Product Details

• Released on: 2007-01-16
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: NTSC, Import
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 117 minutes

From Amazon.com
Based on a bestselling, allegedly nonfiction book about haunted goings-on in a Long Island house (The Amityville Horror Conspiracy), this rather cheesy horror movie is more silly than unsettling. James Brolin and Margot Kidder star as newlyweds who move into the empty home and are gradually affected by the legacy of a murder committed on the premises. Rod Steiger is a priest who can tell what's up and gets dispatched in a rather ugly way. Director Stuart Rosenberg can't lift the action above a certain level of tawdriness, and the audience ends up watching the horror from a distance instead of feeling involved. In the wake of The Exorcist, this 1979 spooker seemed like a no-brainer knockoff--and still does. --Tom Keogh

Review
For those caught up in the media blitz surrounding the "real-life" paranormal activities of the Lutz household in the late 1970s, Jay Anson's bestselling non-fiction tome and its subsequent movie adaptation may have been riveting, seminal works of fact-based horror. Years removed from the scandal, however, it's possible to see The Amityville Horror for what it is: a laughable piece of quickie camp exploitation, produced by the company that invented the form, American International Pictures. The Lutz's story -- however fabricated -- made for some great, straightforward post-Rosemary's Baby, post-Exorcist freak-outs. But in its translation to the screen, Amityville became an almost Dadaist exercise in incoherence, riddled with shots that don't match, performers that seem to have been filmed at separate times in separate locations, and interminable stretches of celluloid where absolutely nothing happens. '70s stalwarts Margo Kidder and James Brolin -- not to mention the well-in-decline Rod Steiger -- turn in wildly overmodulated performances that somehow don't fit together, despite having a common denominator of bug-eyed, histrionic bombast. Of course, none of the ineptitude of the film's first hour would matter if there were a satisfying payoff, but Amityville botches even that, with fake-looking green ooze and perhaps the least-menacing portal to hell in motion picture history. By the time the umpteenth low-angle shot of the house's evil-eye attic windows rolls around, most viewers -- no matter how nostalgic -- would be best advised to shut off Amityville and rent Poltergeist instead. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide

On the DVD
ccNew high-definition transfer
New state-of-the-art 5.1 surround
Audio commentary by Dr. Hans Holzer, PhD in Parapsychology
"For God's Sake, Get Out!" documentary
Radio spots
Original theatrical trailer

Customer Reviews

good old school terror
for a few really good scares,this movie works pretty good.it's not fast
paced,but it slowly builds tension,while throwing in some real scary
sequences.the acting by James Brolin and Margot Kidder is really
credible here.They play George and Kathy Luts,who with their
children,move into their nightmare,i mean--dream house.the movie is
supposedly based on a true story,though depending on who you
believe,the whole thing was fabricated and has been debunked as a
hoax.either way,it makes for riveting,disturbing entertainment.i know i
got chills down my spine more than a few times.Rod Steiger is also in
the movie and is very strong as a concerned and then involved
priest.the children are also portrayed very well.there are no cheap
scare here.the movie earns every shiver and gasp.for me,The Amityville
Horror is a 4/5

kind of boring./but spooky at times
THE STORY OF THIS MOVIE IS BASED ON A BOOK, IT IS A PRETTY SPOOKY STORY BUT ON THE BIG SCREEN, IT IS KIND OF BORING. THE DVD IS NOTHING TO GET TO EXCITED OVER. THE ONLY SPECIAL FEATURE IS A TRAILER. BACK IN 1979 THIS CLASSIC WAS PRETTY SCARY, BUT NOWADAYS IS SOMEWHAT OF A BORE. NOT EVEN GOOD PERFORMANCES FROM MARGOT KIDDER AND JAMES BROLIN COULD HELP THIS MOVIE TO BE AN EXCITING THRILLER. ***/*****

STILL HAS THE POWER !
THIS FILM STILL HAS THE POWER TO MAKE YOU SCREAM!
I DONT KNOW TO BELIEVE IN THE AMITYVILLE TRUE STORY THING.
BUT EVEN OF ITS TRUE OR NOT ITS STILL IS A GREAT SCARY FILM.
IF YOU DIDNT GET A SCREAM OUT WELL WATCHING THIS FILM,TURN THE LIGHTS OFF TURN THE VOLUME ALL THE WAY UP.SERIOUSLY YOU CAN GET A SCREAM OUT OF LIKE EVER HORROR FLICK IF YOU TURN THE VOLUME UP ALL THE WAY!