Amityville Horror - Wie alles begann

I was expecting little to nothing from this entry. Am not a huge fan of the series. Thought the original and the Ryan Reynolds reboot had their respective merits. Figured I could passively watch this while multi-tasking. To my surprise it was very good. By no means on any of my "all times" list but far better than I could have reasonably expected. Don't know how accurate it is--and the people that would know are not talking--but, assuming it is, it's a good account of the events that led up to the original film. If you are interested in a slow-burn thriller--ostensibly based on real events--check this one out.

The Amityville Murders: An accurate representation of what it was like growing up in the 70s. Abusive parents bullying & beating their children, and finally one of them snapped. I'm surprised this kind of thing wasn't more common back then. No demons, devils or haunted house or other supernatural entities necessary.

This isn't a bad addition to the series, but it's not "award winning" great either. The acting is good to mediocre, and the grandmother is by far the worst actor. The movie fills in a blank that's been left hanging for years bringing the series full circle. All in all, I'd say it's worth at least one viewing.

I have to admit, I was very skeptical entering what I believe is the 24th film surrounding the "true story" that took place on Amityville, Long Island in the 70's. This sequel takes us to yet another retelling of the DeFeo crimes which were done in Amityville II (1982).

We meet the DeFeo family who live in our infamous 112 Ocean Avenue Amityville house. During a birthday party, the teenagers take part in some sort of spirit awakening seance which appears to summon something evil. The man of the house Ronnie is an abusive father who beats his children and treats his wife terribly. Butch DeFeo is the oldest son of the family, which the evil Amityville spirit seems to target right away. We spend most of the film watching his decline as he becomes possessed. Eventually, it leads to the conclusion we all see coming.

A major issue with The Amityville Murders is that it isn't really all that scary, much like it's predecessors. We get the typical scares like eerie sounds in the house, doors and cupboards opening and closing on their own, creepy basement stuff, etc. There are some tense moments towards the end with Butch being completely taken over by the spirits, but again nothing we haven't seen done a hundred times before.

It was very nice to see Diane Franklin and Burt Young in this one. They were both in Amityville II: The Possession as father and daughter, and it brought a tear to my horror loving eye to see them reunited. Diane Franklin's role as the mother was a bit larger, and she played it beautifully. The rest were ok, including Chelsea Ricketts as the young teenage daughter Dawn and John Robinson as the possessed Butch DeFeo. His version of possessed teenage son Butch was much better than Jack Magner in Amityville II.

All in all, Amityville Murders is an average retelling of the Defeo murders which we saw told in 1982's Amityville II: The Possession. This film isn't actually all that bad and I enjoyed it more than the '82 sequel. My biggest issue with this film is that it is completely unnecessary. Did it add to anything I haven't already seen before in this series? Nope. It's worth a watch for horror completists, and is better than sequels like Amityville Curse and Amityville Asylum, but feels very average overall.

5/10

Was Paranoid Schizophrenia not known about in the early 70's?

Another cash grab at the fictional demon of amityville. Half of the things in this movie were fictional, or grossly inaccurate. The real Defeo had mental issues and did drugs, he didn't see demons. There's no such thing as hauntings or demons making people kill. This hurts the victims who died from the real tragic events. This movie isn't even entertaining as a fictional story... and the fake accents are painful.