Film History: You can't be a fan of horror films and not know what The Amityville Horror is. In the least, an uneducated filmgoer will still be able to tell you that its about a haunted house. More specifically, The Amityville Horror is a true-crime, a family murder committed by one Ronald DeFeo at the age of 23 - and one of the most notorious hauntings in American folklore stems from this horrific act. The Amityville Horror first appeared as a novel and movie. Along with Its Alive, it was one of the first two novels I had ever read, and the two of them together built the foundation from which my horror interests began. In 1979, the feature film appeared starring Margot Kidder and James Brolin. It was horrifying, creepy, evil, and believable. After much coverage, speculation, and interest, people started to understand the true-story behind the myth. In 1982, Amityville II: The Posession appeared, starring Burt Young and James Olsen. It was a prequel - and outlined the supposive story of the original murders in 1975 - telling it in a way that backed Ron Defeo's confession, that spirit voices got into his head and manipulated him to murder his mother, father, and three siblings. Several other sequels were relased, all twisted off a fictional tangeant - and most recently, The Amityville Horror (2005) was released - a remake of the original. In this day and age of mass manufactured remakes, Amityville 2005 fell right into the remake stereotype by being a faded carbon-copy of a film, lacking any visceral power to make it terrifying, and trying too hard with multiple scare tactics, faces in windows, arms in bathtubs, etc. I kept an open mind on the new version - and although the acting was above-average, I came from it vowing to keep only the original in my DVD collection. 2005's Amityville Horror was another example of hollywood's lack of original ideas - and a director that thought shock and jumpers were what made this story a classic, and not the psychological, unseen aspects of the lingering terror. He was wrong.
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| Actual photo of 112 Ocean Ave. |
Lingering Effects: One thing that stood out to me was the address in the 2005 remake. It said 412 Ocean Ave. The original incident of the family murders and subsequent haunting occured at 112 Ocean Avenue in Amityville, NY. For years, the latter owners of the address claimed that nothing odd ever occured in the house, and that they were tired of people crowding in front of their address to see the notorious landmark. They remodeled the original house and even removed the eye-like attic windows. This new false address was given in hopes that they wouldn't have to deal with another five years of fanclubs. More recently, in reality, Ron DeFeo has been in court over the remaking of the film, debating how the story has come to damage his reputation, that he should make money from the earnings due to his true-life involvement, and applying for schedule paroles. Ron DeFeo has not been, and most likely will not be let out of prison - and his court proceedings have been thrown out.
True Account: Thanks to some great work by Douglas B. Lynott, there is some great information available on the internet detailing the true story and all its accounts, as it originally occured. The original 911 call transcripts, photos of the original address including the crime scene, the victims, and Ron DeFeo. There is also detailed coverage of the trial, original newspaper reports, and a lot more. Below is a list of links you can visit to access some of this information if you'd like to do your own personal research.
Video Montage: Some people are confused as to what house was used in the movie, where the original house is located, what they look like in comparison, etc. On Google Video, if you enter Long Island Amityville into the search field, you will pull up an excellent amateur video made by Anthony Borga. It is a three minute montage, played to the original theme from Amityville Horror (1979), and it shows you the three houses involved with the films. The first is of 112 Ocean Avenue (not 412 as falsely told in the remake), and you can see for yourself that the appearance of the house looks nothing like it originally did back in the 70's. There are several great shots of the locale leading to it, such as expressway exit signs, and the drive leading to each of these locations. Also shown are the Toms River location, where the 1979 movie was filmed, and finally, the home used in its 2005 remake, where you can see proof that many horror fans like to crowd these actual addresses. If you'd like to see the video, its a great 3 minutes - you will need to first make sure that your computer is Flash Media able - and if youre not, thats easily solved by following the forementioned links below.
The Amityville Horror in 1979 was a horror classic. Amityville II: The Possession was another good creepfest, and one of the better, more memorable possession movies I can remember. The sequels are missable. 2005's remake was a lame attempt that failed, like the somewhat recent television remake of The Shining. What is most interesting about The Amityville Horror is the true accounts behind it, the story of the haunting that occured (chasing the new residents George and Kathy Lutz from their new home after only 28 days, when they fled, leaving all of their belongings behind), and the debates that arise from knowing the details. Whether you believe the story or not, whether or not you can draw the line between fact and fiction within this case - it all adds up to one of the most mythical horror stories of our generation.
LINKS:
Video montage: Amityville Horror Houses by Anthony Borga - here
- you will need Flash Player 8 (download here)
Photo gallery of the crime scene - here
911 transcripts - here
The story behind the family murder - here
Who and why: family murderer Ron DeFeo - here
The trial - here
Aftermath: books, movies, press - here
Complete resources/news on The Amityville Horror - here
Newsday Article: The Horrors in Amityville - here
Newsday Article: Crime in the Suburbs - here
IMDB Amityville Horror (1979) - here
- buy it from Amazon.com
IMDB Amityville Horror II: The Possession (1982) - here
- buy it from Amazon.com
IMDB Amityville Horror (2005) - here
- buy it from Amazon.com
