Night at the Movies - Amityville Horror

[Scrivener]

The gods of horror must have heard our prayers because it is starting to seem like old fashioned 70s horror filmaking is on the comeback. First we got House of 1000 Corpses. Not perfect, and horrendously truncated by the mpaa, but a very uncomfortable movie nonetheless. Recently, we got the straight-to-DVD movie Dead Birds, a flawed film but still a creepy throwback to classic haunted house horror.

But now - now we have The Amityville Horror. Rock solid bonafide proof that the good old days are not only coming back, but they can be every bit as profitable as PG13 thriller garbage like The Grudge and The Ring. In fact, Amityville was damn near perfect. If I was forced to pick nits, I'd say there was a tad too much exposition near the end and I'd drop the hollywood anticlimax (they just have to get in that one last scare after the movie is technically over. I'm guessing this was studio forced).

Now, I don't scare but I am at least aware of what makes for good scares. Lately, listening to the audience scream, giggle, or squirm has been really pissing me off. The reason is - the stuff they usually scream at is so absurd, ridiculous, or stupid that I feel insulted - and I feel disgusted that I am surrounded by people daft enough to fall for it. This time the usual disgust was replaced by genuine amusement. Listening to people vocalize that "Oouague" sound is a definate sign of good scares. Even without that entertainment, there is enough brooding eerie atmosphere for this to stand as a great keep-you-up-all-night primetime flick for years to come.

Here we have the best elements of the original The Haunting, The Shining, and Poltergeist. All together this easily makes for the best haunted house movie since the original Legend of Hell House.

Really, I cannot recommend this highly enough. It might be on the brink of what SC can handle (not counting the prologue, the violence is about on par with Kubrick's The Shining) but I am just totally jazzed by how well this turned out. Not only did it do the original justice, it surpassed it and exposed a whole new generation of moviegoers to the beauty of old school horror.

As an interesting sidenote - I like how they incorporated a small chunk of the dark alternate ending with the final product. I like my Dark Chocolate over Milk Chocolate - and I like my dark endings over the light ones... but I don't think audiences are ready quite yet for that kind of sick conclusion. Here's to hoping they will be in the years to come

PERFECT 10, BABY!

P.S. Some of the scares are targetted directly at parents. So be forewarned.

SPOILER ALERT: Rest assured, however, that the ending is no downer.

[LostInSpace]

You mean it was actually good!? Wow... Feel sorry for the citizen of Amityville though. Looks like their going to be inundated by gawkers again .

[Scrivener]

I found out why the critics have been impugning this movie so harshly - the studio did not conduct a critics screening. For the uninitiated, that's editorial suicide. It dosn't help that when studios don't give critics a preview, it sends up a warning flag about the quality of the film (and it's usually right). That, however, is not the case here at all.

Amityville, surprisingly, was made a shoestring budget - much like the original. You wouldn't be able to tell from watching it, though - as the effects are some of the most believable seen in a horror film. It goes to show you that avoiding CG not only keeps costs down - it makes your movie look better.

Anyhoo, Amityville was slated as a cheap and dirty money maker. What the studio didn't count on was the passion and skill of the filmakers. Hense - the movie recieves absolutely ZERO studio backing... that requires a bigger monetary expenditure after all. Remember, skill and art mean nothing to studios. They only look at the numbers and statistics.

[LostInSpace]

quote:

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Originally posted by Scrivener:

I found out why the critics have been impugning this movie so harshly - the studio did not conduct a critics screening.

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You know something you are right. I saw Ebert and Roeper this weekend, as I was flipping through the channels, and they gave the movie thumbs down and did mention about the critic screening. Didn't connect the two until you just brought it up. Talk about sour grapes and abuse of power (well the power they think they have).

[Guest $iLk]

Thank you for the review. I'm going to try and see it before or during this weekend.

[Kevin Trotter]

Me too! Where the Hell you been $ilkie?

[Supreme Cmdr]

Its not gory or anything, right? Because I REALLY want to see it.

Next, I hope they remake Rosemary's Baby.

[Scrivener]

Theres some violence but not really much gore - it's mostly just creepy bizarre scary stuff.

Towards the end there's a couple dream-sequence flashback things that have blood in them (used in a symbolic fashion, as opposed to a gruesome fashion). There's only one brief-but-gross part after a babysitter locks herself in a closet... my brother was totally aghast but it made me raise an eyebrow and giggle. I just didn't expect... that.

But like I said, it's about on par with Kubrick's The Shining. Same type of content, same level of violence. What ickiness is in there is brief and not gratuitous. The point is very deftly driven home without being overly graphic. In other words, you wont see anything that you wouldn't have seen from Hitchcock.

[echo]

I don't think I can go see it. I read the book and saw the old one a million years ago and I still get creeped out if I wake up at 3:15 a.m. Although I am very interested in seeing how this one portays Jodi.

Now as I type I am hearing "Amy open the door!"

Mabey I will have to go see it.

[Supreme Cmdr]

LOL!!! @ echo

Thanks Shriv, I think I'll go see this one this weekend.

[Supreme Cmdr]

I loved it!!! This was real old school style horror flick with scares in all the right places.

Nicely done!

PERFECT 10 baby!!!