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DVD Review of The Amityville Horror (2005)Cool Bonus Features, Scary Menus, and an Axe-Happy Ryan Reynolds
Complete with frightening menus, interesting documentaries, and lots of behind-the-scenes footage, MGM's "The Amityville Horror" (2005) DVD is worth picking up.
A remake of the 1979 film of the same title, "The Amityville Horror" tells the supposedly true story of George and Kathy Lutz, who move into a house with a murder in its recent past. Affected by the demonic spirits infesting the property, George Lutz begins losing his mind. He hears voices telling him to kill his family, and begins to see his wife and step-children's faces warp into demonic visages. The priest brought in to bless the house runs away, terrified for his life. And there seems to be something behind a wall in the back of the basement... The MenusStarting you off with the usual "dont steal movies" and a few trailers, the DVD menus are almost as frightening as the film itself. Strong music and odd noises fill the ears, as images flicker past the screen. Most notable is the menu for the special features, which features one of the children originally murdered in the house. Flies mark the user's selection as a nice, creepy addition. Languages and CommentariesThe bonus features are really nice on this DVD. As is increasingly common, this DVD features the usual multi-lingual features and a nice commentary track by star Ryan Reynolds and producers Andrew Form and Brad Fuller. Supernatural HomicideFirst up in the Bonus Features menu is a 17 minute documentary entitled "Supernatural Homicide," which discusses the actual history of the house, along with interviews of several people involved with the investigation concerning the real murders that served as the basis for the book and the subsequent film series. It's a nice collection of fact and fantastic theory, and the interviews provide ideas from all ends of the spiritual spectrum (from the skeptic to the true believer in the paranormal). Though they don't mention the many lawsuits that surrounded the film series (for obvious reasons), the mini-doc serves as an interesting look into the fact that inspired the fiction. The Source of EvilThe second documentary is a behind-the-scenes look at the film, entitled "The Source of Evil." At a running time of about 26 minutes, this bonus feature is just as interesting as "Supernatural Homicide," as it dives into the minds of the actors, producers, and the director, as well as giving a look at how some of the stunts and special effects were done. Favorite tidbit from this documentary was the fact that star Ryan Reynolds spent as little time with the child actors as possible so he would feel as detached to them as possible, making his scenes of emotional and physical abuse easier and more believable. On Set PeeksA cool inclusion is the ability to turn on the "On Set Peeks" function, which interrupts the actual film nine times to show behind-the-scenes clips of how the scene was shot before returning the viewer to the actual film. Definitely not a recommendation for first-time viewers, but a neat addition for those interested in the production of the film. The RestThe rest of the bonus features include eight deleted scenes (with optional commentary by Reynolds and the producers) and 14 previews for MGM films and DVD sets, including the Amityville Horror collectors set. The Last Word"The Amityville Horror" is a great R-rated horror flick, and the DVD compliments it nicely with loads of scary menus and looks behind the story and production of the film. Definitely worth picking up.
The copyright of the article DVD Review of The Amityville Horror (2005) in Horror Films is owned by Robert Becka. Permission to republish DVD Review of The Amityville Horror (2005) in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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