Another year, another remake. At least THE AMITYVILLE HORROR remake has some sense behind it: the '70s version is very much a flawed film, one I found interesting and engaging, but not particularly well made or paced. This one sticks very much to Jay Anson's book as its source material, attempting to show a realistic sequence of events centred around a real-life haunted house. For the most part, I liked it a lot. It's an exercise in atmosphere building, relying on suspense over gore, eerie chills over shocks, and it's these elements of the movie that lift it far above the norm.

Of course, being a Hollywood movie, there has to be more, so we get thrown-in chase scenes across rooftops, a villain who keeps coming back from the dead, a hint at a SAW-style gore sequence in which a woman's hair is caught in a boat's propeller, some unnecessary and flashy MTV-style editing and the presence of a creepy young ghost girl who doesn't really add much to the proceedings. There's also an extended flashback that attempts to explain the house's haunted reputation, it's something to do with Native Americans being tortured in the basement back in the 17th century, apparently.

To be honest I found all of this stuff quite superfluous. The central plot of the film concerns George Lutz's character, showing how the house slowly changes his personality as he becomes 'possessed' by the evil therein. THIS is the stuff that's scary, not that flashy stuff. When I heard that Ryan Reynolds was cast in this movie, I despaired, because I hated him in BLADE: TRINITY and he's always seemed to be one of those big-headed, can't-take-anything-seriously type of actors. Well, this film is an exception, because he's GREAT in it. I found him sympathetic and scary at the same time, and I thought he did a great job of portraying how George's mind was gradually transformed. Good job on the contact lenses, too. Basically, every scene with Reynolds is a highlight in this movie. The rest of the cast don't have a great deal to work with, particularly Melissa George (30 DAYS OF NIGHT),who always seems to suffer in thankless roles in horror films. The kids shriek a lot, but Jesse James has the second strongest part as the slightly older boy who suspects that his stepfather might be hiding something.

For the most part, I found this a definite improvement over the original. Some of the scenes are mishandled and disappointing as a result – the scene with the priest and the flies is nowhere near as disturbing as I found it in the original – but for the most part this is taut, psychological horror fare and a cut above Hollywood's usual remake standards.

The Lutz family (Ryan Reynolds, Melissa George, Jesse James, Jimmy Bennett, Chloë Grace Moretz) finds a big house for a surprising price. The reason for the low price is a grisly murder suicide in its history. When the family moves in, strange things start happening.

The biggest mistake is using the wrong POV. Ryan Reynolds shouldn't be the one to lead the movie. Melissa George should be the lead. She can be afraid of Reynolds. She can be conflicted about the new man as a father for her children. There are all kinds of avenues this could have taken.

The creepiest thing that happened is the super sexy babysitter (Rachel Nichols) for the kids. Would any parents really just walk off without a second look when the babysitter is dressed like that? And it gets super awkward with the sex talk.

I do not like remakes, but I love horror movies, so that was the reason for me to see this remake of the 1979 "The Amityville Horror" on DVD. The movie is spooky, because the original story is scary. "The Amityville Horror" was released in 1979, and has the great merit of being made before "The Shining"(1980) and "Poltergeist" (1982),which seem to use parts of the storyline of this film. But this remake is absolutely unnecessary, since it is the same story, once it is claimed to be based on a true event, and in the same year, 1974. Therefore, there is nothing new or original in this remake, with the exception of the actors and actresses and some special effects. Ryan Reynolds visibly looked for inspiration watching Stanley Kubrick's "The Shinning", with the insane expression of Jack Nicholson and an ax in his hands chasing his family. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Horror em Amityville" ("Horror in Amityville")