The Amityville Horror

The Amityville Horror

1979

Director-Stuart Rosenberg

Cast- James Brolin, Margot Kidder, Rod Steiger, Don Stroud

           

     This haunted house pic, supposedly based on true events, definitely belongs alongside the other great Satanic classics.  The entity that harasses this suburban family is no trapped spirit or poltergeist. It is definitely evil and its demonic connections are delineated quite clearly; upside down crosses, gateways to Hell, an extreme dislike for priests and nuns and its avatar; a swarm of flies.

            

     The tension builds slowly. The actual scares don’t come until later in the movie. However, seeing the slow deterioration of the family’s father, as he is slowly brought under the evil’s influence, is as unsettling as any of the overt demonic imagery. James Brolin seems rather satanic himself at times as his eyes get darker and his jet black beard and hair gets wilder.

            

     Rod Stiger, who plays the clergy that opposes the house’s demonic presence, is a bit over the top and loud but it doesn’t detract from the movie’s understated nature. And it is understated to be sure, especially when compared to the disturbing imagery found in other movies of this genre. The film is more interested in the effect that the evil has on the family than on the evil itself.

            

     The unresolved nature of the films ending can be viewed as either anticlimactic or unsettling. Either way, the message is that the evil endures.

The film remains important because it connects to modern suburban anxieties; the blended family, religious faith, and the emotional and financial tie that Americans have to their homes. The home is where children are raised, where we shelter from the world and where lives run their course. Most Americans have all of their money and all of their possessions tied up into their homes.  A house is anyone’s single greatest possession but also their greatest source of financial limitation. People become tied to their homes, unable to leave without risking disaster. This family risks greater disaster by not leaving.

There were four films that helped create the Satanic panic of the 1980s; Rosemary’s Baby, The Exorcist, The Omen and this film. Rosemary’s Baby and The Omen are about shady cabals, groups of devil worshipers working behind the scenes. The Exorcist and Amityville Horror place the demonic forces square within the confines of everyday life.

Fun fact- This wasn’t James Brolin’s only brush with the Satanic. Two years earlier he battled a demonic sedan in The Car.

Fun fact #2- The Amityville Horror is the prologue for The Conjuring 2!