The Back Story

Back in 1977 a book was published by Prentice Hall that was titled “The Amityville Horror: A True Story”. It was a horror book written by author Jay Anson and it was about one couple’s honest to goodness story of a demonic entity inside their newly purchased home. There has been large amounts of controversy about the validity or truthfulness of their claims but no matter how you feel about the book or the movies one thing holds true, The Amityville Horror is one of the most if not THE most famous “true” haunted house stories in circulation. Now I personally don’t believe in ghosts or UFO’s or the Easter Bunny at all so I see it as a cool story, but others that have seen this that do believe in ghosts or demonic houses have found it pretty creepy, and thats OK.

The main story is about a couple of Newlyweds by the name of George and Kathy Lutz that buy a house for steal of a price because the house was the location for a grisly murder that had taken place there previously. The murders (known as the Defeo murders) had involved the father of a family gunning down his entire family at 3:15 am after going insane (or being possessed). The Lutz family then move into the house at 112 Ocean Avenue, Amityville NY and 28 days later they flee the house and never return for their stuff. The completely stupid sequels that followed where total fiction (if you actually believe the first one was true) and didn’t entirely focus on the house itself. The later movies focused on cursed items FROM the house like a possessed mirror, a clock, a dollhouse or a lamp. Lucky for you I’ve done the hard work for you and I’ve taken it upon myself to explain this entire series for you as to trim the fat so to speak of your horror movie watching experience.

The Amityville Horror is worth a watch for sure if you haven’t seen it becuase it is part of pop culture. Id watch the original from 1979, Amityville 3D, and the 2005 remake of the original. The rest i’d skip entirely.

The Explanations

The Amityville Horror (1979): Newlyweds move into a demon possessed house with a grisly past and they almost kill each other then run away.

Amityville 2: The Possession (1982): More people move into the demon house it possesses a boy he does his sister and a priest helps him.

Amityville 3-D (1983): A skeptic moves into the demon house which kills his daughter, drives his wife nuts and later freezes things.

Amityville 4: The Evil Escapes (1989): The demons escape in a lamp and try to possess a girl in California by pretending to be her dead dad.

The Amityville Curse (1990): People spend the night in the abandoned Amityville demon house and find out that it is in fact possessed.

Amityville 1992: It’s About Time (1992): A guy brings home a clock from the Amityville house and it’s possessed (imagine that) death ensues.

Amityville: A New Generation (1993): A mirror from the Amityville house is possessed and it as you could imagine, kills people.

Amityville: Dollhouse (1996): A replica dollhouse of the Amityville house unleashes demonic terror upon a family.

The Amityville Horror (2005): Newlyweds flee from a haunted house 28 days after their purchase and practically going insane.

Amityville (Entire Film Series): Demons kill and drive people nuts that enter a house or own anything from the house.

Fun Facts

• The outdoor scenes of the movie were not filmed in Amityville, Long Island, but rather Toms River, New Jersey. Local police and ambulance workers played extras.
• The Toms River, New Jersey volunteer Fire Company Number One was used to provide the “rain” during one of the exterior scenes. If you look closely, you can see that it is sunny and not “raining” in the background, the next street over.
• Even though James Brolin became friendly with George Lutz and his children, he was highly doubtful of their story.
• James Brolin said he didn’t get a job for two years after doing this movie because of the cruelty of his character.
• Like James Brolin, star Margot Kidder also went on record saying she didn’t believe the Amityville story either.
• In hopes of creating more publicity for the film the studio would concoct stories of “weird” occurrences on the set of the film.
• The 2005 remake was not screened for the critics.
• Ryan Reynolds chose not to become close with his “movie” children. He wasn’t mean or rude to them, just very distant. So distant in fact that the children often confided to those on the set that “Ryan doesn’t like us!” Ryan said that he didn’t want to “fall in love” with the kids. Ryan did this so that when “George” started changing, he’d have no trouble easing into the verbal and physical abuse.
• Just before shooting started on the 2005 Remake, the body of a fisherman who had been murdered washed up on the bank of the river right near the main house.