I read this book when I was 11 (prolly a bad idea), and my dad says one day, "Hey, your aunt and uncle said The Amityville Horror is on HBO tonight and you kids can go see it if you want." All four of us kids went over, and I was thinking it was a bad bad idea, since I already knew where it went. When we walked back home in the dark, none of us talked. My parents said when we walked in the house, our faces were pale and our lips were blue. None of us slept that night, or well for a long time after.
The real mystery of The Amityville Horror is how exactly Ronald DeFeo Jr. was able to murder his six family members the way he did. All six victims were found shot in their beds with no signs of struggle. How Ronald was able to go from room to room with a rifle and shoot all six of his family members without waking any of them remains unknown.
There was one possible explanation Dawn and Ronnie drugged the family he shot them then killed her...BUT the police found no signs of drugs in the victims so it was thrown out of court. 1 possible way to explain how no one heard the shots is if the house reacted from inside making it sound proof. Yes they were found in bed but face down with hands crossed over their faces.
@@flatcapman I've heard the theory that Ronnie and Dawn planned the murder of their parents and wanted to make it look like a mob hit, since Ronald DeFeo Sr. supposedly had ties to the Mafia. Then, after shooting their parents in their bed, Dawn decided to start killing their younger siblings so she and Ronnie would be the sole inheritors of their parents estate, but Ronnie objected and shot and killed Dawn. According to reports, Dawn and the younger sister, Allison, were the last ones shot and killed. This has never been proven, however. There are still too many unknown factors.
His siblings were definitely not asleep when he shot them. The closest he ever came to confessing to the killing of his siblings is when he said that his sister Dawn ordered the boys to lay on their stomachs and then she shot them in the back. This was an obvious lie, but most likely the part about them being ordered to lay on their stomachs was true. After shooting his parents, he turned around and walked several feet to his sister Allison’s bedroom and shot her in the face at point blank range; she was lying on her stomach facing the door, and obviously she was not asleep after 3 gunshots went off several feet from her bed (the father was shot twice in the back -- his body was half out of the bed, as if he had been trying to get up after being shot the first time); most likely she was terrified and very much awake at the moment she was shot. After walking down the hall and killing his brothers, he reloaded his gun and went upstairs to Dawn’s bedroom. In most of his “confessions” there is some kind of struggle with her before she is shot, so it seems there might be some truth to this. I assume he laid her body in her bed after she was dead.
Oh yes Jen, the murders actually happened. Ronald Defeo who killed his family died in prison in 2021. The book is amazing, you should def read it. There has always been speculation if the Lutz made up the whole story with the author to make money. You should watch the 2nd film which is a fictional story of the first families murders 👍😎 The movies afterwards are just silly horror films.😂
Here is something people dont see. The deo's and lutz's were church goers as explained in the book. The Priest never went blind but was sick a lot and when he tried to bless the house his room and only his room reeked of poop.
@@LeviAckerman-cb5ji Yul Brynner generated so much tension and threat towards the end of the movie, great stuff. I love most of the movies directed by Michael Crichton. Another James Brolin movie I'd add to the list of great ones to watch is Capricorn One (1977). The theme music is epic (Jerry Goldsmith) and it tells an interesting 'what if?' story.
First saw this in the cinema and it was fun experience!. Please check out the sequel Amityville 2 The Possession, it's all about the family that lived in the house before, the ones that got murdered at the very start of this one. Genuinely considered to be the best in the franchise. The rest you can skip unless you want to enjoy some wonderfully crappy 3D in the 3rd one, Lol.
Cool reaction as always Jen, you have a nice day sweetie and most of all, cheese and rice 🥰❤️ And yes Jen, there are sequels And also, James Brolin's son is Josh Brolin
Only issue with this story (this was the OG Conjuring) was the taking advantage of a tragedy. What was affecting the family after the move in was a mold that was growing under the stairs that induced headaches. This and especially Amityville 2 are not that bad.
I wonder if the same mold issue affected Ron DeFeo, Jr. ? It sounds far fetched, but anything is possible, especially if he already had underlying mental issues.
@@handsomestik COME ON Mold doesnt muffle the sound of a high powered rife he used and it was LOUD somebody would had woken up. No drugs in the victims either.
Yes, Jen, the Dutch Colonial house in Amityville, Long Island, where the murders took place, is real and still there. 😊 No one who has lived there since the Lutzes fled the house has experienced any paranormal phenomena.
no way I would enter that house I dont care what BS you people think you know I am not giving whats in that house a reason to start again. Did it happen to cross your minds their kids lied to protect their private lives about everything? Nothing that evil would expose itself to us Evil covers its tracks and they were never paid for any interview afterwards and owed for the place many years later.. I spoken to them before the real life mother and father died and both SWORE it happened
Fun Fact: The film's producers wanted to film The Amityville Horror in the actual Dutch Colonial on 112 Ocean Avenue in Amityville, Long Island, but local authorities denied them permission. So filming began in Tom's River, New Jersey, in October of 1978, in a nearly identical Dutch Colonial house that was converted to resemble the one in Amityville. After location shooting had been completed, the production relocated to Los Angeles, where interior scenes were shot at the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio lot, and production was completed by Christmas of 1978.
Fun Fact: The creepy theme music during the opening credits for The Amityville Horror was composed by Grammy Award winning composer Lalo Schifrin, Jen. Schifrin is known for having composed the Mission: Impossible theme, as well as the music for Cool Hand Luke, Bullitt, Enter the Dragon, and the Dirty Harry movies. It has been rumored the Schifrin's score for The Amityville Horror was the one that was originally rejected for The Exorcist in 1973, but Schifrin himself has denied those rumors.
I agree with a movie recommendation someone suggested earlier down in your comments. “BURNT OFFERINGS (1976)”. Spooky movie, lots of fun, pretty great cast.
I was curious about the young actress. Apparently she had a very terrible childhood and her foster family kicked her out of the house at 13 or 14, so she was living on the streets. Latest info on her is she works construction.
It's great to see you finally watching The Amityville Horror, Jen! 😊 Yes, this movie is based on a true story... somewhat. In 1974, in Amityville, Long Island, New York, Ronald DeFeo Jr. murdered his parents, his two brothers, and his two sisters, and was tried, convicted, and sentenced to six terms of 25 years to life in prison. He died in prison in 2021. In 1975, George and Kathy Lutz and their three children moved into the house. 28 days later the Lutz family fled the house, leaving all of their belongings and never returned, claiming to have been terrorized by paranormal phenomena while living in the house. The Lutzes later worked with writer Jay Anson on a book that chronicled their experiences in the house, which became a bestseller, and later became the basis for this movie. The film opened in 1979 and grossed $86.4 million on a $4.7 million budget, making it the second most successful movie of 1979. However, the facts and validity of the Lutzes claims about this being a “true story" has been widely questioned over the years.
More likely, they smelled an opportunity to make money out of a ghost story that they invented I would love to visit the actual Amityville house out of curiosity
@@SamuelBlack84Perhaps, but it's still weird that they left after only 28 days and never returned for their belongings. The idea that they could make money off of a book about hauntings that never happened has got to be one of the biggest long shot ideas for making money in history.
@44excalibur They had to make it look good to make everyone believe them. Plus, the author of the book probably advised them how to further encourage others belief in the story, which were greatly helped by the original murders All it takes is a little fanning of the flames. People will swallow anything And, if the house really is the source of great evil, then take me to it. I'm far from innocent and I've seen true evil in the hearts of others
@@SamuelBlack84 You're probably right, but again, you probably have a better chance of winning the lottery than making millions off of a book about a fake haunting. 😂 The fact that both the book and the movie were so successful is sheer luck on the part of Jay Anson, and who knows how much of that the Lutzes got?
@Reel Reviews With Jen! The house that they used for the first three Amityville movies actually does in fact exist. The house no longer basically looks how it did in the movies as the quarter moon windows were actually just put on by the film crew for the movies. The house has also long since been painted blue and the address is 18 Brooks Rd. Toms, River New Jersey. Was actually put on the market several times and no it was never haunted like the real Amityville house located in Amityville, Long Island.
An $80,000 house is a catastrophic amount of money in the mid 70s. The husband and wife, if they both worked, might have made $15,000 or so--combined. And that house is real, the crime was real, and that house is most likely in the millions at this point.
The era immediately after dropping the gold standard was one of runaway inflation as prices sought the unregulated point. The Lutz’s parents’ houses likely cost around $5000 new.
Had this happen with my cat, who had been with my mother since kittenhood. When my mom passed, I brought her home to live with us. We both mourned and healed together.
Any plans to start watching some of the early Godzilla films soon? The reason I ask is there will be a new one coming out by Toho in Dec this year, it would be nice to see you react to the first two in the series along with the first tie in film of Rodan.
My favourite version is 1983's Amityville 3-D (best seen in 3-D, 3-D version for the cool effects comin' at ya! heehee). I found it just as spooky as the original. :)
This movie drew a lot of controversy upon release as the book the movie is based on had some inaccurate scenes, some of which never happened to the Lutz Family.
what happened to their priest was real because it was documented by his church. His ongoing sickness and the stink that only affected his room at the church
One part they left out of the movie that I found creepy is when the little girl would be singing her children's gospel songs, she would stop singing the second she stepped out of the room, and pick back up, mid sentence, even mid word from where she left off when she re-entered her bedroom.
Weird Fact: In real life, George Lutz bore some resemblance to Ronald DeFeo Jr., Jen, but mostly due to them both having a similar hairstyle and a full beard. George Lutz was actually blonde, while Ronald DeFeo Jr. was dark haired.
That weird machine with the newspaper headlines is called a micro fiche. Pronounced feesh.Very useful but you needed to know the approx date something happened in order to be successful at it, otherwise your just randomly looking at old newspapers. I used it for school work and much later, to look up info on my parents wedding
It is based on a true story: - The house is real. - The murders did happen. - As for the haunting... nah. It's all fiction created to sell the story for money. For a house supposedly so haunted, it's quite miraculous that nothing weird happened in the house after they left!
There’s a documentary, “My Amityville Horror” by one the real-life Lutz kids still stubbornly defending the “true” story, even though it’s long since been dismissed as a cynical cash-in hoax. What we see is the seriously messed-up product of one seriously messed-up dysfunctional family, and although the book/movie tries to make a plot point about James Brolin not fitting in with his new stepfamily, it’s easy to see what was embellished for the story: “I can’t pay for the BIL’s wedding, ghosts must’ve taken the money!” 🤨
I may have made this comment before, but I have to say it again. Jen, for 2 years now, you've been saying you are a "wuss" when it comes to horror movies. I don't think that's true anymore. I would say you are a grizzled veteran at this point. Thanks for another entertaining video.
another great reaction jen, i suggest watching The Legend of hell house 1973, also The Changeling 1979 two of the scariest movies ever made. have a good week, and be safe.
Thanks for another awesome reaction video, Jen! 😁 I can't wait for your next one, and I hope my recommendations are still on your list: Prom Night (1980), Terror Train (1980), Hell Night (1981), Brian De Palma's Body Double (1984), Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982), Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994), the 1988 remake of The Blob, and John Carpenter's Escape From New York (1981) and Big Trouble in Little China (1986).
I love the scene where George hears the drums being played in a dark, empty room that immediately stop the moment he looks inside The idea that something was in there in the dark watching him 😱 A similar scene is in the sequel Possession when the demon walks past the crucifix and howls. So spooky
Great reaction to great horror and would have as you say a great Halloween watch. most places I have spent any time in have their own local "Amityville House" that would have 2 upper floor windows which always had open curtains and lights on all night. I'm sure you can think of such a landmark. a great mid 80s rap hit for Lovebug Starski was Amityville (House on the Hill) check it out.
Why have I never heard that song?!!? Thanks for mentioning it, I'm going ahead and calling that a personal Mandela effect. And it's going on my Halloween playlist for good!
@ReelReviewsWithJen! Jen, I don’t know if you have done research on the film, but, The Amityville Horror Is a true story. On November 13, 1974 at 3:15 AM Ronald DeFeo Junior took a high-powered rifle and shot both his mother and father and two younger brothers and sisters while they slept in the house at 112 Ocean Ave., Amityville Long Island. 18 months later, on December 18, 1975, George and Kathy Lutz and Kathy is three children from a previous marriage moved into 112 Ocean Ave. only to flee 28 days later The murders were in fact true, but it was said that George and Kathy’s account of living at the house was all fabricated some believe the story some think it was a hoax
The Amityville Horror (1979) Amityville II: The Possession (1982) Amityville 3-D (1983) Amityville 4: The Evil Escapes (1989) The Amityville Curse (1990) Amityville 1992: It’s About Time (1992) Amityville: A New Generation (1993) Amityville Dollhouse (1996) The Amityville Horror (2005) Amityville: The Awakening (2017) The Amityville Murders (2018)
Best quotes from this movie..."You wanted a house and here it is so just SHUT UP!".."Houses don't have memories."...and "These kids of your's need some goddamn discipline!"
On November 14, 1979 (the night of the murders, the price of gold was $390 per ounce, up from $35 eight years before (from 1900 to 1935 gold was $20.67 the ounce, and from 1935-71 it was $35), which would have been how the new buyers would have been used to thinking of it. With gold today (24 July 2023) being $1963.70 per ounce, that makes the $80,000 in 1979 money equivalent to $402,687.18. But as he points out, the house is easily worth $120,000 ($604,030.77 in today’s money). Just over 205 troy ounces, for those of you keeping track.
This movie didn't scare me. The book was far scarier. I read the book before seeing the film and there are major differences. The Lutzes stood by their story until their deaths. The real life priest didn't look anything like Rod Steiger, and he didn't go blind.
A really good haunted house movie from the 80s is “House” from 1985. It stars William Katt from “Carrie” and “The Great American Hero”. It’s good fun, not too violent, not too bloody with the right amount of humor. Hope you put it on your watchlist. Any chance you will continue the Puppet Master movies?
Amityville II: The Possession is a little better than the first. Then there's Amityville 3-D: The Demon, which was the first Amityville I was allowed to watch as a kid because it was the only one with a PG rating, and that one is a childhood favorite. Those will definitely make for a great reaction videos.
The Amityville horror was the Defeo family murders. Was it truly haunted? I am a skeptic. The movie was eerie it held my attention. The story was definitely well planned but the priest going blind is not in the book. That was added for dramatic purposes. It is a good Halloween movie to watch. It is well worth your time.
The priest is played by the late Rod Steiger, who played Bill Gillespie in the film version of "In The Heat Of The Night," for which he won an Oscar. You can also catch him the campy "Mars Attacks."
there are like 50+ movies that use the Amityville name to trick people into watching them but have nothing to do with this story (Amityville Theatre, Amityville Anaconda, Amityville in Space, Amityville Bigfoot, etc)
This movie is based somewhat on a true story. The Defeo family did get murdered by their son, no he wasn't possessed. Yes the Lutz family moved in and fled after a month never to return claiming it was haunted. The haunting is debatable, evidence suggest not, but both the Lutz adults did pass lie detectors. The book and the film exaggerated some of the reality
I’m not sure about the how truthful the story is. I know the Defeo murders were real but I think the Lutz family was just tying to cash in on the tragedy. Other people have lived in the house since and experienced nothing.
To be honest none the Amityville movies are particularly great but seeing this first movie back in the day did lead to me reading up on the actual events. There are crime scene photos easily available online, don’t look for them as you’ll never be the same after seeing them. The truly odd thing about the crime is the assailant went from room to room firing a rifle and none of the victims ran, they just stayed laying in bed… I’ll never understand it. There are interviews with the real George Lutz that are worth listening too, not saying I believe him but he does come across as sincere.
'True story' is up for debate. The murders did happen. The family that moved in afterwards were aware of what had happened. The 'haunting' that took place has been under heavy scrutiny for decades. Even the famed (or infamous) Ed and Lorrain Warren did an investigation of the house including a seance and a photo that is supposedly one of the murdered children haunting the stairs. Current owners of the house claim to have experienced nothing since moving in and changed the outer appearance of the house so fans of the movie or ghost hunters wouldn't recognize the house.
I read the book whilst on a night coach ride from London and just read the part about the red eyes when the red lights of a car appeared by my window in the darkness. Scared me shitless.
Tons of people would say The Exorcist is the scariest film of all time 🤔 ok yeah it’s up there is my OP however this film scared the Hell out of me . When I was a kid my sister is to blame cause she was like “oh it’s a real story “ it really happened so yeah after seeing it I didn’t sleep in the dark for all most a week ! Heh so yeah say it really happened but everyone after. The family who this is based have never had anything weird or scary happen so u have to have your own OP on it
Classic haunted house story here! If you can find a copy of the original novel, The Amityville Horror by Jay Anson, please do yourself a favor and read it. It was much scarier than the movie. Also I would like to suggest watching Amityville II: The Possession, one of the rare cases where the sequal is better than the original. (imo)
I so enjoyed your reactions! Not sure if anyone else answered you but yes, it is a true story and yes the house still exists. I think the latest owners remodeled the house so people would leave them alone.
The Amityville series span across a possible 44 movies, each ranging from very minor to extreme when it comes to how they fit into the series. The book was based on true events, as well as the first 3 movies, however when it comes to the movies, the first is supposedly extremely based on true events, 2 is more loosely based on true events than the first and the third is even more loosely based on true events than the second. Think of it as the 1st movie being supposedly 80% - 90%, 2 being 45% - 50%, and the third being 10% - 15%. After that the series goes into fiction with some abnormal historical realities sprinkled in here and there. I would say, most the films in the series I have seen were interesting, some where good and some not so much, but interesting none the less.
@@2apocalypsex If you google Amityville movie series and click on the Wikipedia listing for Works based on the Amityville haunting, you will find that you have possibly overlooked a couple of titles.
James Brolin is, in fact, related to Josh Brolin. He is his father.
I read this book when I was 11 (prolly a bad idea), and my dad says one day, "Hey, your aunt and uncle said The Amityville Horror is on HBO tonight and you kids can go see it if you want." All four of us kids went over, and I was thinking it was a bad bad idea, since I already knew where it went. When we walked back home in the dark, none of us talked. My parents said when we walked in the house, our faces were pale and our lips were blue. None of us slept that night, or well for a long time after.
The real mystery of The Amityville Horror is how exactly Ronald DeFeo Jr. was able to murder his six family members the way he did. All six victims were found shot in their beds with no signs of struggle. How Ronald was able to go from room to room with a rifle and shoot all six of his family members without waking any of them remains unknown.
There was one possible explanation Dawn and Ronnie drugged the family he shot them then killed her...BUT the police found no signs of drugs in the victims so it was thrown out of court. 1 possible way to explain how no one heard the shots is if the house reacted from inside making it sound proof. Yes they were found in bed but face down with hands crossed over their faces.
@@flatcapman I've heard the theory that Ronnie and Dawn planned the murder of their parents and wanted to make it look like a mob hit, since Ronald DeFeo Sr. supposedly had ties to the Mafia. Then, after shooting their parents in their bed, Dawn decided to start killing their younger siblings so she and Ronnie would be the sole inheritors of their parents estate, but Ronnie objected and shot and killed Dawn. According to reports, Dawn and the younger sister, Allison, were the last ones shot and killed. This has never been proven, however. There are still too many unknown factors.
His siblings were definitely not asleep when he shot them. The closest he ever came to confessing to the killing of his siblings is when he said that his sister Dawn ordered the boys to lay on their stomachs and then she shot them in the back. This was an obvious lie, but most likely the part about them being ordered to lay on their stomachs was true.
After shooting his parents, he turned around and walked several feet to his sister Allison’s bedroom and shot her in the face at point blank range; she was lying on her stomach facing the door, and obviously she was not asleep after 3 gunshots went off several feet from her bed (the father was shot twice in the back -- his body was half out of the bed, as if he had been trying to get up after being shot the first time); most likely she was terrified and very much awake at the moment she was shot.
After walking down the hall and killing his brothers, he reloaded his gun and went upstairs to Dawn’s bedroom. In most of his “confessions” there is some kind of struggle with her before she is shot, so it seems there might be some truth to this. I assume he laid her body in her bed after she was dead.
And now we will never know since Ron Defeo Jr died in prison in 2021.
I love this movie ( as well as Amityville II: The Possession)
I'm more inclined to say it's a demon, not just a ghost.
Oh yes Jen, the murders actually happened. Ronald Defeo who killed his family died in prison in 2021. The book is amazing, you should def read it. There has always been speculation if the Lutz made up the whole story with the author to make money.
You should watch the 2nd film which is a fictional story of the first families murders 👍😎
The movies afterwards are just silly horror films.😂
The part where the spirit yells "GET OUT!!" still gets to me.
Spirit: "Get out."
Priest thinking: "Did I just hear . . ."
Spirit: "GET OUT!!!"
Priest thinking: "Yup, time to go!"
Exorcist voice 😳🥶
The many parts where she yells "Cheese and rice!!" still gets to me.
Here is something people dont see. The deo's and lutz's were church goers as explained in the book. The Priest never went blind but was sick a lot and when he tried to bless the house his room and only his room reeked of poop.
Great movie pick.
Other great movies with James Brolin are
Westworld (1973)
And
The Car (1977)
West world was great. I just wish Yul Brynner had more screen time.
@@LeviAckerman-cb5ji Yul Brynner generated so much tension and threat towards the end of the movie, great stuff. I love most of the movies directed by Michael Crichton.
Another James Brolin movie I'd add to the list of great ones to watch is Capricorn One (1977). The theme music is epic (Jerry Goldsmith) and it tells an interesting 'what if?' story.
Capricorn One is really good too.
As a kid from '70s there was the Unholy Trinity of shit your pants horror-"The Exorcist", "The Omen", & this! Ought to be fun!
See ya!
✌🌎❤
Literally the 'Unholy Trinity' 🥶❤
First saw this in the cinema and it was fun experience!. Please check out the sequel Amityville 2 The Possession, it's all about the family that lived in the house before, the ones that got murdered at the very start of this one. Genuinely considered to be the best in the franchise. The rest you can skip unless you want to enjoy some wonderfully crappy 3D in the 3rd one, Lol.
I suggest the movie BURNT OFFERINGS (1976) -- another haunted house story based on a book. I think you might enjoy that classic.
Actually, the novel it is based on is one of the best haunted house novels I've read. But the movie? Not so much.
Cool reaction as always Jen, you have a nice day sweetie and most of all, cheese and rice 🥰❤️
And yes Jen, there are sequels
And also, James Brolin's son is Josh Brolin
Only issue with this story (this was the OG Conjuring) was the taking advantage of a tragedy. What was affecting the family after the move in was a mold that was growing under the stairs that induced headaches. This and especially Amityville 2 are not that bad.
I wonder if the same mold issue affected Ron DeFeo, Jr. ? It sounds far fetched, but anything is possible, especially if he already had underlying mental issues.
@@tinastar1972 probably not regarding Defeo. It just induces headaches after a certain amount of exposure. I don't know maybe ?
@@handsomestik COME ON Mold doesnt muffle the sound of a high powered rife he used and it was LOUD somebody would had woken up. No drugs in the victims either.
Yes, Jen, the Dutch Colonial house in Amityville, Long Island, where the murders took place, is real and still there. 😊 No one who has lived there since the Lutzes fled the house has experienced any paranormal phenomena.
Agreed 🙂
do you think they would tell the truth even if their was and end up like the other family? it is dorment its not over
no way I would enter that house I dont care what BS you people think you know I am not giving whats in that house a reason to start again. Did it happen to cross your minds their kids lied to protect their private lives about everything? Nothing that evil would expose itself to us Evil covers its tracks and they were never paid for any interview afterwards and owed for the place many years later.. I spoken to them before the real life mother and father died and both SWORE it happened
Fun Fact: The film's producers wanted to film The Amityville Horror in the actual Dutch Colonial on 112 Ocean Avenue in Amityville, Long Island, but local authorities denied them permission. So filming began in Tom's River, New Jersey, in October of 1978, in a nearly identical Dutch Colonial house that was converted to resemble the one in Amityville. After location shooting had been completed, the production relocated to Los Angeles, where interior scenes were shot at the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio lot, and production was completed by Christmas of 1978.
Fun Fact: The creepy theme music during the opening credits for The Amityville Horror was composed by Grammy Award winning composer Lalo Schifrin, Jen. Schifrin is known for having composed the Mission: Impossible theme, as well as the music for Cool Hand Luke, Bullitt, Enter the Dragon, and the Dirty Harry movies. It has been rumored the Schifrin's score for The Amityville Horror was the one that was originally rejected for The Exorcist in 1973, but Schifrin himself has denied those rumors.
Suspiria from the 70s is way more disturbing 😈
@@mikesilva3868Aah! Mike, just working on that. My Dad has said forever, when are you going to do the one with the ballet school?! 😅 (he's 89) 🤔😅
I agree with a movie recommendation someone suggested earlier down in your comments. “BURNT OFFERINGS (1976)”. Spooky movie, lots of fun, pretty great cast.
The daughter in this was also in Sybil (1976) and The Entity (1982).
Bloody 'ell the info I'm getting from this reaction! Didn't know that! Thank you!
The Entity is another good one.
I was curious about the young actress. Apparently she had a very terrible childhood and her foster family kicked her out of the house at 13 or 14, so she was living on the streets. Latest info on her is she works construction.
@@tinastar1972 also claimed to be based on actual events
Awesome! I’ve watched Sybil but it was a long time ago and I haven’t seen The Entity. Thanks for watching!
It's great to see you finally watching The Amityville Horror, Jen! 😊 Yes, this movie is based on a true story... somewhat. In 1974, in Amityville, Long Island, New York, Ronald DeFeo Jr. murdered his parents, his two brothers, and his two sisters, and was tried, convicted, and sentenced to six terms of 25 years to life in prison. He died in prison in 2021. In 1975, George and Kathy Lutz and their three children moved into the house. 28 days later the Lutz family fled the house, leaving all of their belongings and never returned, claiming to have been terrorized by paranormal phenomena while living in the house.
The Lutzes later worked with writer Jay Anson on a book that chronicled their experiences in the house, which became a bestseller, and later became the basis for this movie. The film opened in 1979 and grossed $86.4 million on a $4.7 million budget, making it the second most successful movie of 1979. However, the facts and validity of the Lutzes claims about this being a “true story" has been widely questioned over the years.
More likely, they smelled an opportunity to make money out of a ghost story that they invented
I would love to visit the actual Amityville house out of curiosity
@@SamuelBlack84Perhaps, but it's still weird that they left after only 28 days and never returned for their belongings. The idea that they could make money off of a book about hauntings that never happened has got to be one of the biggest long shot ideas for making money in history.
@44excalibur They had to make it look good to make everyone believe them. Plus, the author of the book probably advised them how to further encourage others belief in the story, which were greatly helped by the original murders
All it takes is a little fanning of the flames. People will swallow anything
And, if the house really is the source of great evil, then take me to it. I'm far from innocent and I've seen true evil in the hearts of others
@@SamuelBlack84 You're probably right, but again, you probably have a better chance of winning the lottery than making millions off of a book about a fake haunting. 😂 The fact that both the book and the movie were so successful is sheer luck on the part of Jay Anson, and who knows how much of that the Lutzes got?
@@44excalibur Look how much money the bible made with nothing but belief to back it up
Foist! and yes James Brolin is Josh Brolin's father.
First time I saw Josh Brolin was in a skateboard movie called Thrashin.
$80,000 in 1979 would be roughly $336,000 in today's money. Median U.S. home price in 1979 was $62,900.
@Reel Reviews With Jen!
The house that they used for the first three Amityville movies actually does in fact exist. The house no longer basically looks how it did in the movies as the quarter moon windows were actually just put on by the film crew for the movies. The house has also long since been painted blue and the address is 18 Brooks Rd. Toms, River New Jersey. Was actually put on the market several times and no it was never haunted like the real Amityville house located in Amityville, Long Island.
An $80,000 house is a catastrophic amount of money in the mid 70s. The husband and wife, if they both worked, might have made $15,000 or so--combined. And that house is real, the crime was real, and that house is most likely in the millions at this point.
The era immediately after dropping the gold standard was one of runaway inflation as prices sought the unregulated point. The Lutz’s parents’ houses likely cost around $5000 new.
Hey..., where's my cookies?👻
Amityville Horror 2 (1982), which is a prequel to this film, is very scary and very creepy. It is the best in the series imho.
The newspaper archives were on either microfilm or Microfiche (micro-feesh). The way she was scrolling it makes me think it was microfilm.
He saved the dog and the dog saved him. That alone makes it one of the best horror movies ever.
Agreed! One of the few times in a horror movie where the dog makes it!
Had this happen with my cat, who had been with my mother since kittenhood. When my mom passed, I brought her home to live with us. We both mourned and healed together.
Yes, everyone got out
Any plans to start watching some of the early Godzilla films soon? The reason I ask is there will be a new one coming out by Toho in Dec this year, it would be nice to see you react to the first two in the series along with the first tie in film of Rodan.
My favourite version is 1983's Amityville 3-D (best seen in 3-D, 3-D version for the cool effects comin' at ya! heehee). I found it just as spooky as the original. :)
The book is so much worse, but yes a very creepy movie.
Worse in what way?
@@w1975b Worse as in intense and disturbing, frightening.
Read it at 12. Scared the crap out of me.
One of the few films I’m still scared to watch. As a child I was beyond terrified 😖
This movie drew a lot of controversy upon release as the book the movie is based on had some inaccurate scenes, some of which never happened to the Lutz Family.
what happened to their priest was real because it was documented by his church. His ongoing sickness and the stink that only affected his room at the church
You need to watch the real Amityville horror
One part they left out of the movie that I found creepy is when the little girl would be singing her children's gospel songs, she would stop singing the second she stepped out of the room, and pick back up, mid sentence, even mid word from where she left off when she re-entered her bedroom.
Great movie 😊
While I was reading the book when I was 14, I woke up at 3:15 three nights in a row so I waited a few weeks to finish it.
I read the book as a kid. The movie was pretty faithful as I recall. My dad must have bought the paperback.
I’ll have to check it out, I’m defiantly behind in my horror reading.
Weird Fact: In real life, George Lutz bore some resemblance to Ronald DeFeo Jr., Jen, but mostly due to them both having a similar hairstyle and a full beard. George Lutz was actually blonde, while Ronald DeFeo Jr. was dark haired.
The creature with the red eyes is jodie the demon pig
That weird machine with the newspaper headlines is called a micro fiche. Pronounced feesh.Very useful but you needed to know the approx date something happened in order to be successful at it, otherwise your just randomly looking at old newspapers. I used it for school work and much later, to look up info on my parents wedding
Thank you for the info! I’ve seen it in movies before and had no idea what it was called.
It is based on a true story:
- The house is real.
- The murders did happen.
- As for the haunting... nah. It's all fiction created to sell the story for money. For a house supposedly so haunted, it's quite miraculous that nothing weird happened in the house after they left!
There’s a documentary, “My Amityville Horror” by one the real-life Lutz kids still stubbornly defending the “true” story, even though it’s long since been dismissed as a cynical cash-in hoax. What we see is the seriously messed-up product of one seriously messed-up dysfunctional family, and although the book/movie tries to make a plot point about James Brolin not fitting in with his new stepfamily, it’s easy to see what was embellished for the story: “I can’t pay for the BIL’s wedding, ghosts must’ve taken the money!” 🤨
I may have made this comment before, but I have to say it again.
Jen, for 2 years now, you've been saying you are a "wuss" when it comes to horror movies. I don't think that's true anymore. I would say you are a grizzled veteran at this point.
Thanks for another entertaining video.
Haha why thank you! I think you’re right I’m definitely getting more attached to the horror genre. Thanks for watching!
A really good hunted house movie is "The Legend of Hell House"(1973).
I think the novel is outstanding. I think the movie falls well short.
hell house is a excellent choice Roddy McDowall, you can't go wrong.
another great reaction jen, i suggest watching The Legend of hell house 1973, also The Changeling 1979 two of the scariest movies ever made. have a good week, and be safe.
The Changeling is fantastic! You can never go wrong with George C. Scott.
Thanks for another awesome reaction video, Jen! 😁 I can't wait for your next one, and I hope my recommendations are still on your list: Prom Night (1980), Terror Train (1980), Hell Night (1981), Brian De Palma's Body Double (1984), Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982), Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994), the 1988 remake of The Blob, and John Carpenter's Escape From New York (1981) and Big Trouble in Little China (1986).
Thank you for watching! They’re all on the list I promise! Next week will be the 1958 film, Dracula 🎬🧛♂️
@@ReelReviewsWithJen Awesome! I've been hoping you'd get to the Hammer Studios horror films! 😁 I can't wait! 👍
Margot Kidder was born in Yellowknife , Northwest Territories. Great reaction Jen 😊
Amazing! Thanks for watching!
I love the scene where George hears the drums being played in a dark, empty room that immediately stop the moment he looks inside
The idea that something was in there in the dark watching him 😱
A similar scene is in the sequel Possession when the demon walks past the crucifix and howls. So spooky
You should watch Burnt offerings starring Oliver Reed and Karen Black.
Read the novel instead.
Wow, I think you set a new record for the number of times you said “cheese and rice," Jen! 😂And this movie wasn't even all that violent.
Haha I may have over done it
Great reaction to great horror and would have as you say a great Halloween watch.
most places I have spent any time in have their own local "Amityville House" that would have 2 upper floor windows which always had open curtains and lights on all night. I'm sure you can think of such a landmark. a great mid 80s rap hit for Lovebug Starski was Amityville (House on the Hill) check it out.
Why have I never heard that song?!!? Thanks for mentioning it, I'm going ahead and calling that a personal Mandela effect. And it's going on my Halloween playlist for good!
Thank you so much! I’ll definitely be adding this to my October watchlist for Spooky Season. Glad you enjoyed the video!
@ReelReviewsWithJen!
Jen,
I don’t know if you have done research on the film, but, The Amityville Horror Is a true story.
On November 13, 1974 at 3:15 AM Ronald DeFeo Junior took a high-powered rifle and shot both his mother and father and two younger brothers and sisters while they slept in the house at 112 Ocean Ave., Amityville Long Island.
18 months later, on December 18, 1975, George and Kathy Lutz and Kathy is three children from a previous marriage moved into 112 Ocean Ave. only to flee 28 days later
The murders were in fact true, but it was said that George and Kathy’s account of living at the house was all fabricated some believe the story some think it was a hoax
The Amityville Horror (1979)
Amityville II: The Possession (1982)
Amityville 3-D (1983)
Amityville 4: The Evil Escapes (1989)
The Amityville Curse (1990)
Amityville 1992: It’s About Time (1992)
Amityville: A New Generation (1993)
Amityville Dollhouse (1996)
The Amityville Horror (2005)
Amityville: The Awakening (2017)
The Amityville Murders (2018)
As long as you dont think it's a true story it's a good horror film which sucked because as a kid i really wanted this to be true
It's split right down the middle between those who believe it is true and those who believe it is fiction.
Best quotes from this movie..."You wanted a house and here it is so just SHUT UP!".."Houses don't have memories."...and "These kids of your's need some goddamn discipline!"
On November 14, 1979 (the night of the murders, the price of gold was $390 per ounce, up from $35 eight years before (from 1900 to 1935 gold was $20.67 the ounce, and from 1935-71 it was $35), which would have been how the new buyers would have been used to thinking of it. With gold today (24 July 2023) being $1963.70 per ounce, that makes the $80,000 in 1979 money equivalent to $402,687.18. But as he points out, the house is easily worth $120,000 ($604,030.77 in today’s money).
Just over 205 troy ounces, for those of you keeping track.
This movie didn't scare me. The book was far scarier. I read the book before seeing the film and there are major differences. The Lutzes stood by their story until their deaths. The real life priest didn't look anything like Rod Steiger, and he didn't go blind.
A really good haunted house movie from the 80s is “House” from 1985. It stars William Katt from “Carrie” and “The Great American Hero”. It’s good fun, not too violent, not too bloody with the right amount of humor. Hope you put it on your watchlist. Any chance you will continue the Puppet Master movies?
Amityville II: The Possession is a little better than the first. Then there's Amityville 3-D: The Demon, which was the first Amityville I was allowed to watch as a kid because it was the only one with a PG rating, and that one is a childhood favorite. Those will definitely make for a great reaction videos.
The Amityville horror was the Defeo family murders. Was it truly haunted? I am a skeptic. The movie was eerie it held my attention. The story was definitely well planned but the priest going blind is not in the book. That was added for dramatic purposes. It is a good Halloween movie to watch. It is well worth your time.
The priest is played by the late Rod Steiger, who played Bill Gillespie in the film version of "In The Heat Of The Night," for which he won an Oscar. You can also catch him the campy "Mars Attacks."
there are like 50+ movies that use the Amityville name to trick people into watching them but have nothing to do with this story (Amityville Theatre, Amityville Anaconda, Amityville in Space, Amityville Bigfoot, etc)
This movie is based somewhat on a true story. The Defeo family did get murdered by their son, no he wasn't possessed. Yes the Lutz family moved in and fled after a month never to return claiming it was haunted. The haunting is debatable, evidence suggest not, but both the Lutz adults did pass lie detectors. The book and the film exaggerated some of the reality
I’m not sure about the how truthful the story is. I know the Defeo murders were real but I think the Lutz family was just tying to cash in on the tragedy. Other people have lived in the house since and experienced nothing.
The dog survived in Poltergeist as well, Jen. 😉
Oh yes! 🐶
To be honest none the Amityville movies are particularly great but seeing this first movie back in the day did lead to me reading up on the actual events. There are crime scene photos easily available online, don’t look for them as you’ll never be the same after seeing them. The truly odd thing about the crime is the assailant went from room to room firing a rifle and none of the victims ran, they just stayed laying in bed… I’ll never understand it. There are interviews with the real George Lutz that are worth listening too, not saying I believe him but he does come across as sincere.
Cheese and Rice i love your channel :-)
So kind! Thank you so much!
'True story' is up for debate. The murders did happen. The family that moved in afterwards were aware of what had happened. The 'haunting' that took place has been under heavy scrutiny for decades. Even the famed (or infamous) Ed and Lorrain Warren did an investigation of the house including a seance and a photo that is supposedly one of the murdered children haunting the stairs. Current owners of the house claim to have experienced nothing since moving in and changed the outer appearance of the house so fans of the movie or ghost hunters wouldn't recognize the house.
I read the book whilst on a night coach ride from London and just read the part about the red eyes when the red lights of a car appeared by my window in the darkness. Scared me shitless.
13:28 - what do you expect? The guy didn't want to close the beaches in Jaws and now he doesn't want to exorcise the house in Amityville
It's alright you saw the remake but with real actors act to the sorcerer matieial man the book couldn't put it down.
You need to watch the amitaville 2 the possession and yes the de feo family were killed by the older brother
This is actually based on a true story, well at least according to the family who wrote the book. The murders are factual as well.
Its based on a true story depending upon who you believe. Nothiing paranormal has ever happened there.
Yes this is based on a true story. Google the DeFeo Family and George and Kathy Lutz.
I bet their insurance company denied their claims.
This is steven heule if you look online you can find the crime scene photos of the defeo family murders some are very bloody.
I've watched The Exorcist multiple times but for some reason this movie creeps me out
Ive seen this movie and read the book.a dozen tkmes its a good movie but not scary at all
I have the novel jay anson and yes it’s based on a true story the lutz family Kathy George lutz
I can definitely see the resemblance of James Brolin to his son, but he also reminds me a bit of Christian Bale.
$80,000 house & it comes complete with Satan. What a bargain
Little girl was thinking prequel to sequel obviously.
Tons of people would say The Exorcist is the scariest film of all time 🤔 ok yeah it’s up there is my OP however this film scared the Hell out of me . When I was a kid my sister is to blame cause she was like “oh it’s a real story “ it really happened so yeah after seeing it I didn’t sleep in the dark for all most a week ! Heh so yeah say it really happened but everyone after. The family who this is based have never had anything weird or scary happen so u have to have your own OP on it
The house does exist people still claim nothing ever happened there
Can u please watch Amityville 2 the possession
You need to watch Amityville part 2
Watch the real story of the Amityville horror
A disturbing film Jen, not one to watch close to bedtime. You need to get back to the comfort of Buffy!
Classic haunted house story here! If you can find a copy of the original novel, The Amityville Horror by Jay Anson, please do yourself a favor and read it. It was much scarier than the movie. Also I would like to suggest watching Amityville II: The Possession, one of the rare cases where the sequal is better than the original. (imo)
James Brolin is Josh Brolin’s father.
80 thousand thumb hairs and one eye
I so enjoyed your reactions! Not sure if anyone else answered you but yes, it is a true story and yes the house still exists. I think the latest owners remodeled the house so people would leave them alone.
Thank you so much! Glad you enjoyed the video and thanks for watching 🎬
Have you seen Crimson Peak? Even though there are ghosts in it, it's not really a horror movie, but I think you'd appreciate certain aspects of it
I have! It’s been a while but I remember enjoying it, thanks for the suggestion!
And yes, that is Josh Brolin's dad.
James Brolin is Josh Brolin's father
Yes James brolin is josh brolins father there father and son
The house and the story are real
We had one of them pencil sharpeners by our phone so we could sharpen our pencils when we took down phone numbers
That actually makes a lot of sense lol I was wondering why it was there. Thanks for watching!
Murders happened there.
The Amityville series span across a possible 44 movies, each ranging from very minor to extreme when it comes to how they fit into the series. The book was based on true events, as well as the first 3 movies, however when it comes to the movies, the first is supposedly extremely based on true events, 2 is more loosely based on true events than the first and the third is even more loosely based on true events than the second. Think of it as the 1st movie being supposedly 80% - 90%, 2 being 45% - 50%, and the third being 10% - 15%. After that the series goes into fiction with some abnormal historical realities sprinkled in here and there. I would say, most the films in the series I have seen were interesting, some where good and some not so much, but interesting none the less.
As of 2023, a total of thirty-five films bearing the Amityville name have been produced
@@2apocalypsex If you google Amityville movie series and click on the Wikipedia listing for Works based on the Amityville haunting, you will find that you have possibly overlooked a couple of titles.
This is a classic. xx