There are few things I find more frustrating than a movie that starts out great and then begins to fall apart as it comes to its end. THE AMITYVILLE HORROR has some good atmosphere, some great scares and mostly good performances for the first hour or so.
Then the priest comes over and is attacked by a swarm of cartoon flies and the movie grinds to a halt. It seems obvious to me that another writer took over at this point, to make the movie more "safely" freaky and frightening. So we get a lot of the usual "boos" and creepy imagery, but the movie loses the eerie, malevolent atmosphere as it turns into yet another CGI-laden freakshow.
Ryan Reynolds and Melissa George are very good as the young couple who have gotten in over their heads and find their lives unravelling. Phillip Baker Hall, a gifted character actor, seems so intent on not repeating the relentless scenery-chewing of Rod Steiger that his performance rarely goes above monotone whispering.
I will not go into the ridiculous and moronic ending. Let's just say the filmmakers attempt to take the original movie's ending and "spice it up" to appeal to today's audience. I found myself rolling my eyes and chuckling in exasperation more than a few times in the movie's last ten minutes.
Overall, THE AMITYVILLE HORROR is okay. It's marginally better than many of the horror movies in recent years, but inferior to others. You could do worse on a rainy day, and that's not much of a comment.
Then the priest comes over and is attacked by a swarm of cartoon flies and the movie grinds to a halt. It seems obvious to me that another writer took over at this point, to make the movie more "safely" freaky and frightening. So we get a lot of the usual "boos" and creepy imagery, but the movie loses the eerie, malevolent atmosphere as it turns into yet another CGI-laden freakshow.
Ryan Reynolds and Melissa George are very good as the young couple who have gotten in over their heads and find their lives unravelling. Phillip Baker Hall, a gifted character actor, seems so intent on not repeating the relentless scenery-chewing of Rod Steiger that his performance rarely goes above monotone whispering.
I will not go into the ridiculous and moronic ending. Let's just say the filmmakers attempt to take the original movie's ending and "spice it up" to appeal to today's audience. I found myself rolling my eyes and chuckling in exasperation more than a few times in the movie's last ten minutes.
Overall, THE AMITYVILLE HORROR is okay. It's marginally better than many of the horror movies in recent years, but inferior to others. You could do worse on a rainy day, and that's not much of a comment.