Movie Review: The Amityville Horror (1979)

The Amityville Horror is not a film I anticipated reviewing, but I watched this movie today and have lots to say about it. The film stars James Brolin, Margot Kidder, and Rod Steiger in the lead. This movie was directed by Stuart Rosenberg who would later go on to direct Cool Hand Luke which was a very well received movie. I watched this movie for the first time today and then pondered over to the world wide web, where I preceded to read some reviews for this film (I'd taken note of the fact that this is one of the lesser - discussed horror films) and I was astounded. The reviews from this movie are almost entirely negative. Some of the best film critics such as Roger Ebert and Leonard Maltin both gave this film panned reviews and showed strong distaste for it. While I respect those critics opinions and while they may have very valid points, I couldn't help but disagree with them. I thought this was a great horror movie with excellent suspense building and it excels at creating a creepy atmosphere. Are there flaws? Yes! The acting in this film is very so-so, as it doesn't really deliver great performances, but they're functional characters. The movie also ends abruptly and doesn't tie up a few story lines (why the father looks like the former resident, and the storyline with the minister). Those were some areas where I feel like the movie didn't quite tie up it's knots. Other than that, I had a great time with this film. The suspense in this movie is killer and rocks until the climax at the end. One of the complaints I'd read on Rotten Tomatoes was how people thought the film was really just boring. It is true that we don't ever "see" the ghosts or "see" the ghouls hiding in the closets. However, there are plenty of movies that build suspense without showing you the culprit. It's actually very psychologically effective because it makes us create the monster in our minds. Why don't we remember that movie Jaws? Spielberg used that tactic to create suspense and that is what this movie does too. Funny enough, this movie does not even have a modern - cult following. It just sort of sank under these very negative reviews. Which is why I'm reviewing this film to tell any reader to go out and watch this movie. My used copy of the movie delighted me in every way possible. Yes there are narrative flaws and there's a lull around the second act, but I do not really think this is a guilty pleasure film. A "guilty pleasure" would be a movie where we know it's bad, but like it anyway. I truly am not of the belief that Amityville Horror is a bad film, but an overlooked great one. Overall, despite two or three very obscure flaws, Amityville Horror was a great film with great suspense, fun entertainment, and deserves to be looked at again. 3 stars