April 14, 2005
By Matt Savelloni
“SATAN IS WISER NOW THAN BEFORE, AND TEMPTS BY MAKING RICH INSTEAD OF POOR.” – Alexander Pope
In 1977, THE AMITYVILLE HORROR burned up the bestseller charts. Purportedly a real-life account of a haunted house, the book offers a birds eye view of ghosts and demons terrorizing an all-American family, the Lutzes. What followed over the next three years was a torrent of rip-off’s, discussions and debates about the veracity of the book even as it continued to sell like hotcakes, culminating in a smash hit film in 1979. To this day, the controversy rages on about Jay Anson’s THE AMITYVILLE HORROR and like a repeat of those last few years of the “me” decade, we are faced with another Hollywood recreation.
Anson is something of a mystery himself. Before his encounter with George and Kathy Lutz, Anson wrote promotional shorts for films like THE DIRTY DOZEN, BULLITT, KLUTE and DIRTY HARRY. His work on THE AMITYVILLE HORROR simultaneously put him at the top of the charts and the center of dispute about whether or not he was a chronicler of the most vicious haunting in history or a participant in one of the greatest hoaxes ever perpetrated. Anson would never live to confirm or deny any of these allegations as he died in 1980 at the age of 59, just before the premiere of his second bestseller, another haunted house tale but one admittedly fictional. Many true believers point to Anson’s premature death as one of many ominous signs that there was and still is something atrociously evil living inside the most infamous house on Long Island.
Taking the book for what it claims to be, THE AMITYVILLE HORROR is a gripping read: short, intense and concise. From a literary standpoint, however, it really sucks the gas pipe. I’ve never seen such blatant use of cheap tricks, including “!” at the ends of multiple sentences and extemporaneous points of view that could not possibly have been known at the time. In other words, Anson extrapolates a lot of information, especially when it comes to the specificity of what the children felt or saw. Fine, it’s not Nathaniel Hawthorne but it is a page-turner and never overstays its welcome. Anson had clearly learned the economy of words from his days as a promo writer. THE AMITYVILLE HORROR is like listening to your grandfather tell one piss-scary story by the fireplace. It will wrap you up like few other works in the horror genre.
“WHENEVER A THING IS DONE FOR THE FIRST TIME, IT RELEASES A LITTLE DEMON.” – Emily Dickinson
 |
THE AMITYVILLE HORROR has expanded far beyond the legacy first laid down by Anson. It’s become a giant case study for conspiracy theorists, demonologists, journalists, criminologists, media commentators and sociologists alike. A few years before the Lutz clan moved in, the DeFeo family occupied the house, christening it “High Hopes.” But there was trouble brewing in the DeFeo family, particularly with the eldest son, Ron, Jr. As related in Anson’s book and alluded to in the film, Ronald DeFeo, Jr. executed his family—parents, two brothers and two sisters—as they slumbered in their bed the night of November 14, 1974. A little over a year later, he was found guilty of six counts of murder and sentenced to spend the rest of his days in prison.
During the trial, DeFeo’s defense tried to plead insanity but it quickly fell apart under cross-examination. Not long after his sentencing, the Lutzes moved into the house. Less than a month later, they moved out, having barely survived a litany of demonic tortures. To read Anson’s book is akin to reading a primer on every known haunted house device along with a list of all new terrors including a levitating pig with blood red eyes. Not long after its publication, the controversy erupted. For the true believers of THE AMITYVILLE HORROR, they debated whether or not DeFeo had invited the fiendish into his home with his ghastly sins, considering that notion that if he had not, then perhaps he was possessed by demons at the time of the murders. For the cynics, the entire circus around the Lutzes served as a distasteful exploitation of real tragedy, the greedy benefactors dancing on the graves of six innocent victims.
To be honest, I don’t know what to think and the purpose of this review is not to change your mind one way or another. I was just a kid when THE AMITYVILLE HORROR came out but I vividly remember my parents’ and siblings’ visceral reaction to both it and the movie. The tale was a sensation as was the deliberation that raged in its wake. Reports flooded the airwaves: the Lutzes admitted it was a hoax and then denied that claim, DeFeo’s defense attorney made up the story with George Lutz over drinks in the hopes of getting his client a new trial, a reputable parapsychologist published a record of inconsistencies in the Lutzes’ claims as well as the book. To this day you can type in “Amityville Horror” and get a Google listing of 1,640,000 hits. Whatever the truth may be, nearly thirty years ago, Jay Anson cast the first stone, sending out ripples that have endured and redoubled for decades, inspiring a culture of books, movies and websites that shake as forcefully as the walls of that fateful house on Ocean Avenue, Amityville.
“WE ARE HAUNTED, NOT BY REALITY, BUT BY THOSE IMAGES WE HAVE PUT IN THEIR PLACE.” – Daniel Boorstin
If there is any doubt that THE AMITYVILLE HORROR is one of the more successful series desperately in need of rejuvenation, consider this: the original version grossed nearly $90 million 1979 dollars and spawned two theater sequels in 1982 and 1983 (the ridiculous AMITYVILLE 3-D), a TV rip-off in 1989, four—count ‘em, four—direct to video spin-offs and a documentary over the last twenty-six years. The quality of these renditions is pretty poor but franchises, even crappy ones, are not made if they lose money. Let’s face facts, even if the Lutzes and Anson conspired to pull the wool over people’s eyes, there have been countless co-conspirators cashing in ever since.
 |
Stuart Rosenberg crafted the original, a director often overlooked for his cinematic contributions: COOL HAND LUKE, WUSA, POCKET MONEY, THE LAUGHING POLICEMAN and THE DROWNING POOL. Too bad he couldn’t have convinced pal Paul Newman to star in THE AMITYVILLE HORROR, an extremely dated and sodden rendition of Anson’s book. This film has not aged well and is borderline laughable by today’s standards. I couldn’t tell what was more outlandish: the bad special effects, James Brolin’s facial hair or Rod Steiger’s scenery chewing. Despite a few effective moments, this was not the finest hour for the talents involved.
So in 2005, we are getting the A-list makeover with promising young stars in Ryan Reynolds and Melissa George and the eminent presence of Philip Baker Hall. Scott Kosar crafted the script and while you may question the merits of the CHAINSAW MASSACRE remake he wrote, his work on THE MACHINIST is exemplary. The director is Andrew Douglas, straight from the commercial arena, which is why the gritty cinematography of the trailer is so appealing, evoking a rich 70’s milieu steeped in Gordon Willis blacks. There’s no doubt this redo will look and sound the part and I’m sure there will be a number of resounding surround-sound jolts; what remains to be seen is whether or not they can actually frighten us.
“The consciousness of being deemed dead, is next to the presumable unpleasantness of being so in reality. One feels like his own ghost unlawfully tenanting a defunct carcass.” – Herman Melville
E-MAIL THE AUTHOR |
ARCHIVES
