The Amityville Horror
Short description
In 1974, six members of a family were shot to death in their beds in a house in Amityville, Long Island. A year later, George and Kathy Lutz move in with their three children, having bought the large home at a price that seemed too good to pass up. What begins as a fresh start turns unsettling as strange events multiply and George's behaviour changes, while the family's youngest daughter is troubled by visions she cannot explain.
The film is a remake of the 1979 horror picture of the same name, itself drawn from the Lutz family's account of their time in the house. Andrew Douglas directed, working from a screenplay by Scott Kosar and Sandor Stern, with Michael Bay, Andrew Form and Bradley Fuller producing. Ryan Reynolds plays George and Melissa George plays Kathy, and the couple's children are played by Jesse James, Jimmy Bennett and Chloë Grace Moretz. Rachel Nichols appears as Lisa. It was Douglas's first feature as director; his second, uwantme2killhim?, followed in 2013.
Made for about 19 million US dollars, the film took in roughly 108 million worldwide, a strong return on its budget. On IMDb it holds 5.9 out of 10 from around 122,000 votes and on TMDB 6.1 out of 10 from roughly 2,400 votes, while a critics' rating stands at 4.3 out of 10 from 164 reviews, well below the audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- Shortly before filming, the body of a local fisherman was found washed ashore on the lake near the house.
- Ryan Reynolds wore special contact lenses to make his eyes black.
- This film was the last released by MGM as an independent studio, as the studio was purchased by several companies, including "Sony," on April 8, 2005.
- While Amityville was rebuilt from an old Rustman family home located on the shore of Silver Lake in Wisconsin (costing $60,000), many of its interiors were filmed in an empty building in Buffalo Grove, Illinois.
- The film was shot over two and a half months, from August 2nd to October 12th, 2004, in the cities of Buffalo Grove (Illinois), Salem (Wisconsin), Antioch (Illinois), and Chicago (Illinois), on Fox Lake (Illinois) and Silver Lake (Wisconsin).
- The film is based on the book of the same name by Jay Anson, which was written based on materials from George and Kathy Lutz. As stated at the beginning, the film is based on true events, but this long-standing American "urban legend" was eventually debunked.
- At the very beginning of the film, when George is making scrambled eggs for breakfast, a dirty stove and frying pan are shown; in the next shot, the frying pan is already clean.
- The film is based on Jay Anson’s novel “The Amityville Horror: A True Story” (1977).
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