely forgettable. The only striking image is the house and the excessive red color tinting that is so frequently employed. The pacing feels incredibly slow. So slow that I came this close to just giving up on this damned movie. I don't dislike "The Amityville Horror" because of its pacing - I actually enjoy a good suspense flick - but because it just doesn't have a good enough story or compelling enough actors (although the leads do their best to give it some zest) to hold up and capture the viewer's interest. Therefore, it drags on and on and comes off as rather boring. It makes the general mistake of thinking that big special effects will compensate for a lack of talent in the areas of building tension and generating scares. It comes off as neither surreal nor terrifying. Stupid, overlong, and uninteresting is more like it. This is just another textbook example of a studio horror film made with the pretense of being scary in exchange for profit. Well, look where that gets you; in this case, quite a bit of money and in the five dollar bin at Walmart. I personally don't think I could live with the shame.Ryan M Super Reviewer
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Dec 31, 2011The Amityville Horror is a decent haunted house movie, but one that is somewhat unmemorable as a whole. However, I don't think it's as bad as the reviews suggest. The acting is cheesy and the plot isn't all that great, but as a horror movie, it's simply mediocre, not necessarily terrible. It's interesting enough to hold your attention if you're horror movie buff, but you will probably forget much of what happens in the movie shortly after watching it.Joey S Super Reviewer
The Amityville Horror Quotes
| Kathleen Lutz: | You don´t have to prove me anything... |
| Kathleen Lutz: | You don't have to prove me anything... |
| Aunt Helena: | Beurgggghhhhhhhhhhachhhh! (Nun puking) |
| Aunt Helena: | Beurgggghhhhhhhhhhachhhh! [nun puking] |
| George Lutz: | What do you want from us? God damn it, this is MY HOUSE!!!! |
| George Lutz: | What do you want from us? God damn it, this is MY HOUSE! |
| Kathleen Lutz: | (to George) - Don't hurt my babies!! |
| Kathleen Lutz: | (to George) Don't hurt my babies! |
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