Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘The Amityville Horror’ (2005)

Written by Scott Edwards

One thing that I would love to do in my lifetime is to live in a haunted house. They have always amazed me over the years, and I think one would be the perfect fit for me. I don't want to be frightened; but knowing that there is something on the other side, well, that would be pretty amazing. But I would want a nice haunting, like the kind where things get put back in their place if left out, not like smacking me around or waking me up in the middle of the night. I don’t think you really get a choice in this, but I am thinking and hoping for a ghost more like Casper than John Wayne Gacy.

After the loss of her husband, Kathy has been able to find love once again and George is happy to be that man. Getting along fine with her kids, George will be the perfect father figure for them, but the kids still miss their actual dad. Knowing that this will not change for some time, George plays it loose and just tries to be their friend instead of a father as to not tarnish the deceased's memory. As their current house is too small for everyone that is living there, Kathy and George decide to give a new listing on the market a look. Being in their price range is one thing, but when they see the house, George knows that there has to be a catch since it is a lot of house for so little money.

Finding out that the previous family was murdered in the house a year before does not deter Kathy or George and they bring the kids and move right in. As everything seems to be fine in the house on the first night, George catches a little chill and has to stoke up the furnace. Not truly knowing what secrets are hidden inside of the walls of the house, the family goes about their daily business as normal. Even young Chelsea has made a new imaginary friend in the house, Jodie is her name. Thinking that it is just kids being kids, little attention is paid to this until Chelsea gets herself on the roof and is going to jump. Crying about how much she misses her father, Kathy tries to console her daughter, but George is not having it and wonders why he is staying with this crazy family.

The house has taken its hold on George, changing his attitude and destroying his health, and nobody else is affected. But when George and Kathy go out on a date and the babysitter starts rekindling old memories about the house, it starts to come alive. Blaming Jodie for getting her fired, Billy challenges the young woman to stay in the closet where Jodie’s body was found. Getting trapped in the closet while the house comes to life, the babysitter is taken out on a stretcher, but that is the least of what the house is about to do. Kathy knows that her family is being torn apart and after a priest comes into bless the house and leaves without explanation, Kathy knows that there is something evil hidden in the walls. Doing her research at the library, Kathy finds out that the family that was killed in the house is not the cause of this haunting, it is courtesy of a reverend that owned the land before and carried out great acts of violence against the Native Americans in the area. Believing that it is his ghost that haunts the house, Kathy is in a race against time to get her family out of the house before something sinister happens to her and her family.

I am not a huge fan of remakes these days since everything seems to be getting one, but this one is pretty good. There's not a lot of star power to gain fanfare in this one, instead they enhance the story to dive a little bit deeper into what is haunting the house. With several of the same storylines being followed from the original, you get a fresh look at the haunting and some great special effects. As in the first movie, I did enjoy the transformation of George as he becomes more distant and sinister towards the family and his axe work is fantastic. But the journey into the catacombs of the old house is just fantastic and seeing what happened there before the house was erected was a joy for all to see. This is really the perfect date movie as well for anyone that has to battle to get their girlfriend to watch a scary movie, because it's Ryan Reynolds in his prime and he does not seem to like to wear his shirt at all in this one. Stay Scared. 

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