My review of The Amityville Horror
...And before you say anything: you're welcome. ;D
Okay. I don't believe I ever saw the original movie but I've read the book numerous times. I love that book. Too bad my copy's gone missing...I need to replace it.
Review with spoilers:
I have to tell you something outright, trust me on this: be prepared for the biggest fuck-up in recent horror movie history. Here it is...they replaced Jodie, the evil-spirit-in-the-form-of-a-seriously-scary-as-hell-demon-pig with a little dead girl named Jodie. This Jodie is the spirit of the DeFoe kid's youngest sister, who was not (dammit) shot in the back of the head while lying on her stomach in bed, like all the others. Wtf?? That messes stuff up. It was creepier when they were all killed the same way, that was much more unexplainable than the kid actually hearing the shots in the other rooms and running to hide in the closet. Dammit. Not to mention Jodie the Pig scared the living shit out of me (have you ever seen the drawing the little girl had done of Jodie running through the snow? It was included with my lost copy of the novel. Holy crap. Scary-ass picture). Anyways, I luckily got this info from a newspaper article before going to see the movie, I think if I hadn't have been prepared for this change I would have just walked out of the theatre.
Okay, other than that:
The movie wasn't BAD as long as you didn't even see it as a remake of an existing movie/book/supposedly true story. On its own, its yet another horror movie about a haunted house. That's okay. The effects are very good, but this movie does suffer from "Boo!" syndrome, where a sudden burst of music attempts to augment any fright you might get from a special effect. I don't like being told when to be scared. But other than that it's not bad.
The climax of the film was fresh enough for me to recommend this movie - yes it was The Shining-like, but whatever. And in a move similar to Verbinski's The Ring new elements were added to the mystery of what's wrong with the house, in such a way to suggest to me that maybe what the writers had wanted to remake was Poltergeist but were denied the rights. You'll see what I mean if you see it.
Unrelated the the plot of the movie...There was a crazy guy in the theatre. He was sitting in the center nearer the front than anyone else, and the only people anywhere close to him were me, and I was alone, and another lady, also alone. Neither of us, I'm sure, felt any desire to go tell an obviously disturbed person to shut the hell up, as he was talking not only to the characters on the screen but also to himself; he was also laughing at every little thing in the movie (okay, that was kinda funny, considering that it was supposed to be scary) and bobbing his head to music that just wasn't there. :P Oh well, it takes all kinds...
(x-posted to obscurefhorror)
Okay. I don't believe I ever saw the original movie but I've read the book numerous times. I love that book. Too bad my copy's gone missing...I need to replace it.
Review with spoilers:
I have to tell you something outright, trust me on this: be prepared for the biggest fuck-up in recent horror movie history. Here it is...they replaced Jodie, the evil-spirit-in-the-form-of-a-seriously-scary-as-hell-demon-pig with a little dead girl named Jodie. This Jodie is the spirit of the DeFoe kid's youngest sister, who was not (dammit) shot in the back of the head while lying on her stomach in bed, like all the others. Wtf?? That messes stuff up. It was creepier when they were all killed the same way, that was much more unexplainable than the kid actually hearing the shots in the other rooms and running to hide in the closet. Dammit. Not to mention Jodie the Pig scared the living shit out of me (have you ever seen the drawing the little girl had done of Jodie running through the snow? It was included with my lost copy of the novel. Holy crap. Scary-ass picture). Anyways, I luckily got this info from a newspaper article before going to see the movie, I think if I hadn't have been prepared for this change I would have just walked out of the theatre.
Okay, other than that:
The movie wasn't BAD as long as you didn't even see it as a remake of an existing movie/book/supposedly true story. On its own, its yet another horror movie about a haunted house. That's okay. The effects are very good, but this movie does suffer from "Boo!" syndrome, where a sudden burst of music attempts to augment any fright you might get from a special effect. I don't like being told when to be scared. But other than that it's not bad.
The climax of the film was fresh enough for me to recommend this movie - yes it was The Shining-like, but whatever. And in a move similar to Verbinski's The Ring new elements were added to the mystery of what's wrong with the house, in such a way to suggest to me that maybe what the writers had wanted to remake was Poltergeist but were denied the rights. You'll see what I mean if you see it.
Unrelated the the plot of the movie...There was a crazy guy in the theatre. He was sitting in the center nearer the front than anyone else, and the only people anywhere close to him were me, and I was alone, and another lady, also alone. Neither of us, I'm sure, felt any desire to go tell an obviously disturbed person to shut the hell up, as he was talking not only to the characters on the screen but also to himself; he was also laughing at every little thing in the movie (okay, that was kinda funny, considering that it was supposed to be scary) and bobbing his head to music that just wasn't there. :P Oh well, it takes all kinds...
(x-posted to obscurefhorror)