Amityville Horror

Another movie based on a book! The book and video covers both have the iconic image of the end of the house with sinister "eyes" in the attic, chimney for a nose and teeth in the windows and railing. This is the one of the two movies with the house having a "human" face that we can relate to create a character, the other being "Monster House." The background of the events in the house is that a horrible murder occurred in there by a deranged son, in the movie the real reasons aren't given. There are hints as to him hearing voices due to the fact that the house was built on a burial ground. Being dramatic and not searching for the answers is the exploitative portion of the movie, I was looking for some hard facts, but Hollywood is not big into facts. Nonetheless, after about 18 months of the house sitting empty following the brutal murders, a new family moves into the house and is almost immediately experiencing supernatural disturbances. Besides devolving the entire plot and story line, the house expels a priest, telling him to "Get Out!", a couch eating money for a wedding reception, and awakening the occupants at the time the murders occurred. Other events include cold spots, visions, spontaneous fly growth in the late autumn, locking an annoying girl in the closet, disconnecting the phone lines, a window "biting" a boy that is taunting his sister. The source of the problems is a hidden "red room", where the family dog digs at the wall and barks at this previously unknown space.

The house works to split the family, creating a rift between the parents and the children alike. What kind of character is the house? Is it an old person, someone wronged by the previous owners' actions? It is a vengeful teenager, unable to remove itself from the past transgressions of the burial ground? I liken this house to the former, an elderly parent that has been set upon a site where it's friends have been buried. Again, being haunted by the disturbed souls on the grounds, the house wants to expel the new inhabitants, knowing living souls can't stand to be in such proximity to disinterred burials. Most importantly, this house has a memory. It knows where it is, when it was built, who has lived there, and what has happened there. Yet this house can't move, only do anything it can to keep people away, at the expense of it's own happiness and usefulness.