This is the classic version about the infamous Amityville house with lots of screams and weird deeds in which a family falls into supernatural terror . The story starts with a grisly mass murder ; years later , a family moves to Long Island where is purchased a Victorian home , their house of dreams but they find only devilish horror and full of nightmares . Longtime ago, there occurred a grisly mass killing based on an allegedly real life occurrence in Amityville that turns out to be a haven for demonic forces . And now a possessed father (James Brolin) is plunged by demonic forces into supernatural attitude driving him to mistreat and beat the kiddies . The wife (Margot Kidder) begins experiencing frightening and vivid dreams of killings . Meantime ,the father is attempting to find out the bottom of events by ways of the cellar . While , an exorcist priest (a hysteric Rod Steiger who steals the show as scene-chewing ) tries praying to vanquish the malignant spirit , staggering from room to room with the doors mysteriously slam . And soon the poltergeists make their nasty appearance originating a lot of unusual rattles and creaks before deciding to utilize its powers to possess the father and attack the family .

The film contains restless terror and great loads of gore and blood and usual poltergeists phenomenon caused by the curse and the usual ghastly shenanigans result to be the cracking pipelines , wall ooze icky stuff, flies swarm manifest as attackers, and doors suddenly slam , among others . It is produced with acceptable budget by Samuel Z Arkoff (AIP)and well recreated with high grade special effects that are frightening and horrifying to spectator . It's actually halfway decent terror movie that achieved big success at the box office and it will appeal to ghostly and eerie events fonds. The picture packs a colorful cinematography by Fred Koenekamp and eerie musical score by Lalo Schifrin that will be used in the innumerable sequels . The original ¨Exorcist¨ film (by Friedkin) spawned a wave of demonic possession movies that continues unabated today as ¨Changeling¨ (by Peter Medak),¨Amytiville ¨(by Stuart Rosemberg) are two further examples of this sub-genre . Following a great number of clumsy, stupid sequels directed by Damiano Damiani , Richard Fleischer ,Sandor Stern ( screenwriter of Amityville),Anthony Hitchcock.. And the bad followings just go on and on attempting to cash in on the success of the first movie . However , recently is made a good new adaptation by Andrew Douglas with Ryan Reynolds (James Brolin role ) , Melissa George ( Margot Kidder character) and Philip Baker Hall (Rod Steiger),though this is a new take on from previous film, it's one of the highest earning horror movie of the last years and like the¨ Amityville ¨ original became a box office biggie . Rating : Aceeptable and passable .

I'm a sucker for a good old-fashioned haunted house movie and THE AMITYVILLE HORROR is one of those all right – with the added frisson of being (supposedly) based on a true story! It's a film made at the tail-end of the 1970s replete with that fine '70s atmosphere. And atmosphere is what this film is all about; it creates a truly sinister look and feel as it depicts what happens to the innocent Lutz family after they move into a house that was the site of a previous massacre. From the title cards telling us the days of the week (building up a fine sense of foreboding) to the constant weird things going on, this film is predictable and entertainingly so. Swarms of bluebottles appearing out of nowhere, a sinister hidden room in the basement, a priest haunted by a sinister spirit, a weird pig-creature in the window, blood pouring down the walls, a crucifix turning upside down, a guy getting possessed by a killer spirit and more besides…what's not to love here?

Okay, so the film has some rough edges. For the most part, though, it's surprisingly undated, especially as the special effects are kept simple and down to earth. The cast is also decent: I don't like Margot Kidder, but she gives a suitably scared turn here, although Christian Bale look-alike James Brolin has the stand-out turn as the guy becoming increasingly deranged. Rod Steiger is good value, as always, as the priest enduring a run of extremely bad luck.

I first saw this film a good decade ago and found it creepy and powerful and seeing it now in the modern age I find it just as creepy, with the demonic voice shouting 'get out!' still the scary highlight. Up there with THE ENTITY and POLTERGEIST as the best this genre has to offer. This is also one of the rare instances in which the remake (released in 2005) manages to be as good, if not better, as the original.

George (James Brolin) and Kathy Lutz (Margot Kidder) move their family into a house even though the previous family suffered a mass killing. Priest Father Delaney (Rod Steiger) believes the house is haunted. The demonic spirits are powerful, fellow priest Father Bolen (Don Stroud) tries to help but Father Ryan (Murray Hamilton) is unconvinced.

Based on a true place where a guy committed a mass killing on his family claiming to be terrorized by paranormal phenomena while living there. This movie came out in 1979 right in the middle of the Golden Age of horror. Halloween (78) came in the year before and Friday the 13th (80) came in the year right after. Masters of horrors like John Carpenter and Wes Craven are starting to emerge. This one just pales in comparison. They can't expect people to be afraid of flies. This is just not scary. The only good thing is that it is actually a professionally made movie. We have top acting talents. There's no complaining about that.