If you grew up anywhere near a television in the eighties or nineties, you probably remember those glowing red eyes. They belonged to a pig named Jodie. Or at least, that’s what the movie told us. When we talk about The Amityville Horror 1979 film, we aren't just talking about a haunted house flick. We’re talking about a cultural phenomenon that basically redefined how Hollywood handles "true stories." It was messy. It was controversial. Honestly, it was a bit of a miracle it even got made given how much the critics hated it at the time.
But the audience? They didn't care about the reviews. They flocked to it.
People were terrified. They were obsessed with the idea that a regular suburban family—the Lutz family—could move into a dream home and be driven out by literal demons in less than a month. It tapped into a very specific 1970s anxiety about homeownership and the crumbling of the nuclear family. Plus, it had James Brolin looking increasingly unhinged with an axe. That helps.
The Reality Behind the Screen
You can't really grasp why The Amityville Horror 1979 film worked without looking at the real-world baggage it carried. Most people know the broad strokes. In 1974, Ronald DeFeo Jr. shot and killed six members of his family at 112 Ocean Avenue. That’s the grim, factual foundation. Then, a year later, George and Kathy Lutz moved in. They stayed for 28 days.
They claimed the walls bled. They claimed the toilets backed up with black goo. They claimed they found a secret "Red Room" in the basement that smelled like death.
When Jay Anson wrote the book, it became a massive bestseller. By the time American International Pictures (AIP) got their hands on it to make the movie, the hype was at a fever pitch. But here is the thing: the movie had to walk a weird line. It had to feel like a documentary while acting like a blockbuster. It’s why the film starts with those stark, white-on-black titles. It’s trying to tell you, "Hey, this actually happened."
Whether it actually did happen is a whole different rabbit hole. Skeptics like Stephen Kaplan and even the DeFeo family lawyer, William Weber, later suggested the whole haunting was a "hoax" cooked up over a few bottles of wine. But for the sake of the 1979 film, the truth didn't matter as much as the vibe.
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Why James Brolin and Margot Kidder Were Perfect
Casting is everything in horror. If the parents are boring, you don't care if they get possessed. James Brolin was coming off a string of "leading man" roles, and Margot Kidder was fresh off Superman. They felt like a real couple. They had chemistry.
Brolin’s performance is actually kind of underrated. He doesn't just go from zero to crazy. It’s a slow, sweaty burn. He’s always cold. He’s obsessed with the fireplace. He gets grumpier and more distant. It’s a brilliant metaphor for the pressures of being a stepfather and a provider in a house you can't actually afford. Honestly, the scariest part of the movie for some people isn't the ghosts—it's the mounting bills and the lost deposit.
Kidder brings this frantic, nervous energy that balances him out. When she’s screaming at the priest or clutching her kids, you feel her desperation. It feels lived-in.
The Music That Defined a Genre
If you close your eyes and think of the movie, you hear it. The theme.
Lalo Schifrin, the guy who did Mission: Impossible, wrote the score. It sounds like a twisted nursery rhyme. It’s pretty and horrifying at the same time.
Actually, there’s a famous bit of Hollywood trivia here. Schifrin originally wrote a score for The Exorcist, but William Friedkin supposedly hated it so much he threw the tapes out the window (or just rejected them harshly, depending on who you ask). Schifrin took that dark, atmospheric energy and poured it into The Amityville Horror 1979 film. It’s arguably the most effective part of the whole production. Without that score, the scenes of the house just sitting there in the dark wouldn't be nearly as effective.
The house itself is a character. Those iconic quarter-moon windows? They look like eyes. Even though the real house in Long Island had those windows changed years ago to deter tourists, that image is burned into the collective consciousness of horror fans.
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Blood, Flies, and Bad Vibes
The film relies heavily on "gross-out" horror and psychological dread. You’ve got the swarm of flies in the middle of winter. You’ve got the priest, played by the legendary Rod Steiger, getting blistered by unseen forces and shouting "GET OUT!"
Steiger is... a lot.
He’s chewing the scenery. He’s sweating. He’s yelling at God. It’s a very 1970s style of acting, but in the context of a supernatural thriller, it works. It raises the stakes. If a man of the cloth is this terrified, what hope do the Lutzes have?
Then there's the stuff that hasn't aged perfectly. The "Red Room" reveal is a bit goofy by modern standards. Some of the practical effects look like exactly what they are: corn syrup and stage paint. But there is a grit to the cinematography that modern CGI-heavy horror can't replicate. It feels dirty. It feels damp. You can almost smell the rot in the basement.
Impact on the Horror Genre
Before this movie, haunted house films were often gothic. Think The Haunting (1963). They were about old estates and lonely people. The Amityville Horror 1979 film moved the horror to the suburbs. It told us that your brand-new life, your investment, your "American Dream" could be a trap.
It paved the way for everything from Poltergeist to The Conjuring. In fact, Ed and Lorraine Warren, the real-life paranormal investigators, became household names largely because of their involvement in the Amityville case after the Lutz family fled. The movie didn't feature them, but it created the vacuum that their stories eventually filled.
It also spawned an absurd number of sequels. Some were okay. Most were terrible. We’ve seen Amityville in space, Amityville clocks, Amityville dollhouses. It’s become a bit of a joke in the industry because you can't actually trademark the name of a town, so anyone can make an "Amityville" movie. But the 1979 original remains the high-water mark.
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What People Get Wrong About the 1979 Version
A common misconception is that the movie follows the book exactly. It doesn't. The film amps up the physical manifestations significantly. In the real Lutz account (as "real" as that can be), things were often more subtle—noises, smells, personality changes. The movie needed a climax, so it gave us a literal bubbling pit of black sludge and a dramatic escape in a van.
Another thing? People think it was a critical darling. It really wasn't. Roger Ebert gave it two stars. He thought it was slow and logic-defying. But the 1979 film proved that horror is often critic-proof. If you tap into a raw, primal fear, the people will show up. And they did. It was one of the highest-grossing independent films of all time for a while.
How to Revisit the Amityville Legacy
If you’re looking to dive back into this story, don't just stop at the movie. To truly understand the "Amityville" phenomenon, you have to look at it as a piece of folklore. It’s a mix of true crime, architectural horror, and 1970s paranoia.
Actionable Steps for Horror Fans:
- Watch the 1979 Original First: Skip the 2005 remake with Ryan Reynolds (even though he's ripped in it). The original has a tension that the remake replaces with jump scares.
- Read the Jay Anson Book: It’s a quick read and surprisingly creepy, even if you don't believe a word of it. It fills in the gaps the movie leaves out regarding the family's history.
- Check out "Shattered Hopes": If you want the factual, non-supernatural side, look for documentaries or books focusing on the DeFeo murders. The real story is arguably more tragic and frightening than any ghost story.
- Listen to the Score: Find the Lalo Schifrin soundtrack on a streaming service. Listen to it in the dark. It’s a masterclass in building unease through sound.
The The Amityville Horror 1979 film isn't just a movie about a house with a bad attitude. It’s a time capsule. It’s a reminder that sometimes the things we own end up owning us. Or, in the case of the Lutzes, trying to kill us. Whether it was a haunting or a hoax, the film remains a cornerstone of the genre because it dares to suggest that even in the bright, sunny suburbs, something dark is waiting in the basement.