Ghost Movies

The Amityville Horror is a 2005 horror film directed by Andrew Douglas for United Artists and Dimension Films. It is a remake of the original 1979 film version of the same name, which was based on Jay Anson’s 1977 novel of the same name. The film is ostensibly inspired by a real life murder case from November 1974 on Long Island, New York, in which Ronald DeFeo, Jr. shot dead six members of his family.

George and Kathy Lutz (played by Ryan Reynolds and Melissa George), along with their three children, move into what they believe will be their dream home on Long Island, New York. The house had previously belonged to the DeFeo family, where Ronald DeFeo, Jr. had murdered his parents and siblings with a rifle a year earlier. DeFeo spent most of his time in the basement where later he claimed that he heard voices urging him to commit the crime. When the Lutzes move in, George frequently complains of the cold and starts spending large amounts of time in the basement.

Kathy’s daughter begins acting strangely after developing a mysterious invisible friend with the same name as one of the murdered DeFeos.

She attempts to jump off the roof and becomes inseparable from a toy that Kathy later learns was buried with the DeFeo girl. A priest comes to bless the house but the holy water sizzles when it hits the walls and he is attacked by a horde of flies.

Refrigerator magnets rearrange themselves to spell “Katchem and Kill ‘Em”. On a dare, a baby sitter enters the closet where Jodie DeFeo was shot, and Jodie appears to her. The closet door locks itself, the walls begin to bleed and the ghostly apparition makes the baby sitter put her finger in the bullet hole in her head. The baby sitter is taken to the emergency room, severely traumatized.

After several other paranormal events, Kathy decides to research the history of her home in the library’s public records. After searching for many hours, she finds records of an arrest of a mysterious cult preacher “Father Katchem” who tortured and killed Native Americans in the basement of his sanctuary. Upon encountering a picture of the sanctuary, she realizes that this is her house.

One is led to believe that the evil spirit of “Father Katchem” possesses George Lutz as a scene appears flashing between Kathy at the library and George chopping away at the basement wall. He climbs into the space behind the wall and sees numerous bodies murdered in grotesque ways and he sees “Father Katchem”. Kathy rushes home, where George appears to definitely be possessed. After a game of cat and mouse, where they are nearly killed, Kathy and her children knock George out and escape with him on their boat. When they are away from the house, he is fine again.

Jodie is left standing in the front doorway. As she starts screaming, everything in the house starts resetting itself. The clocks hit 3:15, and Jodie stops screaming, just in time to be pulled through the floor by an unknown pair of hands.

The Amityville Horror is a 1979 American horror film based on the bestselling novel of the same name by Jay Anson. The film was directed by Stuart Rosenberg and starred James Brolin, Margot Kidder and Rod Steiger. After purchasing and moving into their new home on 112 Ocean Avenue, a house where a mass murder had been committed the year before, the Lutz family experiences a series of frightening paranormal events, causing them to flee the house only 28 days after moving in. The story is reportedly based on the real-life experiences of the Lutz family, though these events have been the subject of much controversy.

The on-location scenes of The Amityville Horror were filmed at a house in Toms River, New Jersey, which had been converted to look like the 112 Ocean Avenue home after the authorities in Amityville denied permission for filming on the actual location. Exterior scenes were also filmed in Toms River and Point Pleasant Beach. Local police and ambulance workers would play extras in the film, while the Toms River Volunteer Fire Company was used to provide the rain during several scenes. Jay Anson’s screenplay, based upon his bestselling novel, was rejected by the producers who opted for a version written by Sandor Stern.

James Brolin was hesitant when first offered the role of George Lutz. Told that there was no script, he obtained a copy of Anson’s novel to read. Brolin started the book and read until two o’clock in the morning. He had hung up a pair of his pants in the room earlier and during an especially tense passage of the book, the pants fell to the floor. Brolin jumped from his chair in fright. It was then that Brolin decided to do the movie. Brolin became friendly with George Lutz and his family, though he was highly doubtful of their story. Brolin later said he couldn’t get a job for two years because of his performance in this film. Nevertheless, this depends on what one defines as a ‘job’, since he starred in Night of the Juggler (1980) as Sean Boyd, and in High Risk (1981) as Stone (1980).