THe revereND’s review

FT’s resident man of the cloth REVEREND PETER LAWS dons his dog collar and faces the flicks that Church forgot! (www.theflicksthatchurchforgot.com)

Critics fail to appreciate the sheer cultural power of the story of the Lutz family

It’s always been fashionable for film critics to diss the original Amityville Horror movie. It was slated on its first release and modern writers have been equally scathing. A recent review from Slant magazine called the film “moronic”, “boring” and “pathetic”. What these critics fail to appreciate is the sheer cultural power of the story of the Lutz family fleeing their house on Ocean Drive. Perhaps it’s because the paranormal shenanigans are anchored in a true crime tale of family murder (see

FT190:32-37), or maybe it’s because the activity is so darn varied and spectacular. Whatever the case, Amityville became a perfect cocktail of violence and spookery that even today, 38 years later, continues to haunt our culture, with 13 sequels, countless documentaries and biblical levels of writing and analysis both in print and online. It’s true that by the late 1970s Jay Anson’s book about the case was already a sensation, but it was this film that truly unleashed the flies and demon pigs across the globe.

Now, yeah, if you want to look at it in pure movie terms there are issues. Some of the acting is way overcooked, for example. Rod Steiger has a fairly pointless role as a priest, but he makes up for his irrelevance with sheer volume: he wails and laments with angry toddler levels of intensity. Also the film has a habit of fast-tracking to melodrama. For a start, George Lutz (played by James Brolin) turns native just that little bit too quickly, and the babysitter has her breakdown too soon too. She’s locked in the cupboard for all of 30 seconds, but she’s screaming and splitting her knuckles as if she’d been in there for two weeks. Oh, and I did laugh at how any member of the clergy seemed to puke after a trip to the house. Put the hysteria aside, though, and there are some serious scares here – not least the voice that tells Steiger to “Gettttt Ouuuuut!” I wet my pants when I first heard that, and (amazingly) I nearly did so again when I watched it last night for the first time in years.

Key to the film’s power is the Lalo Schifrin score, a masterclass in orchestral horror. The fact that he missed out on the Oscar makes me want to puke. Another crucial element is Margot Kidder. Her performance as Kathy Lutz brings a heartbreaking sense of sadness, desperation and sweetness to the role. I’m not surprised she received a Saturn award for it, because she’s the heart of the movie. But the real fuel that has kept

Amityville spooking us all these years is the story itself: a tale of modern mass murder followed by a rollercoaster level haunting. The big screen version could easily have screwed it up – indeed, many of the critics say the film did exactly that – but, for me, the proof is in the echoes the film has left. Say “Amityville” at a dinner party and just watch the shivers start, and for many (I’d say most) it’s the film they’re thinking of. Dismiss it all you like, but the original Amityville Horror is more than just a B-Movie and more than just horror shlock: it’s what turned an intriguing news story into a bit of global paranormal lore. How delightful, then, to finally see it on Blu-ray in the UK, in a lovely-looking print with excellent extras (especially welcome is the generous inclusion of the fulllength documentary My Amityville Horror, where the son of the Lutz family (now grown-up) explains to his counsellor that while the biggest legacy of that house may well be a mass market product but for him it’s the memory of a real family, a very real house and, for him, an utterly real haunting.