Honeybeads Blog

We saw this movie at the second run theater - $1.50 admission, oh yeah! I wasn't expecting much based upon most of the mediocre to poor reviews it had received. I will tell you up front that I was pleasantly surprised by this decently scary flick.

But first - the bad. Number one, we've seen the barely credible claim of "Based on a True story" used in a couple of horror movies (Texas Chainsaw Massacre has little to do with Ed Gien on whom the movie is "based"). I suspect that the real life premise(s) behind Amityville are likewise a stretch. I guess the producers get a cheap scare-boost up front by making the audience think that the terrors they are about to witness actually happened. Another issue is the fact that this movie joins a groing list of unnecessary remakes. But - as with the recent remake, Dawn of the Dead - you will quickly forget the horror purists' whinings if the movie kicks ass!

Well, I don't know if I'd put Amityvill 2005 up there with the "Dawn" remake, but it was pretty effective as a haunted house flick. The acting was well done. I was concerned early on whether Ryan Reynolds could pull off the Jack Torrence (you know, Jack Nicholson - The Shining?), but in the end, he was pretty convincing. The overall movie had a creepy feel and you shared the tension with the main characters throughout. My one change would have been to show less of the little girl's ghost. Other scares in this movie stick to the less is more rule of horror movies: show the audience only glimpses, blurs, or shadows and thier minds fill in the blanks with images more horrible than the director can conjur up. It would have been much creepier if she'd been shown in quick, flash-shots rather than nearly giving her a top billing.

Brian's Bottom line: Definitely worth $1.50 admission and as a rental. Well done and enjoyable - you will get some scares!