Dysfunction Junction: Walter Revisits Source of Classic Horror Film with Mixed Results
Thanks to Stuart Rosenberg’s 1979 film adaptation of Jay Anson’s infamous novel, “The Amityville Horror”, along with its various sequels, not to mention that high profile 2005 remake with Ryan Reynolds, the spooky tale of a family plagued by a series of chilling paranormal activities has long been cemented in the pop cultural psyche. For his documentary debut, filmmaker Eric Walter revisits this notorious case with My Amityville Horror, scoring an exclusive interview with Daniel Lutz, the eldest child of the Amityville family, given the chance to share his side of the story nearly thirty-five years later. The resulting documentary is, at times, unnerving, but more often a subjective exercise that reveals one of America’s most famous hauntings to be an overblown façade, and Daniel Lutz to be an intriguing case study as a victim of psychological (and not preternatural) abuse.
Thanks to Stuart Rosenberg’s 1979 film adaptation of Jay Anson’s infamous novel, “The Amityville Horror”, along with its various sequels, not to mention that high profile 2005 remake with Ryan Reynolds, the spooky tale of a family plagued by a series of chilling paranormal activities has long been cemented in the pop cultural psyche. For his documentary debut, filmmaker Eric Walter revisits this notorious case with My Amityville Horror, scoring an exclusive interview with Daniel Lutz, the eldest child of the Amityville family, given the chance to share his side of the story nearly thirty-five years later. The resulting documentary is, at times, unnerving, but more often a subjective exercise that reveals one of America’s most famous hauntings to be an overblown façade, and Daniel Lutz to be an intriguing case study as a victim of psychological (and not preternatural) abuse.
- 3/13/2013
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Written and Directed by: Eric Walter
Featuring: Daniel Lutz, Laura Didio, Neme Alperstein, Susan Bartell
Okay, don't roll your eyes quite yet. My Amityville Horror is not another silly Amityville sequel. It is actually a documentary on one of the family members that lived in the real Amityville house.
The film follows Daniel Lutz as he recounts his memories of living in the notorious Amityville house in the early 1970s. His family became famous at the time going around the country recounting the haunting events that were supposed to have taken place in that simple upper-middle-class home. Their story inspired a best-selling novel and then a blockbuster film (plus many forgettable sequels).
Daniel, who was just a young boy at the time, had never really talked publicly about the events until he agreed to do this documentary. Regardless of whether the hauntings took place or not, his stepfather was the...
Featuring: Daniel Lutz, Laura Didio, Neme Alperstein, Susan Bartell
Okay, don't roll your eyes quite yet. My Amityville Horror is not another silly Amityville sequel. It is actually a documentary on one of the family members that lived in the real Amityville house.
The film follows Daniel Lutz as he recounts his memories of living in the notorious Amityville house in the early 1970s. His family became famous at the time going around the country recounting the haunting events that were supposed to have taken place in that simple upper-middle-class home. Their story inspired a best-selling novel and then a blockbuster film (plus many forgettable sequels).
Daniel, who was just a young boy at the time, had never really talked publicly about the events until he agreed to do this documentary. Regardless of whether the hauntings took place or not, his stepfather was the...
- 11/8/2012
- by Kelly Michael Stewart
- Planet Fury
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