The Amityville Horror

I don't understand what they were hoping for with this masterpiece. It’s the same old tired song again: an idyllic family that has everything going for them moves into a mysterious house infested with evil. Everything goes smoothly at first and everyone is satisfied, but after about thirty minutes, things start to get complicated. First, there are just strange noises, then ghosts, some walking dead, a lot of imaginary blood, ritualistic murders, and more and more nonsense. They wrap it all up in a modern audiovisual package (frantically confusing editing) and present it beautifully polished and scented, but it’s still a massively crappy movie, with tons of clichés, absolute predictability, unbelievable characters, and I could go on listing all the bad and the ugly until the sun comes out. Just another contribution to a brutally declining genre. (06/21/2006)

A solid haunted-house horror movie that surpasses the original version from 1979 not only in technical terms, but also with several screenwriting ideas, at least where the initial psychological build-up of unease is concerned. On the other hand, the ending looks like it was borrowed from a mediocre brainless slasher flick. (09/28/2005)

A nice little horror flick. In tingles unpleasantly on the nerves, there is no shortage of nastiness and the less than 80 minutes pass like water. But there is a but. I didn't mind the inspiration from other horror films, but the director's attempt to cram a jump-scare and a horrible vision into every other scene seemed increasingly ridiculous as time went on; and that stupid ending? I'd like to cut it out completely as it takes away all the solid atmosphere and those few good ideas. The filmmakers should have ended it in a science-fiction style instead of pushing something about real events down our throats. 60% (10/18/2011)

I don't like remakes, that's just a given, because I think they're mostly unnecessary films. Of course, there are exceptions that I like, but "3:15 You Die" definitely won't be one of them. Douglas tried to at least scare us, for which he deserves credit, because there are scenes that are truly terrifying. He only added dynamism to the story, which, however, doesn't fit the 70s as much. (02/26/2015)

Stupidity to the nth degree, where the only likeable character starts gradually turning to the dark side, at which point all empathy for the family comes to an end. Fortunately, with The Amityville Horror the viewer doesn't even really have a chance to get properly warmed up before the finale comes, which also brings liberation. The result is worse than the poor Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The horror roots occasionally shine through even despite the B-movie production. (07/13/2023)