13 Nights of Hallowe'en 2010: Night #10 The Amityville Horror (2005)

As Hallowe'en draws near and the movies become about bigger, more spectacular, and more infamous hauntings on film. The AmityvilleHorror is probably the most talked about haunting on this continent popularised by the novel, original movie with several sequels, and now this recent remake. Scott Kosar wrote this Amityville Horror screenplay--also The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and The Crazies remakes. Amityville is one of the Platinum Dunes remakes. It stars Ryan Reynolds, and Melissa George who you may remember from Turistas and 30 Days of Night. They buy a house that is priced within their means because the previous family was murdered in it. Notable playing the role of one of Melissa's boys is Jesse James who definitely stood out in The Butterfly Effect. The priest in this remake is played by Philip Baker Hall from Lost Souls.

There is one scene in this movie that I want nothing more than to tell you about, but it would be such a spoiler. I almost hate tomention that it involves the character played by Rachel Nichols from the short-lived TV show The Inside, also from 2005, and a year later the movie The Woods. As a remake this movie draws comparison to the original, and a certain amount of ire. I'm a fan of this and the original. This one does it's own thing in some cases. It involves some aspects that are hinted at in the novel that weren't an issue in the original movie. It drops some aspects and scenes from both progenitors. Some of the changes could be interesting to see pursued in a sequel, though I have not heard anything about a sequel to this movie. You can save it for another night, but I thought the commentary track did a good job of explaining some parts that seemed a bit random.

Mood: excitable.

Music: This House is Haunted by Alice Cooper. MP3s