Amityville Horror was really a stinkfest

[tay666]

I thought it was weak back when it was new.
Thought the remake was better, but still not really something I would recomend.

[darklord1967]

I haven't seen it in years, but it freaked me out since it was supposedly a true story. The couple came clean a few years back that the whole thing was a hoax.

Chris

Um... No they didn't.


People loosely affiliated with that case have labeled it a "hoax" (Re: Jim and Barbara Cromarty who purchased the house after the Lutzes abandoned it and said there was nothing paranormal about the place... or William Weber the lawyer who represented Ronald DeFeo Jr at his murder trial and claims to have concocted the whole story of the Amityville haunting along with George and Kathy Lutz over "... many bottles of wine...")

However, something has never sat well with me regarding the accusations of a hoax:

Why would George and Kathy Lutz fabricate this story in the first place? I mean, why would a young, recently-married couple with 3 small children purchase a 3-story dutch colonial house for $80,000... and then abandon it and most of their belongings 28 days after moving in?

Why would they put their children through that?

Was their motivation publicity? Well there's nothing to suggest that George and Kathy were the types to seek fame or recognition prior to this. They just weren't those kinds of people. They lived quiet lives. And it was author Jay Anson who approached them about chronicling their paranormal experiences. They had no way of knowing beforehand that their story would be made into a book and movie, etc.

Were they motivated by profit? Again, there was no guarantee that their story would gain any notoriety even if they did initiate attempts to tell it publically. They didn't even make any money on the sale of the house itself when the realty company sold it to Jim and Barbara Cromarty for $55,000 in 1977 (compared to their own purchase price of $80,000)

As I recall (and I do), George and Kathy Lutz were very uncomfortable doing interviews, discussing the matter, and dredging it all up. On a day-time talk show that they were asked to appear in (along with James Brolin and Rod Steiger... stars from the 1979 film), Kathy spoke mostly in a hushed, shy, traumatized whisper. Steiger even observed "You're still frightened even now... aren't you?"

Also, I think it is important to note that Jay Anson's book "The Amityville Horror" is written largely as a collection of independent accounts of people who experienced paranormal or unexplained activity while visiting 112 Ocean Ave in Amityville during George and Kathy Lutz occupation / ownership of the house.

In some cases, George and Kathy were un-aware of the experiences of these individuals, much less their anecdote contributions for Jay Anson's book.

Among these individuals is Father Frank Mancuso, a lawyer, a Judge of the Catholic Court and a psychotherapist. This is the man who was called by George and Kathy to bless the house, and was told by a disembodied masculine voice to "Get out!" just as he began the blessing rites. Shortly afterward he was slapped in the face by an unseen attacker. In the subsequent weeks Mancuso developed a very high fever and blisters on his hands similar to stigmata.

In actuality, Mancuso's name is Father Ralph J. Pecoraro. His name was changed for reasons of privacy within the book.

Pecoraro (now deceased) even appeared on camera in a 1980 segement of the TV show In Search Of (with Leonard Nimoy). In the interview, he repeated the claim that he heard a voice saying "Get out", but stopped short of giving it a paranormal origin. He also stated that he felt a slap on his face during the visit, and that he did subsequently experience blistering on his hands.

Anson states in the afterword of his book that "... there is simply too much independent corroboration of their narrative to support the speculation that [the Lutzes] either imagined or fabricated these events..."


In June of 1977, George and Kathy Lutz each even agreed to take lie detector tests relating to their paranormal events claims. They both passed with flying colors.

Immediately after their alleged paranormal experiences in the home in Amityville, NY, George and Kathy Lutz moved to San Diego, where they briefly sold Amway products. Afterward, they moved to Arizona before divorcing in the late-1980s.

Kathy died in 2004 of emphysema. George passed away in May 2006 of heart disease. At the time of his death, George was living in Las Vegas, where he volunteered at a homeless shelter and restored old cars. He occasionally still appeared at conferences dedicated to the paranormal to discuss his family's experiences at the house in Amityville.

[darklord1967]

I took my buddy to see The Exorcist when it was rereleased in the theatres. Lots of people were laughing through the whole thing.

Yes. I've talked about this at length on this message board.

As far as I'm concerned, this is just more evidence of the growing continued cynicism of our culture spiraling out of control. Smirk at or crap all over anything that represents goodness, kindness, decency, or compassion for others. Celebrate and laugh good-naturedly at ugliness, vulgarity, or the suffering of others.

That's what we've become.


In 1973, this film The Exorcist was first released as a tale of a brutal and vicious victimization of a 12 year old little girl by a demon.

At the time, people were not only terrified, but also horrified by what they saw. And rightly so. People were being taken out of movie theaters in stretchers or being driven off in ambulances with heart palpitations, etc.

27 years later when the film was re-released, people reacted to it as if it were a dammed comedy. That's how far we've come.

The film was virtually ruined for me by all the childish giggling and laughing that I heard in movie theaters. And this was the case DESPITE the fact that the film dates VERY well (Re: excellent writing, acting, directing, editing, set design, cinematography, SPFX, etc.)

So yeah. A lot of people laugh at stuff these days. A lot of people are also idiots... with no real clue about the workings of the world we live in, or of the often terrible chronicle of human historical suffering.

These are many of the same people who's main focus in life seems to be to get plastered every weekend with beer, marijuana, coke, ecstacy (or whatever the hell else) to the point where they can't walk or talk properly, and then giggle with a "Woo-hooo!!!" or a "Yeee-haa!!" at every stupid or vile thing they see/experience... even if it is the suffering / maiming of another human being or even a helpless creature.

Turns my damn stomach.

[Goblin19]

Never liked Amytivulle Horror. The remake is no better, no worse. They're both just bad to me.