Amityville Horror – Eine wahre Geschichte (2005)

Amityville Horror – Eine wahre Geschichte: Directed by Andrew Douglas. With Ryan Reynolds, Melissa George, Jesse James, Jimmy Bennett. Newlyweds are terrorized by demonic forces after moving into a large house that was the site of a grisly mass murder a year before.

“When it comes to horror, I have learned to degrade my aspirations. Regardless of what could be done in a genre that has no boundaries theoretically, Iu0026#39;m already satisfied if a movie manages to make me jump every now and then these days. In the first two thirds u0026quot;The Amityville Horroru0026quot; delivers just that, fast pacing and some pretty effective jumps by using some cheap shock effects. Since this is a remake it is forgivable that it doesnu0026#39;t come up with anything remotely new or original. Thereu0026#39;s the ever so familiar haunted house, Dad losing his mind, heads shaking à la Jacobu0026#39;s Ladder, weird shadows moving fast and making insect sounds and the more than overused spooky little girl (really, having such a kid in another horror movie is idiotic and didnu0026#39;t even make much sense in this particular movie). Still, all that makes for an uneasy atmosphere and thereu0026#39;s one scene in the bathroom thatu0026#39;s set up gloriously, toying cleverly with a classic childhood fear (going to the toilet in the middle of the night in a dark and spooky house).u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eSo far the movie would get a straight 7 from me. Then somebody decided to add a background story, an explanation thatu0026#39;s so silly and underdeveloped, it virtually ruined the whole movie (Ketchem, my ass). Characters start to act all weird (Kathy Lutz is a bit too patient with her raging husband, the kids go back and forth from being close to madness to feeling very comfortable in the house, Kathy continues to ask Father whatshisname for advice after he has run away from the house crying like a girl), which makes the whole third act seem as if it had been rewritten more than once and then edited into a mess. Thatu0026#39;s more than a tiny flaw and it keeps the movie from being anything better than a 6.”