On November 14, 1974, police received a frantic phone call that led them to a nightmarish crime scene at the Defeo residence in Amityville, Long Island - an entire family had been slaughtered in their beds. In the days that followed, Ronald Defeo confessed to methodically shooting his parents and four siblings while they slept, claiming "voices" in the house drove him to commit the grisly murders. One year later, George and Kathy Lutz and their three children moved into the house thinking it would be their dream home. But shortly after settling in, bizarre and unexplainable events began to occur to the family as George was plagued by nightmarish visions and haunting voices from the evil presence still lurking within the residence. 28 days after moving in, the Lutzes abandoned the home - lucky to escape with their lives.

Simply put Amityville Horror is one of the best horror movies done in the last five to ten years. Yes, it was that good which was kind of surprising since it is a remake. The original and the remake are very similar at times; the remake took several liberties to update the movie into the 21st century though, which worked really well. The movie wouldn't have worked as the 1979 original did with today's cynical audiences, who have had hundreds if not thousands of horror movies thrown at them. The original was very creepy and spooky and the remake is more suspenseful and haunting. Also what seemed to help is the fact that the movie is based on a true story and I doubt very few people have not had an encounter with a haunted house making the movie more real. The movie delves more into how the house became haunted this time around weaving more of the back-story to explain the fearfulness of the house. Which is a shame I think they could have done without the back-story leaving the spookiness to mystery rather than trying to explain it away. I for one was drawn in by the suspense of the movie and truly creeped out as the movie just captures the feeling of a haunted house so perfectly.

Ryan Reynolds is really starting to prove he can act and is going to be a big name. After single handedly saving Blade Trinity with his wit and humor the former Van Wilder star brings in a fearfulness single handedly to this movie. You cannot but accept him as the slowly becoming psychotic stepfather who is going mad by degrees. His performance just progresses throughout the movie as the voices make him more and more aggressive and frightening. Without Ryan Reynolds the movie probably would have failed, as the rest of the casting is very questionable. Melissa George looks almost the same age as her oldest son played by Jimmy Bennett and it just kind of throws you off because there is no way she is old enough nor him young enough for them to mother and son. Jimmy Bennett is also easily the worst actor in the movie as Rachel Nichols at least pulls of her part and is perfect the youngest daughter, in the original the oldest Lutz son played by KC Martel was the best child actor in the movie. Despite the bad casting of some of the Lutz family the movie is truly terrifying and will leave you with your hair standing on end.
4 stars out of 5