Tweet
Released by: Vinegar Syndrome
Released on: September 27th, 2022.
Director: Stuart Rosenberg
Cast: James Brolin, Margot Kidder, Rod Steiger, Don Stroud, Murray Hamilton, John Larch
Year: 1978
Purchase From Vinegar Syndrome
The Amityville Horror – Movie Review:
Based on the bestselling novel by Jay Anson and supposedly based on true events, this first film in the long running series follows the misadventures of George and Kathy Lutz (James Brolin of Westworld and Margot Kidder of Superman), a recently married couple who are buying their first home in Amityville, a quaint suburb of Long Island. When they come across a gorgeous old house that needs a little bit of work but is conveniently in their price range ($80,000 seems like an insane bargain these days!), they decide to snatch it up despite the fact that a few years earlier an entire family was gunned down on the premises. After all, as George tells Kathy, houses don't have memories.
Things seem okay at first. George and Kathy get along just fine as they work on the house and Kathy's three children, two boys and a girl, have fun playing with the family dog outside on the water front property. But things soon start to get a little strange, starting with a visit from the local priest, Father Delaney (Rod Steiger of Duck, You Sucker! and who was fantastic opposite Sidney Poitier in In The Heat Of The Night). He comes over to bless the house finds an overwhelming amount of flies in a certain room upstairs. As they swarm around him, he very clearly hears someone or something tell him to 'Get out!'
The more time that the Lutz family spends at the house, the stranger and more powerful the evil manifestations become. Soon the door to the basement and to the front of the house is blown off its hinges from the inside. George's behavior becomes more and more aggressive and he begins to look very sickly. Toilets back up and spew black tar. Windows slam shut and catch a child's fingers, and the dog keeps digging at something behind a wall in the basement. A babysitter gets locked in the closet for hours, and the walls and staircases tend to bleed. Tensions build, the police and the local clergy become involved, and eventually it all hits the fan when George ends up going a little nutty… obsessed with chopping wood, sharpening his axe, and yelling a lot.
While the film takes its time getting going once we get past the very strong opening scene (in which the murders that took place at the house are presented in some scenes of startling violence), The Amityville Horror does build nicely to a creepy conclusion. Director Rosenberg, who that same year directed Brolin again in the Charles Bronson vehicle Love And Bullets, does a good job of picking the pace back up and letting the actors go a little over the top. Brolin in particular does a nice job of going nuts from about the half-way point on, although there are a few spots where his incessant yelling becomes a little too much. Overall though, the performances aren't half bad in this film. Margot Kidder is pretty solid (and fairly sexy as well!) as the matronly character concerned for the wellbeing of her children. She also shows believable concern for her husband as he grows more and more detached. She's got the right kind of face that portrays fear very well, with those big expressive eyes of hers. Regardless of some of the strange behavior she displayed in the late 90s when she kind of went off the deep end for a while there, she is very good in this role. The rest of the cast does okay as well, with Steiger as the priest who becomes blinded by the evil putting in a memorably over the top performance as well.
There are a few logic gaps and a couple of inconsistencies in the film, and the languid almost surrealist pacing of the movie might put off modern audiences who want their horror films to come at them fast and furiously. The Amityville Horror, however, remains a pretty solid entry in the supernatural horror that Hollywood became so obsessed with for a while in the latter half of the seventies. Not all of the effects hold up perfectly (the most obvious example being the floating pig thing that appears in the window) but the film does contain some eerie scenes and makes good use of a strong cast. It also features an impressive and somewhat underappreciated score from famed composer Lalo Schifrin that helps to build tension and atmosphere. But did we really need Brolin to run around in his underwear? He just looks silly when he does it. Let's just assume that the devil made him do it.
The Amityville Horror – UHD Review:
The Amityville Horror arrives on UHD from Vinegar Syndrome in a new 4k transfer of the original 35mm negative framed at 1.85.1 widescreen in HEVC / H.265 encoded 2160p with HDR enhancement. This transfer is excellent. We get really impressive detail throughout and plenty of depth and texture as well. The colors look great, if a tad hot in a few spots, and the picture benefits from really deep black levels all while avoiding crush and delivering excellent shadow detail in the film’s many darker scenes. Skin tones look great and always appear nice and natural looking, and the image always looks properly like film. There isn’t any noticeable print damage to complain about here, the image is pretty much spotless and offers a substantial uptick in detail, clarity and color over the previous Blu-ray editions.
The movie is presented for the first time on home video in its “original unaltered theatrical surround mix” in 24-bit DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio with an optional stereo mix offered in 24-bit DTS-HD 2.0 Stereo, with optional English subtitles. Some may take issue with the wording here, as it doesn’t seem like The Amityville Horror had a 5.1 mix when it hit theaters, unless Vinegar Syndrome is referring to the stereo mix. Regardless, the 5.1 mix here is a very strong one, with some great channel separation during the more action oriented scenes and really nice depth afforded the score. The stereo track also sounds really strong, with some really effective panning and nice depth to the track. Neither option has any audible hiss or distortion to note. Both options sound clean, clear and nicely balanced.
Lots of extra on the disc, and they’re subtitled too which is a nice touch. New to this release is My Amityville Diaries which is a brand new making-of documentary featuring interviews with screenwriter Sandor Stern, actor Meeno Peluce, actor Don Stroud, actor Marc Vahanian and actress Amy Wright. This piece covers coming up with the script after Stern met Jay Anson, actors landing their respective roles, what it was like on set, getting into character, thoughts on the book that inspired the movie and the events that inspired the book, working with Rod Steiger and the other bigger name actors in the cast like Brolin and Kidder, what Stuart Rosenberg was like as a director, what was shot on location versus a sound stage, memories of shooting specific scenes and thoughts on the movie and its legacy.
There are also a host of archival supplements here, starting with the documentary entitled For God's Sake, Get Out!, which originated on the MGM DVD. This clocks in at just over twenty minutes and is essentially a look back at the making of the film featuring new interviews with Margot Kidder and James Brolin. It's interesting to hear them talk about how the Hollywood hype machine kicked in during the shoot, leaking information to the press about strange things that were happening on the set to the cast and crew, when in fact, according to Brolin and Kidder, none of that was true. There are also some interesting comparison photos that show how close Brolin looked to the real life George Lutz once he grew his hair and beard out a bit, as well as some interesting behind the scenes photos and archival photos from the real life events as well.
Vinegar Syndrome has also carried over the MGM commentary track with Parapsychologist Dr. Hans Holzer, PHD. Holzer is an expert in the paranormal and the author of Murder In Amityville. His take on what was right and what was wrong about the way that Hollywood portrayed the real life events that happened in Amityville makes for an interesting commentary. The only problem with this track is that there is a fair bit of dead air throughout it. It could have been condensed or maybe benefited from the presence of a moderator, but what is there is quite interesting for those who 'want to believe' or have an interest in ghostly happenings. He does a good job of relaying some of his personal experiences from the investigations he did into the events surrounding the Amityville case and doesn't mix words about what he sees as the truth behind the story.
Carried over from the 2017 Second Sight Blu-ray release are a few more archival extras, starting with Brolin Thunder, an interview with actor James Brolin that runs sixteen minutes. He talks about wanting to be a director as a teenager, how he got into acting for movies and television, some of his early roles, landing the part in Amityville Horror, shooting on location, how much respect he had for Rosenberg, getting along with his co-stars, memories of Samuel Z. Arkoff and the film's massive success.
Child's Play is an interview with actor Meeno Peluce that clocks in at seventeen minutes. He talks about getting into acting as a kid, only having scattered memories of certain aspects of making the movie, how amazing it was to see it for the first time, shooting on the east coast, how amazing the rest of the cast was to work with, still managing to just be a kid on set despite the movie's horrific elements and walking in on a naked Margo Kidder.
Amityville Scribe interviews screenwriter Sandor Stern for sixteen minutes. Here he goes into detail about how he became a writer while in medical school, getting his start writing for TV, how he came to write the script for The Amityville Horror, different revisions that had to be made, his personal approach to writing and what makes a good script, the film's massive success, his friendship with Jay Anson and then working on Amityville IV.
The Devil In The Music gets composer Lalo Schifrin in front of the camera for fourteen minutes. He goes over how he got into music and then into jazz specifically, studying to become an attorney when his parents didn't approve of him wanting to get into music, going to the United States to play with Dizzy Gillespie, getting into composing for film, meeting Rosenberg when he worked on Cool Hand Luke, collaborating again on The Amityville Horror, the supernatural and spiritual elements of the movie particularly how they could affect Catholics and what he brought to the score (some of which he plays on camera).
Haunted Melodies is a ten minute interview with composer Lalo Schifrin from the 2013 Shout! Factory Blu-ray release. Here the man behind the music used in the movie discusses his experiences working on the film and explains what he tried to accomplish with the score for this picture.
Finishing up the extras is an eighty second video introduction Holzer, film’s original theatrical trailer, a still gallery, a TV spot, a few radio spots, menus and chapter selection options.
The cover art insert is reversible with two different great painted poster art variations available (though, sadly, no original poster art option) and this limited edition of 6,000 units, available from Vinegar Syndrome’s website, also comes with a very nice embossed slipcover designed by Robert Sammelin.
The Amityville Horror - The Final Word:
Vinegar Syndrome has gone all out with their UHD/Blu-ray release of The Amityville Horror, presenting the film with an excellent transfer, very strong audio and an impressive array of extra features including a new, exclusive featurette that’s well worth checking out. The movie itself holds up pretty well, a solid slice of seventies supernatural horror with some strong acting and iconic set pieces.
Click on the images below, or right click and open in a new window, for full sized The Amityville Horror Blu-ray screen caps!
