Oct. 3, 2024

A Film at 45: The Amityville Horror

"Get out!" Our limited series, "A Film at 45" is back to celebrate the 45th anniversary of the films of 1979. We're dusting off the end of a decade that changed cinema forever, with a fresh look at modern classics and hidden gems that we can't stop...

"Get out!"

Our limited series, "A Film at 45" is back to celebrate the 45th anniversary of the films of 1979. We're dusting off the end of a decade that changed cinema forever, with a fresh look at modern classics and hidden gems that we can't stop watching! Wayne Whited of our Phasers Set To Stun series joins David and Scott for a frightfully informative conversation about The Amityville Horror!

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WEBVTT

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Hello everyone, and welcome back to nineteen seventy nine. In

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a Film Buys limited series, A Film at forty five.

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I'm David Burns and.

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I'm Scott Hoffman, and as usual, we're dusting off the

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end of a decade the change Cinema Forever with a

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fresh look at modern classics and hidden gems that we

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can't stop watching. This week, we're moving into a lovely

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nightmare of a house in the original classic, the Amityville Horror.

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Fine, no, well.

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It is the passage guest that strength of mindy.

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For God's Sake, get out, claim to be based on

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a true story by writer Jay Anson. Director Stuart Rosenberg

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takes us to the very famous House of Pure Evil,

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a house that does indeed have memories, a house that

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truly loves the Witching Hour, a house that was famously

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investigated by Ed and Lorraine Warren. And as Scott said,

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of course we are talking about the Amneyville Horror. But

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before we dive into the film, we have a guest

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with us, none other than our Phasers set the stunt

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co host Wayne Whitett, who I know deeply loves this film.

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Welcome Wayne to A Film at forty five.

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Oh, thanks for having me here, I think get out.

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Well.

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You know I have quite a history with this film.

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You'll do it all about.

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It, ye Wayne. I know we've known each other for

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a very many, many years, long time, and I know

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this film has come up in conversations on our road trips,

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those kind of things from here and there. I find

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it very fitting that here you are sitting down join

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talking about this film on a podcast. I love it,

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I do.

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I can't wait to hear this story. I gotta hear

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about it.

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Yeah. I as a kid, as a young kid, I

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was fortunate enough to watch a lot of horror films,

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mainly because of my sister Sherry. She she didn't care

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if there was an age limit. She took me to

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see them all, and I looked forward to seeing the

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Ambityville Horror. I remember seeing the original trailer and getting

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really excited. I'll keep in mind this is seven year

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old me and I was really excited. Now, I didn't

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see this in theaters. I actually saw this on HBO

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HBO debut, but for months, that's all I talked about

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was the Ambityville Horror. That's I couldn't wait to see it.

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I just couldn't wait to see it, and then I

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saw it, and I have been traumatized since then.

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I am so sorry and so happy to hear that.

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I was hoping that would be the story.

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I don't know why this film traumatized me, really though.

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It scared the crap out of me, because I mean,

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I saw Halloween, I saw Orca, I saw The Hills

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Have Eyes Friday the thirteenth, Nap didn't do anything to me.

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And then there's the Amityville Horror, which I refused to

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watch until yesterday. I haven't this. I've seen it twice

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in my life, and yesterday was the second time. I

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just couldn't bring myself to even think about it. It'd

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come on TV channel instantly changed. I couldn't even I

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couldn't even listen to the music.

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So when you watched it this latest time, did you

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ever feel your blood run cold.

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At the beginning? Yes? Yes I did. I was scared

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to watch this film, you know. I known that I'm

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gonna been on this this podcast for a long long time,

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and every I keep saying I'm going to watch this,

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I'm going to watch this today, and I kept putting

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it off until I absolutely had to and even then

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I was afraid to push play.

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Wow. I mean, that's that's a great experience to have. Honestly,

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even though it sounds horrible and traumatizing, when something hits

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a chord with you that deeply, I can relate. There

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are a few movies like that with me. But as

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soon as you see the opening credits, as soon as

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you hear some of those chords and you just get that,

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all the temperature in your blood just drops and you're like,

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wait a second, what's going on? And you can't shake it.

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Yeah, you can't. You get those goosebumps and you know

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what's coming. So yeah, well, I'm glad you did it. Wayne,

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I'm glad you're here to discuss.

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It with this really absolutely, and we have new opinions

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on the film too.

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Excellent, right, I'm looking forward to hearing those. Well, Scott,

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I know this is a pretty famous film, but I'm

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sure there are a few out there who haven't laid

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eyes on it. So how would you describe this to them?

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Some people believe that houses don't have memories, but some

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people really should, especially George and Kathy Lots. They've just

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bought a beautiful house in New York with a horrific

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history of mass murder. They move in with their dogs

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and three kids and what seems like the start of

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a simple life, but they soon start to see the

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evil in the house seet through. No one from the

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church can approach the house without tortuous consequences. Their daughter

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connects with a deadly friend who's either invisible or imaginary,

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but malevolent all the same. As some strange occurrences happen,

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George starts to lose his grip on his temper and

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his sanity, and the family continues to unravel with morbid

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and earthshaking consequences. This independent film is a classic in

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the genre where a haunted house soon becomes a haunted family.

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Good good, good summary. It's very fitting too that we're

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talking about this movie because it's October. Guys, you know,

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this is the best time to watch horror movies. And

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what better way to get it going is obviously with

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the Amityville Horror. This was only like a five million

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dollar budget film and ended up making like eighty seven

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million dollars, So it definitely took cinema by storm very

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very successfully. And I know there's a lot of reviews

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out there people mixed reviews on this film, and I'm

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sure we'll discuss a little bit on that later. But

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you know, as you said, you know, we've got George

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Lutz and Kathy Lutz who move into this house. George

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obviously played by James Brolin, who already has a very

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successful career up to this point and after that, up

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to a present day of us doing this podcast, a

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huge list of movies that James Brolin has done. I

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know he actually met the Lutz family and apparently and

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his children, and apparently he was very doubtful about the

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story apparently what he came up with anyway, But the

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one movie, did you guys ever see the movie The

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Car in nineteen seventy seven? Did you either want of

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them who've seen that movie? Nope?

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Years ago on TV.

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That's the one movie that besides the Mivial Horror, that's

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the one movie that I relate to with James Brolin

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immediately because I saw The Car when I was a

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little kid and I loved it, still love it to

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this day. But I know, I remember when I saw

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him in Namyville whore, I'm like, oh, that's the dude

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from the Car. But yeah, really really good job is

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George Lutts. And of course Marget Kidder. Come on, guys,

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Marget Kidder who played Lois Lane. She plays Kathy Lts

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in this and as we all know, Scott and I

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talked about Superman last year.

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Yeah, yeah, Bargo Kidder is iconic for a lot of

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different roles, and this is something that she's coming, you know,

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fresh off the heels of the original Superman yep. And

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I think it's very interesting to see her in this

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role that's a lot different from Lois Lane. Like there's

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a lot it's not you know, seeking adventure in the

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next story, it's very much wanting to kind of settle down,

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had a simpler life, raise the kids, enjoy a house.

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That's a beautiful house. I mean it's got that boat

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house outside that I think would be a lot of

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money today to say the little Absolutely, what did they

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get this for like eighty grand.

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Eighty thousand And I was like, really, it's probably like

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eight million to day.

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Yeah, I mean we have a very bloody evil. Yeah,

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it probably fine, right, it's definitely a fixer upper. But yeah,

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Margo Kidder shines in this one, even though she apparently

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wasn't too much of a fan of the movie.

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Now it wasn't.

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Did a great job.

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But you know what really surprised me about her role

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in this is she shows some skin in this thing. Yeah,

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you know, I'm like, WHOA, what's going on here? I

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was so used to seeing her as Lowest Lane and

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I see this, I like, what is happening now?

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Right, that's my first time seeing this movie. So that

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took me off guard or caught me off guard, and

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I was like, all right, Margo, ahead for it, showing off.

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Whatever works. Whatever. The other one in the cast who

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I really appreciated is Rod Steigert, who plays Father Delaney

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in this. To me, he was my favorite character of

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the whole film. And it's really sad what he goes

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through because he is sickened by this house, loses his

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vision and still isn't able to do what he wants

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the most, and that has helped the Lutz family, you know,

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to me, he was more of a victim than the

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Lutz family. Would you guys agree with that?

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Yeah, yeah, I definitely agree with that. I feel his

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you know, he's so under used in this film in

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my opinion, because he's such a great actor. I mean, heck,

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he's an Academy Award winner.

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Yep.

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But he's great in every scene, and you're absolutely right,

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he's he's really the biggest victim out of them all.

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Yeah, it's it's quite a shame, but what he goes through.

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But it just shows you the power that he had.

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You know, even when he went blind and he knew

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something was going to happen, when he started, you know,

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doing his thing of praising God and stuff like that,

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he knew it was coming and he just kept it going.

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He didn't care because of his faith, and that just

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you know, instituted how much of a stronger character he

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was and made me appreciate him that much more.

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Yeah.

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Yeah, there's definitely a strong trifacta going on here with

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the three key protagonists, and I know that there are

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other people that are, you know, at odds with it.

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Obviously there are the kids, but you know, I think

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the father Delaney character does a great job of exploring

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kind of the religious roots of it.

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Yep.

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To say, it's not just kind of the unnamed poltergeist,

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then it would be a ghost kind of haunting. It's

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something that feels like it's rooted in a deeper kind

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of evil. Yeah, you've got Margot Kidder Kathy Lutz playing

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someone who doesn't seem to necessarily believe that there's any

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kind of history or any background, Like she's aligned with

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George in that way. I was shocked that they were

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willing to buy the place with the history that I

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had that was still fresh history. But that shows how

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much they weren't necessarily scared by it or buying into

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like malevolence or anything else like that. Knowing how much

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of this happens through George and to Kathy, I think

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having that third character of Father Delaney really helps to

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sell the experience, to sell what is actually happening within it.

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Yep.

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Because you've got the two people who are kind of

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wondering what it is. There's a third person that is

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pretty convinced he knows what it is, but he can't

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even get the rest of his clergy to agree to it.

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Yeah, and that was a really good scene too, there

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when he was trying to get to convince them. You know,

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he has a family he's trying to help and just

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he was just getting ignored by them. You know, he

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was very passionate in that scene. Yeah, trying to convince

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him you know, another very powerful scene right there with

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a father Delaney.

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For sure, well and genius casting of Murray Hamilton. His

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father Ryan there too, Yes, right, So as soon as

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I saw his face, I was like, all right, well

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here's the member of the clergy that's not gonna buy anything.

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And you know, George will you know or father Delaney

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will basically say that he's being obtuse and that will

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be the one thing that he fixates on and doesn't

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hear anything else.

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Yeah. Yeah, So did Murray Hamilton come from amity to

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come to Amityville?

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Consistency is the thing there, apparently.

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Sure a good job Murray Hamilton. No, you're right. Anytime

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he shows up, you know where it's going. And sure

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enough it does it again. Here a couple of the kids.

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I want to call out the cast here, Greg Casey, Martel,

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Jeff and I discussed a movie with him, Whitewater Summer.

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He also played Greg and e t so funny that

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he plays two characters with this one.

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I didn't I didn't realize that didn't make that connection.

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And then the other boy, Mino put loose. I don't

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know if you guys recognize that name, but he played

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Jeffrey Jones in the nineteen eighty two eighty three series Voyagers,

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where he travels through time with Penis Bog.

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Yes, yeah, there you go.

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Yep, soon as I saw him, like, hey, I know

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that kid exactly yep. And then one N one to

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call out for because this is for our special friend

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Dayton at Docking Base seventy seven. And that's Val Avery,

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who plays the sergeant because he also played Chief Hallowell

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in Cobra, which we know is Dayton's favorite film. He's

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going to kill me after that, but somewhere he's head.

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That's that's right, that's right. All right. Let's talk about

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this film, guys. How about that creepy opening shot of

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the house and you've got that red sky with that's

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the incredible score.

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Scarius part of the film. To me, it early is

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because it's the start of the film. But that that

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that is very a very effective shot. I mean it's

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it's a still shot, but ooh, you know the whole

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thing idea of the house, you know, being haunted, possessed,

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and it's got eyes.

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Right.

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I remember as a kid before I saw the film,

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like I said, I was obsessed and I would I

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did a lot of drawing, and I always draw houses.

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All my houses had eyes on it. And my sister

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she she wouldn't go anywhere near it because it had eyes.

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But it's creepy. It is so wayne.

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In your history of haunted house movies, do you remember

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seeing many before this and do you remember this being

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a change in how you saw haunted house movies.

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I think this might have been my first. I can't

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think of any before that I that I saw.

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It's just very interesting to think of. Like, you know,

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obviously I'm going way back with these kind of references,

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but like the Vincent Price kind of days, when you

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think about a haunted house and it's covered in cobwebs,

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it looks like the monsters just moved out. There's probably

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skeletons and bats and spiders and all these kind of

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cliche things. But this one, I think it's fascinating that

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you had that experience, that you were so excited to

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see the movie because you had been sitting with it.

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You had been wondering what the expectation would be of

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this movie. And the way that they construct it, beginning

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with the opening scene takes you into this sense of

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familiar security, but a sense of impending dread right like

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you said, Like the windows are shaped like eyes that

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have you know, these lights that make it look like it's,

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you know, grimacing at you. And the lullaby kind of score.

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In the beginning, I remember having a CD with a

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bunch of horror soundtracks on it that I had listened

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to in the car, and I wouldn't necessarily know what

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theme was, changing one from another. And as soon as

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I heard this one, I thought it was Nightmare and

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Elm Street with that same kind of you know, lullaby

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kind of chant. But it's this one. It definitely creeps

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you out.

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It does, and it sticks with you up till yesterday.

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For years, I've had this theme in my head that

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keeps going over and over and now and then i'd

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actually sing it out loud. I had no idea where

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it came from until yesterday. Wow, it has stuck in

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my head. I did not know it was from Amityville Horror,

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but I remember it clearly until and when those first

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opening shots with that and with that theme, I knew,

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oh my god, I've been singing this for years and

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didn't know that I've been, you know, remembering the Ammitville horror.

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This movie has been haunting you for a year.

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It is.

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That's creepy, man.

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But when speaking of the creepy kids, Natasha Ryan as

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Amy m is probably the creepiest kid in this cast,

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even though she's the imaginary friend.

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But yeah, no figure, yeah oh yeah, especially the whole

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bedroom scene with the babysitter gets locked in the closet

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and just banging on the door to get out and

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our hands are like bloody and just she won't open it, dude, no,

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thank you.

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Well it pans over to her and she has this

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you know, it's like they describe Michael Myers from Your

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First Sea him in Halloween Things got you know, dead eyes,

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and she's just kind of looking at the hat at

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the closet with a little bit of curiosity. It doesn't

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seem like she's scared. She's just like, oh, this is

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the game that Jodie wants to play. And you see

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that babysitter banging on the door with like bloody handprints.

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Yep, I know, it's it's scary. The one scene that

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I always remember from this movie is when the kid

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puts his hand down and the window comes down and

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starts crushing his fingers. Yea, that is as soon as

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they think about Amityville horror, that's the first place of

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my mind goes as that scene, because dude, that is

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that's rough. The screaming that he's giving and people are

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trying to get the window up, and George's outside, He's

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running in to try to help, and just that kid

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just constantly screaming as you just see you. I've had

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my hands, my fingers smashing a window, so I know

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what that feels like. But when you can't get it

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up and your fingers are still getting crushed, I just

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can't imagine that. It just no, thank you.

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What I thought was a little curious about that was

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that Kathy was getting so freaked out of the fact

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that he didn't have any broken bones, right. I was like,

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but why is that the scary aspect? Like it should

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be scarier to say, like, I can't believe we couldn't

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get that window up. That seemed to slip and fall

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and then get.

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Jammed, right, But I don't know. It seemed weird that

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she was fixed on that doesn't it right?

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Right?

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But it seemed for a lot of the film that

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she seemed to be in denial that there was anything

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going on wrong at the house in the first place

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until she saw the eyes, right yeah.

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Which is pretty deep into the movie, like.

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It is, yeah, yeah, because that you know, they they

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kind of set that up with when George are looking

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at the window and that cat scares the crap out

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of him, and it scares the crap out of me. Still,

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you've seen this several times. It still makes me jump.

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And when she you know, she goes in the room

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to see her daughter and you know, daughter felt much

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you'd seen Jody, and then she goes over to the window,

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you're right, and then she sees those eyes at first

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like is that the cat, but then no, it's not

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the cat, it's the demon, And yeah, that was scary.

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Yeah. I think one of the really effective scare tactics

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in this one is the use of kind of a

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sinister silence, right yes, specifically, like you're talking about windows.

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It makes me think of the flies. And when I

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first started kind of plaguing literally plaguing father father Delaney,

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there's that drop in sound when he kind of you know,

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before he starts to hear the get out kind of yelling,

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before you hear that noise. The audio seems to drop

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entirely m hm. So I feel like if I'm sitting

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in the theater or even watching it at home, you know,

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on HBO, in a in a dark room or whatever,

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it's gonna make and Dave, you and I have talked

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about this before, make you want to kind of sit

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closer in your chair to say, like, should I listen

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closely because I'm not hearing anything to the sound just

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go out and then it hits you like a hammer.

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And it's just very very effective throughout the entire movie.

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It was and when something was going on weird too

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that maybe you might not heard, you get that that

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low rumbling too.

387
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You know I'm talking about I know exactly what you're

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talking about.

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Yeah, And because I mean and you're right, it goes

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to that silence and you're like looking around. The characters

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are like look slowly looking around, like something's going on

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in the house, and it just, yeah, pushes you on edge.

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And this is another movie that's a perfect example of

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building atmosphere. I feel like a lot of movies have

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lost that today, horror movies, and you get a few

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