Movie Review: The ‘Horror’ is frightening predictable
It is always so disheartening to watch a movie that is clearly trying its best to make an impact on its audience but clearly failing to do so. “The Amityville Horror” is one such film.
A remake from the 1979 horror classic of the same name, “The Amityville Horror” tries to evoke the same fear that was inspired by its predecessor but it just doesn’t maintain a strong level of mystery or eeriness.
Not being familiar with the original film (allegedly based on a true story), I’m sure I can make the assumption that the first “Amityville Horror” was much better than the 2005 version.
Amityville is a quaint and peaceful town nestled into the picturesque shores of Long Island, N.Y. It appears to be the perfect place to raise a family, so the unsuspecting Lutz family quickly moves into the cheapest house in town (which just happens to be an enormous historical mansion). The story doesn’t waste time in revealing the curse that exists within the house as strange ghosts are spotted and weird noises are heard.
Most of these ghostly encounters pop out of nowhere and make strong efforts to jerk you out of your seat. Unfortunately, there were only two moments that successfully caused the audience to be enveloped in suspense (one involving a boat propeller and the other taking place on the house’s precarious rooftops).
The rest of the scary moments are simply common cliché horror elements; from spatters of excessive blood to a deep menacing voice that speaks to certain family members and demonic possession.
This final horror element is the nucleus from which most of the terror explodes. Because of the irreversible curse on the house, the father figure (Ryan Reynolds, “The In-Laws”) quickly becomes possessed by evil spirits who ultimately inspire him to murder his family. I’m sure that it’s an incredible challenge to portray a loving father who becomes possessed by wicked forces and Reynolds gives a noteworthy performance. But instead of evoking fright, Reynolds’ portrayal is actually comical in some scenes, probably not what the director (Andrew Douglas) intended.
Displaying such an endless string of scare tactics makes “The Amityville Horror” become somewhat predictable toward the end, which caused the climax to droop with unfulfillment. As a whole, this movie didn’t make any audience members feel cautious about walking through the dimly lit corridors of the movie theater.
Even the running time of the movie is a disappointment; it’s merely an hour and a half, presumably because all the ideas of scaring the audience are thrown into the storyline too quickly without giving time for the characters, or their relationships, to develop.
This movie showcases the acting of some lesser-known actors who have had little experience working with such dramatic material, which is perhaps what helped contribute to this film’s awfulness. Reynolds is plainly entrenched into his role but doesn’t pull off the believability necessary for a horror film. Melissa George (“Down With Love”) does well as the emotionally troubled mother and the two youngest children (Jimmy Bennett and Chloe Moretz) are adorable.
But the scary material dominates the drama and the actors don’t have much to work with as a result. “The Amityville Horror” just tries too hard to frighten its audience and rapidly runs out of steam.
Casey T. Allen is a junior majoring in English and is a movie critic for the Statesman. Comments may be sent to caseyal@cc.usu.edu.