Fiction vs. Fiction: The Amityville Horror (1979)

 Long ago, I covered the original Amityville Horror Films.  Is that due for a Compendium too?

In any event, I stumbled upon the original Book (actually 2 copies, but I only need 1).
It is pretty famous, so why not check it out?

It is time for another face-off between the written and visual mediums...

***VS***

What's the Same?

Both the Film and Book tell the tale of the Lutz Family in 112 Ocean Ave.  They buy a House unaware of the recent murders...somehow.

Strange stuff starts to happen.  Flies appear.  George goes crazy.

In the End, they leave (and The Conjuring Series is somehow set up).

What's Different?

So if the Story Beats are the same, why bother with this?
Well, many MANY things were added or removed.

George goes crazy in the Book as he's always cold, confused by the dog's behavior and awoken at 3:15 am every morning.

In the Film, he's driven mad and compelled to try and kill his family!

This is not in the Book.  The Remake added him killing the Dog (which led to a lawsuit).

The Book has weird stuff like a ceramic lion somehow moving (when nobody is watching) and somehow attacking George (which he doesn't see).  
This is not in the Film.

The Babysitter Scene is only in the Film(s).

The Book implies that the House drove George to not shave, making him end up looking like Ronald DeFeo (who died in 2021).
The Film just has James Brolin with the beard from the get-go.  Probably easier for a Film.

Curiously, the Book calls the Priest as 'Father Mancuso.'  The Film calls him Father Delaney.
He's made sick and eventually made blind by the evil forces.
In the Book, he grows welts and feels sick all of the time.

In a random change, he always seems to be talking to Kathy and not George in the Film.  I guess it is because George is just going crazy.

The Book's finale has George speaking in tongues, Kathy floating and other weird stuff.  They leave.
An Epilogue says that people came in, felt sick...but otherwise saw nothing crazy.

Final Thoughts

The Book really tries to get you to relate to the Family.  It also features lots of little details like random drawings of the House Layout at key points.

The Film really lays it on thick with George being driven crazy and erratic.  It makes for a more interesting Film to have him be 'a villain,' whether he's in control or not.

The Book really pushes the idea that the Family must work together to survive.  The Film is about the House making George into 'a new Ronald.'

What is Better?

The Book.

While the Film has big moments, I think the focus change is a misstep.  Yep, I'm here telling you that a Classic Film that got 27 and 3/4 Sequels got it wrong.

Welcome to Film Blogging.

A Book that is full of third-hand accounts of fright and unprovable things.  That said, it builds up dread and makes you feel for the Family more than the Film(s).

Fiction vs. Fiction (Kind of): Amityville- The Nightmare Continues (1991)

 I took forever to finish this Book, so I missed the chance to make this my 4,700th Post Celebration.

Oh well- I still finished it in the end, so let's do this...

***VS***

The reason for the 'Kind of' in the Title is that this is one of the many Book Sequels.  The Film Sequels are mixed bag as far as the sources go, with some being based on Books and others just whatever they felt like.

This Book doesn't reference 'Amityville: The Evil Escapes,' but also cribs from it too.

Look- I wrote an Article about the Books long ago.  See it here.

What's the Same?

The Plot of the Book involves 2 Kids going into the still-empty House and taking some goods from it.
Said goods kill people.

On top of that, there's an underlying Plot about the mystery of what's still-haunting the House.

What's Different?

In the Films based on the ancillary Books, the whole Story is built around ONE object that creates lots of chaos (killing pets, injuring people, etc) and eventually has to be stopped.

In this Book, the Kids sell/give away items throughout the tale- which takes place over about a Month.
The items tend to kill people THAT DAY.

Said deaths are also just padding, since they rarely affect the Leads.  They are basically the Random Campers/Counselors you see in Friday the 13th Films (and its Ripoffs).

In the Films, our Heroes/Heroines eventually defeat the evil and usually live happily ever after.

In this Book, one of the Kids goes missing forever, the other sees his Father killed by a ghost snake in front of him and his Mother (who gets tried for the killings, despite all logic).  Also the Detective just kind of dies later and nobody lives happily ever after.

Yea.

Here's the biggest thing- this Book pretends to be 100% Non-Fiction.

No, really.

The Author has this elaborate Book backstory involving a friend asking him to write about it and then said friend dying mysteriously before he gets the chance.  He also interrupts the narrative at random points to use 'Notes.'

For instance, he says that the one kid was never found again...four Chapters before the end.  Why?!?

Did he convince me that this was real?  No.
Did he convince people back in 1991?  Maybe.

Final Thoughts

Honestly, despite me being dismissive of the attempts to make this seem like Non-Fiction, I actually kind of enjoyed the Book.

The Author fills it with some freaky visuals that I would kind of like to see on Film.  With the dirge of Copyright-free Amityville Films being made, why not this Story? 

The Plot definitely has many distractions, but it works overall.
Just ignore all of the silliness involving this all being 'a True Story' and it's pretty enjoyable!

Poor Bastards of Cinema: Amityville 4- The Evil Escapes

 Amityville Horror is a Series that has somehow come back...but not really.

If you excise the word 'Horror,' it's Public Domain, since it's a location.

Before that happened, let's see a Poor Bastard from the 4th REAL Film that I somehow missed in my early days.  Make-up time!

The Plot involves a possessed lamp that ends up in a California home, causing many problems and later deaths. 
They call a Plumber to fix one such problem...

He goes into their spacious Basement and finds the Pipes.

No danger here, random unnamed Plumber!

He positions in a way that would be dangerous even if this *wasn't* a Horror Film...

The Lamp- which can move through electricity in the House- somehow causes sewage to burst through the pipes enough to break a beam that holds him down.

Somehow.

The sewage- as well as the severed hand of an earlier victim- come out and he drowns in some gross, evil stuff.

He dies.

To put a nice bow on this stupid present, the Lamp somehow takes control of his van and drives it away.

Somehow- a word you'll be using alot by the end of this Film to describe what happens.

Personally, I want to see the evil spirit have to make the long walk back after presumably driving said van a mile away.

In summary, a random Plumber is hired and killed with no knowledge of what is going on.  He didn't even get named on-screen!

The moral: do a safe job like Cliff Diver or Bank Robber.

Next time, I go old-school with a random victim from Universal.  Sound Recording was still new, but Poor Bastards were still getting killed.  See you then...

The Amityville Book Series Summary

Before I say anything, let me make things clear: I have not read these books.  I'm not judging their literary quality (much).  This is just about the series as a whole.  Speaking of which, here's the timeline for you...

1) The Amityville Horror- The original book by Jay Anson that started it all.  It may not all be verifiable, but it is generally well-respected.

2) Murder in Amityville- This book by Hans Holzer is a Prequel.  It's not exactly well-liked and didn't exactly lead to a great film.

It has since been re-released as 'Amityville- Fact or Fiction?'  That's me being nice.

3) The Amityville Horror, Part II- Of course this is the THIRD book.  John G. Jones is here and not Holzer- yea.  The book, however, suffers from trying to seem real, while being stuck with this tagline: 'This book is a work of fiction, the author created this story.'

4) Amityville: The Final Chapter- Does anyone believe this?  This work is supposedly the wrap-up of the Lutz's and their story.  Sure it is...

5) Amityville: The Evil Escapes- This is the one to blame for a lot of the sequels.  Based on a tale that the Lutzes wanted to make, it was re-purposed here.

Thanks for Amityville 1992: It's About Time- it's hysterical!

6) The Amityville Curse- Hans Holzer is back!  This one is essentially a Retcon or a Reboot, giving a new reason for the house being haunted.  Thanks for that...I think.

7) Amityville: The Horror Returns- Yeah, the Lutzes are back.  This time it's REALLY the last time.  John G. Jones is back as well, proving that some things/people never go away.  Two things to note here:

A. This book contains in-references to the film.  That's cute, but a bit Meta.
B. The Wikipedia page is the longest one of all of the books, save for the original.  Big fan online, huh?

8) Amityville: The Nightmare Continues- Hurray for the new story!  It's a Reboot too, giving us THREE stories instead of one.

That's a novel approach- pun fully-intended.  I should also note that this one is STILL listed as Non-Fiction.

9) High Hopes: The Amityville Murders: Oddly, this book is trying to be Non-Fiction again and does not mention the supernatural, save for one sentence.

It attempts to be a true story, while also stating a claim about a 1972 murder that can't be proven.  Making statements that can't be verified- this is an Amityville book!

So that's the book series in a nutshell.  See how confusing it can be?

If anyone has actually read the books and wants to share their opinion on them, leave a comment.

Amityville Rules: The Amityville Horror (2005)

Everything old is new again- thanks, Michael Bay!  

Thanks to Platinum Dunes, we have had such remakes as A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Hills Have Eyes and this film.  Yea?  

The question here is whether or not it matches up the original movie.  

Well, in short, 'no.'  

Granted, others may disagree.  I'll get into *my* problems with the film in the later parts of this review though.  

The important thing to note is that George Lutz actually sued the Studio over the film.  He had issue with two scenes in particular...which I'll discuss later.  

Yeah, I'm being a tease today.  

On the plus side, Lutz (who died in 2006) didn't live to see what The Asylum did to his story!  

To find out what went right and wrong in this Remake, read on...

One change is that you actually see the DeFeo son who killed his family.  

I swore that it was Jason Segel at first- it's not.  Naturally, they show more blood too.

In a curious touch, they show '70s footage to make the coverage of the murders look more real.  

It's a neat touch...but now all it does is remind me of the Stock Footage from Flight of Fury.  Sorry, movie.

I was worried that this was going to be Found Footage for a bit...but this passes.  

You know that if they actually made a new one today, it would be.  You know, kind of like this thing.

Here's my problem with the movie: they show everything.  I know that some of you will like the film for it, but I don't.

Leave some goddamn mystery, guys!

In place of the nerdy babysitter, we have...well, this whore.

Fun Fact: Megan Fox tried out for this role.  Yeah, I could see that.

In a weird change, the Priest doesn't appear until nearly an hour into the film.  

That's...kind of weird, especially given that there's still a major character actor in the role.  

His role is really cut down here too...for some reason.

Here's why Lutz sued: their version hacks up the dog with an axe.  

In addition, he also makes coffins for his family.

To be fair, if your story is barely-verifiable to begin with, some minor changes are silly to sue over.  

I'm just saying...

This movie also explains why the House is haunted.  

The reason: the ghost of a dead Preacher who tortured Indians on said property.  

Thanks for that micro-fiche explanation, movie!

How does that expression go?   Something about how if you don't have anything clever to say, don't say anything at all.

The Lutz's still escape, but the film has to make sure to show us one more F/X shot to close it out.  

Thanks for really highlighting the problem so clearly.  The End.

Can we just love good enough alone?!?  

I liked the original film.  As I said in my review this week, I had problems.  I'll give you that.  

This film does pretty much the same thing as the other one- just with more jump scares.  Half of them don't even make sense too.  

Why does an Indian Ghost appear behind the younger song brushing his teeth...and do nothing?  

How about the little girl being the only one able to see the dead girl ghost...except for that one scene where Ryan Reynolds sees it too.  

Speaking of him, there's a weird thing where he is shirtless a lot.  I guess that's one way to get a demographic to see your movie, huh?  

The only actual nudity in the film is from him too, unless you count three seconds of a body double shot from an awkward angle...which I don't.  

There are just a lot of odd, arbitrary changes like the Priest not appearing until much later and two supporting characters being excised entirely- save for one Deleted Scene.  

Oh, and the Red Evil Room is now behind wooden paneling AND a brick wall.  Hurray for consolidation!  

It also leads to a long, torture corridor that was apparently not on the floor plans.  

If you like movies that excise subtlety for constant F/X shots to keep the perceived ADHD audiences' attention, this one is for you.  

If you like understated horror, watch the original.  

They do have one thing in common though...

Next up, a week of Foreign Horror Films.  First up, the Brits make a zombie film...which puts me to sleep.  Stay tuned...

Rare Amityville Rules Flix: The Amityville Curse

Alas, this one is even less logical than the last!  Today's film is The Amityville Curse, the only film in the series not available on DVD (to my knowledge).  Granted- I only found the Amityville 4 DVD by pure happenstance, but I do own it.  This is the fifth film in the 'series,' but has pretty much nothing to do with the rest.  Allow me to explain things while also making them more complicated.  You see, there are 9 Amityville books and films (counting the Remake or The Asylum film).  The only correlation comes from a few of the books and films.  Yes, not all of the books even tie together- what with about three Reboots (give or take) in them alone.  For example: the fifth book- The Evil Escapes- is the inspiration for the fourth, sixth & (arguably) the seventh and eighth films. This film is based on the sixth book- of the same name- but the film changes the house to being somewhere else.  Yes, this is a licensed Amityville horror film with no connection to the house or anything within it.  This book, I should mention, is also by Hans Holzer.  Yeah, him again.  To see why this film probably doesn't need a DVD release, read on...

Yeah, screw you, Holzer!  Granted, you're dead, but still.  You're responsible for this movie in some way, so...screw you!

In the opening, a Priest is killed.  What does that have to do with anything?  Well, we'll get to that later.

A new group of people have moved into NOT THE AMITYVILLE HOUSE.  I use all caps to show that I'm angry!  That or I think that it looks cool.  You decide!

I just noticed that the box says 'Ass' on it.  Ha ha.

Here's a confusing bit: there's still a 'room of evil' here.  It's behind a closed wooden door, making it more like the second film, but less like the first.

Maybe it made more sense in the book.

On the plus side, there is some good imagery here.  On the negative side, I give zero shits about these people.  Sorry.

No no no!  You are not going to be a Found Footage Movie!  If I wanted to watch that, I'd see The Amityville Haunting and...then I'd immediately bludgeon my head against a wall until that sensation faded.

As it turns out, the house was built over the Church where the Priest was killed.  Yeah, that's plausible.

In the book, this is a Retcon for why there is an evil spirit there.  Here- it's just another reason for an evil spirit to be in a house.

For no clear reason, the spirit of the guy that killed the Priest takes over one of the people in the house and makes him a vague demon-looking thing.  Joy.

He dies and the survivors just leave.  Wow, that was thrilling.  The End.

Even for this series, Curse is stupid and pointless.  To begin with, they rewrote the story to NOT be in the titular house.  So how does the title make sense?  In the context of the book, it's referring to how prone to ghost possession houses are in the area...or something.  I guess that could be applied here, but it would be less funny to contradict myself, so it's not.  The real curse, it seems, is that people don't ever tell people the back-story on the houses they buy.  Real Estate Agents are the real villains here!  Now, to play Devil's Advocate, this film doesn't make a series Retcon- which is good.  That said, it's a pointless film that is just exploiting the Amityville name...which the book also does.  If you want another silly explanation for the house being cursed, just wait.  The real problem is that this film is just so tedious.  The other films are about a family facing down horror in their own home, be it from a mirror, a clock or the house itself.  In this film, these are just a bunch of barely-likable people who get a house that is cursed.  There's no great connection is this collection of couples, rendering the drama extremely moot.  There are some neat moments buried in this film, but they're not worth the whole experience.  Take us away, comically-small blood splatter for a head wound...

Next up, things come to a close with the Remake that actually led to a defamation suit.  How slanderous can it be?  Read on...

Amityville Rules: Amityville II: The Possession

The house is alive...with the sound of dollar bills.  Today's film is Amityville II: The Possession, the original sequel to the film based on a book based on 'real life.'  Nobody can really confirm the story, but it's totally real.  I don't want any angry message from anyone related to the Lutz affair, so I'll let the subject pass.  Instead, I'll focus on a guy who's definitely not going to send me an angry message: Dino De Laurentiis.  I kid, I kid.  Basically, he wanted to make a sequel, since the original was a hit, and decided NOT to base it on the book sequel- 'The Amityville Horror: Part II.'  Yeah, don't do the obvious- they'll see it coming.  Instead, he based it on a different book written by a guy named Hans Holzer, a Ghost Hunter who likes to exploit people's tragedy.  He died in 2009, so he won't be bothering me either...unless he was right all along.  What was that noise?!?  Anyhow, Dino co-opted the franchise and hired the future Director of Pizza Connection (heh heh- funny title) to make a Prequel.  Yeah, this is a Prequel...if the names were different.  To see how it all went wrong (in what I watched), read on...

This still shot from the opening titles actually sells the two things that are really wrong here.  1) The influx of Italians (no offense) into this American tale.  2) The house looks different, rendering the connection moot.

Here's the other reason: it's based on the second-hand book version that alleges to tell how the kid went crazy in the house originally.  Ugh.

Not three minutes in, we meet our new lead: Burt Young.

No, no, no.  Recast this and get back to me.

Here's a weird inconsistency for you: the brick wall that George tore down is now a wooden panel...in this Prequel.  The hell?

The creature/spirit escapes from...the unlocked panel and infects the oldest son.  Oh and they use P.O.V.- I hate that.

Things go downhill about fifteen minutes in when the spirit paints an elaborate and silly drawing on the wall.  Naturally, Burt thinks that the kids did it.  Really Burt?

Truth time: I did not finish this movie.  I just found that I didn't care for these people and never went back.

If you saw the beginning of the first film, you know what happens.  Drama- what's that?!?  The End.

So what was the point of this?  The movie is just not that good.  The problem is the severe disconnect between the first film and this.  Nothing seems to connect, which would be fine if this wasn't a Prequel.  I should also point out that the fact that this is a Prequel is not exactly clear.  They don't establish this as the events that led up to the original film.  It probably is good in one regard, since the drama is theoretically still there.  The problem, as I said, is that I just don't care about these people.  They've been in the house for like a day and try to kill each other.  What.  The.  Hell?  These people are just not pleasant and I kind of hope that they die.  Was that the plan, Dino?  It's a shame too, since Tommy Lee Wallace wrote the Screenplay.  If you don't know, he Directed It, Fright Night: Part 2 and Wrote/Directed Halloween III.  He also wrote an Episode of The Twilight Zone (relaunch) about three College guys who catch a Leprechaun- true story!  If someone gave enough of a damn to watch all of this movie, tell me if I really missed anything.  Somehow, I doubt it.  To show much I really care, here's a shot showing how little I watched in lieu of an actual joke...

Next up, the final official film in the series for me to review.  Will obscurity be a curse or a blessing?  Stay tuned...

Amityville Rules!: The Amityville Horror (1979)

The original is famous for a reason.  Today's film is *the original* Amityville Horror film.  The 1979 film is good for a lot of reasons.  That said, it does have a lot of issues and flaws.  A lot of the reasons that people respect the movie are also reasons that it could be better.  This movie is a product of the 1970s- for better or for worse.  If you don't know the story, it's this simple: haunted house makes family scared.  For better or worse, that's it.  Doing more with the story is possible, but you'll see the flaws with doing that in a future review this week.  If you like this movie, I will not ruin it for you.  If you hate this movie, I won't ruin it for you either.  I will tell you that it is 800x better than most of the sequels.  To see how all of the horrible Horror began, read on...

On one hand, this film is interesting for just showing you the fallout of the killer's massacre.

To the film's detriment, it doesn't exactly make the most of this idea.  It's just 'Murder happened- family comes in.'

Our heroes- the Lutz Family- moves into this house, knowing full well what happens.  As Brolin's George says 'Houses don't kill people- people kill people.'  Right?

Very early on, the Priest comes to bless the House.  The House says 'F#$k you!' and kicks him out.  It's the first glimpse of those damn flies, the biggest blight on this franchise.

Well, it's either the flies or every other sequel made after this film.  Take your pick.

Brolin's George is driven crazier and crazier by the House.

The problem here is that nothing overt here seems to do it- he just kind of acts like a dick for no clear reason.  Explain a little, movie.

Hey Priest, you want to try cleansing the House again?  I'm sure that you'll have better luck this time!

We'll get back to you, I guess.

In a bit I have to address, the spirit of the House presents itself as the youngest girl's imaginary friend.  When the house gets mad, it locks the babysitter in the closet.  This is pretty much stolen by Paranormal Activity 3 (and seems to be in 4 as well).  I'm just saying.

Here's an odd scene for you: the House slams a window on one of the brother's hand.  That would hurt...but how the hell is he bleeding?  Anastasia would not be bleeding here!

Oh and this was stolen- badly- by the original Boogeyman film.  In that film, a kid's neck is broken by a lightly-closed window.  Huh?

How much is that Demon in the Window?  The one with the randomly-filtered look.

Oh yeah, get out of the damn house already!

Took you long enough...idiots.

Oh and do us a favor and put up a sign warning people not to go here.  No?  Dammit.  The End.

Well, it is the best movie in the franchise- bar none.  The movie shines and suffers for two key reasons: the pacing and the subtlety.  The movie is slow- at least after the Priest's first scene- and not a whole lot major happens.  The actual effects on display are generally subtle, be it doors closing on their own or empty chairs rocking.  This, as I said, is both a flaw and a great trait.  The problem, I'd say, is that the movie wants to have its cake and eat it too- the fat bitch.  It does mostly subtle effects for a while and then *BAM* demon face in a window.  If you're going to be a subtle horror film like The Haunting (original), be one.  If you're going to be a loud, visual one like A Nightmare on Elm Street, be one.  By half-assing it, it makes you look you're trying to play both sides.  I liked the subtle effects (the chair especially) and I liked the overt ones (the red room of...um, evil)- I just didn't like them in the same movie.  That said, this movie (and to some extent the Remake) is hampered by trying to be so close to reality (or what the Lutz Family says was reality).  It can't go balls-out crazy.  In the End, it's still a well-made film, but it does have some slow, lingering moments.  Could someone explain the importance of the 'missing money roll' scene?  Yeah, I didn't think so.  With all of that said, it does have near 'Lois Lane' boob in it...

Next up, Dino De Laurentiis brings his 'subtle' hand to the film's first sequel.  With everything wrong, nothing can be right.  Stay tuned...