Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘The Amityville Haunting’

Written by Scott Edwards

​Moving can be one of the most stressful things you can do. Not knowing anyone in your new neighborhood is one of the reasons, but the other is how painful it can be on your checkbook. If you move often, you will find yourself trying to find the best deal around, but most of the time you will have to settle for anything that falls within your budget. Making do with something that is just all right is not something that anybody wants to do, but if the deal is right, it is hard to say no. 
​
Arriving at their next house to check out, the Benson family is ready to call it a day, at least Doug is. With his wife Virginia, daughters Melanie and Lori and son Tyler hiding behind the camera, he sees something in this house that nobody else can, the price. With enough rooms for the kids and the price point being right in their wheelhouse, Doug is fine with moving in, even after hearing about the murders that took place there many years ago. Giving Virginia a little pep talk, he is able to convince her that this is the place for them, but little does he know what evil is hiding inside of the walls.

With his camera attached to his hand, Tyler watches as his little sister Melanie makes a new invisible friend in the front yard. Talking to a young boy like he was really there, Tyler finds it interesting, but there is more in the house that he needs to see. Checking out the rooms while the movers are doing their thing, he spots a shadowy figure moving in his older sister’s room. Freaking out a little bit, Tyler goes back to filming everything else that is happening around the house when he films one of the movers falling down the stairs and dying at the base. Knowing that this is the infamous Amityville house, Tyler starts to track all of the strange things that are taking place around him, but when his parents are too busy to care about what he has to say, he thinks about taking another route. 

Not believing that there is anything wrong with the house itself, Doug is getting upset with his kids for leaving the back door open on more than one occasion. Putting in a security system to keep tabs on his daughter, to see if she is messing around, Doug watches the footage from the first night to see the door opening on its own. Believing that there was a prowler outside, he investigates, but finds no one. Knowing that he can put a stop to it, Doug stays downstairs, and this time catches one of the local kids trying to sneak in to see his daughter. Watching as the boy is pulled out of the front door when he leaves, Doug calls the police to take a look around and a puddle of blood is found on the property. With no one believing that it has anything to do with the house, Doug calls in help from one of his former teammates who takes the cameras to the next level, but before he is able to leave the residence, he is killed as well. The house slowly comes to life and with fresh blood in its veins, it is finally able to get enough power to point the torment where it belongs, right at the Benson family.

I saw this movie a couple of years back and am happy it finally made it back on my streaming service. I was unsure how to approach the story, since it tried to do the same thing to the family as what happened in The Amityville Horror movies, then took off in another direction. I honestly could not stand the parents for not listening to their kids at all throughout and for being more than happy to place the blame on them for anything that happened. The kids were the best part of the movie, since they all had their own motives, Lori to make some friends, Melanie to play with her dead friend and Tyler to prove that the house is haunted and find out what happened to the kids whose phone he found in the house.  With plenty of haunting effects, a shadow person, disbelief, a dead best friend and a demon who cannot be stopped, this really is a fun ride, and the finale is worth it as I have never seen a family tormented so badly by a demon in any other movie as they are in this one. Stay Scared.

---