![]() Here it’s ritualistic and inhuman torture by zealot Jeremiah Ketcham, which gives the film its repeated “Catch ‘em / Kill ‘em” tagline. The film also falls back on the tired trope that the house is a site of an Indigenous massacre. This new creation for the film has the now familiar long dark hair and veiny complexion (there’s a clear visual connection between Jodie and Alessa in Christophe Gans’ 2006 adaptation of Silent Hill) and Kosar packs the film with (often pedestrian) jump scares involving the spooky ghost girl. Isabel Conner plays Jodie DeFeo, who is alternately a victim of the house’s murderous rampage, as well as a manipulative entity who repeatedly puts Chelsea in danger. The influence of both Michael Bay’s TCM remake, as well as Gore Verbinski’s 2002 J-horror The Ring remake, is evident in both the rapid-fire editing and, more specifically, the visual depiction of the Amityville ghosts. His behaviour is extreme, even for the condensed runtime of the film (the Lutz family famously only lasted a month in the house, but in the remake George shows symptoms of madness from day 1). Screenwriter Scott Kosar wastes no time highlighting its effect on George, who frequently comments on the cold and has recurring dreams of the DeFeo murders that open the film. That tension is obviously exacerbated by the demonic entity living in their new house. Kathy’s three children – oldest Billy ( Jesse James), middle child Michael ( Jimmy Bennett) and youngest Chelsea ( Chlo ë Grace Moretz, in her film debut) – are all reeling from the death of their father and although Kathy and George clarify nothing will replace the original patriarch, there’s still tension between the kids and their new stepfather. The 2005 film exists principally to reintroduce the “true” story of newlyweds George ( Ryan Reynolds) and Kathy Lutz ( Melissa George) as they move into the “too good to be true” home with the iconic eye windows. The Amityville Horror remake doesn’t offer much new storytelling because it is, first and foremost, a reboot of the 1979 original. It’s MTV music video chic by way of Se7en. This isn’t your mother’s true crime story this is amped up, gritty, and slightly desaturated-looking. This is clearly visible from the opening murder montage of director Andrew Douglas’ film: staccato editing of grainy archival footage set to an industrial score. TCM 2003 set the precedent for the look and tone of many of the aughts remakes. ![]() (For more on the well-documented trend, check out Bloody’s editorial series ‘ Revenge of the Remakes’). This was thanks, in large part, to the success of Platinum Dunes’ 2003 remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre which kicked off a wave of horror remakes. Nearly a decade after the last DTV entry, The Amityville Horrorfinally returned to theaters. Twice a month Joe Lipsett will dissect a new Amityville Horror film to explore how the “franchise” has evolved in increasingly ludicrous directions. ![]()
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