The Amityville Horror (1979)

[Trevor]

The MGM channel showed this last night and I last saw it in 1983. I had forgotten how scary it was and whether the story behind the supposedly haunted house was a hoax or not, the movie still manages a few real scares, especially with the child singing Yes Jesus Loves Me and the mom goes to the window and sees two red eyes staring back at her. 

As I said, I don't know if what is written in Jay Anson's book and shown in Stuart Rosenberg's film actually happened but what you see and read is undeniably scary. 

[Mofo Rising]

I have a long history with the Amityville series. I've seen every Amityville movie ever made, and they are all pretty terrible.

I know there's a fascination with this original film, but I still find it pretty terrible. Well, maybe not terrible, but it basically bored me. I will say it is better than the remake, but only because I give '70s movies a lot of leeway.

I'm not going to begrudge anybody their enjoyment of this film, it does seem to have struck the scary nerve with a lot of people. Maybe I'm just upset about it because I've seen every movie with Amityville in the title, and they're all painful in a myriad of ways.

I recently watched the latest release, a low-budget affair put out by Asylum that rips off Paranormal Activity for all it's worth.

The Amityville name just makes me shudder. So many awful movies!

Rest assured, almost everything is better than The Amityville Curse.

[RCMerchant]

I first saw this in upstate NY when it first came out-I enjoyed it enough-but for pure cheese-I liked the BAD movie value of Part 2:the POSSESION (1982) better!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXngCK3msPA&feature=related
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Oh-back in the 80's when I lived on Long Island I went to take a look at the real Amityville Horror house...and it looked like any other old house-and no-it didn't have the creepy windows...and I didn't see any pigs floating around or blood running down the gutters. 

[The Burgomaster]

Trevor, you disappoint me by listing this godawful movie under "Good Movies."  30 lashes, sir!  30 lashes!

[Pacman000]

I've seen the first one, and I didn't find it scary. It does have some unintentionally funny scenes.

"Oh no! The toilet's backing up! The house! It must be haunted!"

"Oh no! John! It's your Face! Double-exposed against a red brick wall! You know what that means...the house has a PIT INTO H#LL!"

"Oh no! The FX guy poked holes in our walls and is pouring goo down a pipe, to the holes and down the wall! IEEEEE! We must leave! Now!"

No, this isn't actual dialog, it's my impression of said scenes.  I've seen creepy stuff from the 50's, so it's not a time period thing.  (Actually, I intentionally broke suspension of disbelief to avoid being scared, so the movie had a steep hill to climb; still, other movies have climbed that hill, and scared me, so this one has no excuse.)

[Jack]

I saw it many years ago and thought it had some scary parts, especially when blood was running down the walls.  Tried watching it a while ago though and turned it off pretty quickly because I just found James Brolin's character to be an intolerable jerk.

[JaseSF]

Yeah. All the Amityville films are pretty bad including this one. Did find the descent to Hell sequence rather creepy though.

[retrorussell]

I only saw the first Amityville.  I didn't really like it that much and it didn't spur me into watching the others in the series.  One scene did stand out for me, though.. the scene where she walks in on her husband having just murdered their kids.  She starts screaming and he comes over and buries an axe in her brain!  She then wakes up.
Cool!

[Trevor]

Trevor, you disappoint me by listing this godawful movie under "Good Movies."  30 lashes, sir!  30 lashes!

I would actually like 30 lashes as a matter of fact. All depends on who's giving the lashes though. 

[Trevor]

because I just found James Brolin's character to be an intolerable jerk.

Not only an intolerable jerk but an abusive husband as well. 

[FatFreddysCat]

The first time I saw the original "Amityville" I was probably 10 or 11 years old and it SCARED THE LIVING POOP OUT OF ME. Seriously, I didn't sleep for a couple of days after that. For years afterward, I was actually scared to see it again. Haha.

Years 'n' years later, I came across it on VHS in a bargain bin somewhere, I was in my early 20's by this time I guess, and I said "Wow, I haven't seen this in a long time," so I bought it, watched it, and rolled my eyes at how easily scared I was as a kid.

...seriously, it's a decent movie (if a bit over long) but there's no way that seeing it as a grownup will have the same impact as when you're an impressionable young'un.

Since then I think I've seen pretty much every "Amityville" flick and aside from the original and "II: The Possession," the rest are all varying degrees of suck.

[RCMerchant]

I'm surprised at how many folks here didn't like the original AMITYVILLE HORROR. Yeah-it capitalizes on it's "true" story reputation,sure it's overwrought,has bad f/x, and is predictable-but hey-that's exploitation-and-damn it-I agree with Trevor-it;s a fun movie,and it pushes all the right buttons.
And for many others as well. Otherwise it wouldn't have spawned so many crappy sequels. (Though I still think part 2 was funner!).

[voltron]

I liked it when I saw it a while ago. I dug the "red room" part. Margot Kidder...what's not to like? 

[Doggett]

...

I didnt like it.

Scariest part was losing the wallet.

[Raffine]

I remember seeing this when it was releases at the theater. The piggy at the window gave me quite a start.

It pretty much has been proved the Luntzes created the hoax to attempt to get out of the house in which they were waaaay over their heads finacially. They moved to San Diego and divorced. Both Kathy and George died a couple of years ago - maybe from the lingering effects of the Amityville Curse.