By Stephen Pytak 

     I walked in very excited. The poster was dead on. 
The cast, great, Ryan Reynolds in particular. And
the producer, Platnum Dunes, seemed more than 
able to pull off a reimagining of "The Amityville 
Horror."
     I walked out feeling like George Lutz. I wanted
to shotgun the demons who screwed the whole
thing up! 
     What could have been a great pot-boiler was
ruined by some illogical decisions, not only on the
part of the characters, but the filmmakers. 
     There's one ghost too many haunting this place.
It's a wandering little girl, "Jodie (Isabel Connor),"
one of the victims of a shotgun massacre in the film's
backstory. She serves no real purpose in this film
besides making "Amityville" feel more like a 
knock-off of "The Ring (2002)."
     The real demons driving "George Lutz (Ryan
Reynolds)" out of his skull are lurking in the 
basement, led by a witch hunter poltergeist 
named "Ketchum." I don't know who played this 
guy in the film. It might have been a mannequin 
from Bon Ton. But that character was great!
     Meanwhile, there are a lot of missed opportunites
for greatness, for Philip Baker Hall as "Father 
Callaway" in particular. Great actor. But Hall
really has nothing to do here, except run from 
some flies and rap like Donald Pleasence.
     There are some great moments along the way. 
I love the start of the big chase in the end, when 
when George Lutz steps out of the shadows with 
a pump shotgun. The rooftop scene in the rainstorm
was great. 
     Then...the ending sucked.
     A scene with an axe in someone's belly really
made us raise eyebrows. But then it's revealed it's
just a horrifying vision and the film became less
threatening.
     The Lutz's plan of escape at the climax is very
illogical. They drag George down to the dock, roll
him into a speedboat and take off. This doesn't make
any sense since the family pick-up is in the driveway
and, from what we gathered a few scenes back, it
worked fine.
     Then, to ensure product placement, the 
filmmakers take us back inside the house to see Jodie
standing on the stairwell. She appears upset, 
probably because she saw the dailies from the dock
scene, then she's pulled down into the depths of
somewhere or other by the basement ghost. 
     I'm sure she'll be back in "Amityville Horror II:
Ring III."
     I should point out that all the actors appear to
be doing their best. What happened with this 
production is not their fault. If I was making this film,
I wouldn't replace one of them. But I don't think I'd
do a whole lot with Jodie the closet ghost.
     The film looks good. The atmosphere is just right,
and the set design, costumes and props set us right
in the middle of the 1970s. 
     I wish I could go in and reedit the film myself.
I'd cut some stuff, and sort through whatever didn't
make the final film, if anything. I'd try to find more
scenes with the human drama, or the haunting of
the basement, the source of the evil in this film 
anyway.
      According to Internet Movie Data Base, the real 
George Lutz, the owner of the house the story is 
based on, publicly criticized the creators of the
remake for refusing to consult him for accuracy. 
Lutz said the filmmakers chose to turn fact into
fiction while presenting it under the guise of truth.
     In truth, Geoge and Kathy Lutz admitted, under
oath, in 1995, that their story was a fabrication.
     While "The Amityville Horror" is promoted as a
true story, it's actually a hoax. Convicted killer
Ronald Defao Jr.'s attorney, William Weber, 
allegedly concocted the story to get his client a
new trial. George Lutz went along, in an effort
to try to get out of the mortgage due to his failing
business.