The Amityville Haunting (2011 Video) User Reviews

The Amityville Haunting: Just no

[Platypuschow · 2/10 · 21 November 2017]

My Amityville binge has led me to this, a found footage movie set in a world where Amityville has been recognised, made into movies and books and yet another family moves into the infamous house anyway.

As with all found footage films very little happens and this is 80 minutes of sheer unadulterated boredom.

What makes it worse (If that's possible) is that it's not even the Amityville house despite being said multiple times that it is. Both inside and out that becomes blatantly apparent and really is seven shades of stupid.

So we have shaky cam, we have night vision cam and we have the obligatory handicam filmed by someone who absolutely positively has to record everything for some reason.

In true Amityville style people change, folks turn on each other and yet somehow this is the worst one yet.

The Good:

It ended, that bit was good

The Bad:

That had to be the least sexy sex scene since the zombie humping in Braindead (1992)

NOT the Amityville house

The "Warning" real footage thing is getting dumb

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

The fact that there are no opening credits, no closing credits and therefore everyone involved is uncredited screams volumes

Someone should really trademark Amityville so Joe Talentless can't keep adding it to his film

Surely that was meant as a practical joke?

[paul_haakonsen · 1/10 · 25 December 2011]

This movie was one of the worst waste of times I have ever had to sit through. Already from the very beginning, it was painstakingly obvious that this was going to be another delve into the likes of "Paranormal Activity" (which I didn't enjoy either).

But this movie? Come on! They take the Amityville name and then hype it up with one of these oh-so-great-and-oh-so-spooky documentaries, making it into a modern day version of the "Blairwitch Project". Yeah, great. Oh wait, except for it didn't working on any level.

The movie was an endless stream of really bad camera work, interrupted by this blackening-out screen and static sound whenever the entity was about to make something happen or make an appearance. What was up with that? I got thoroughly frustrated by the crappy camera work and the static sounds just added fuel to the fire called irritation with the movie.

"Amityville Haunting" is one of the most uneventful and frightfully boring movies I had ever had to sit through. Nothing even remotely scary happened throughout the entire movie, and I actually dozed off once or twice.

I am not a fan of movies of this caliber, and I didn't particularly enjoy any of the "Paranormal Activity" movies either, but checked them out because of the hype that was surrounding them. "Amityville Haunting", however, is just a cheap imitation of those movies, and then it is wrapped in a casing called "Amityville", a name that us horror fans will recognize from the early 80's.

"Amityville Haunting" was a sad excuse for a movie, and I wasn't the least bit entertained. If you are looking for a horror movie for the evening, or hoping to have at least a single scare, please, oh please, do pick another movie, because "Amityville Haunting" is just not worth it.

Amateur-ville Haunting Cameras

[amesmonde · 23 December 2011]

Actual found footage that documents the horrifying experience of a family that moved into the infamous Amityville haunted house.

Opening with words in "1974" blah, blah "Defoe murdered his family", blah,"Lutz" blah, "32 years later", blah blah "what you're about to see is real". Then an aeroplane blonde graces the screen under torch light. After quick bloody death, your taken to the POV of a budding mini Steven Spielberg as he films his family.

It's indicative of Paranormal Activity and the recent Grave Encounters found footage films. With security camera's installed it's all be done and at one point it becomes a found footage within a found footage film.

Both female leads are effective enough, it's not an awful film, the acting is at times naturalistic but the issue is that this style of horror has already been done and done better with more imagination. Every line is a cliché , opening doors, accidental deaths, the wife that doesn't want to live in the house, no one believes the children, spook- less dark images, moving objects and so on.

At the midway mark as the 'boyfriend' vanishes and the police turn up you can help roll your eyes as the acting and script take a turn for the worse. The son becomes annoying due to the unnecessary explanatory dialogue and the father goes laughable loopy as he goes head to head with the entity. There are a few moments in the closing scenes where director Geoff Meed slightly redeems the film but it's too little too late.

The problem with The Amityville Haunting is that it perpetrates to be real and pushes the fact right to the end but nothing feels credible. The sound design is pretty effective if somewhat miss-placed missing the mark at times.

Overall, less effective than the Paranormal Activity series, clearly not much has improved since The Blair Witch Project.

The haunting of a home by an evil presence that is intent on removing or worse yet killing the current residents.

[My_Opinion-245-920801 · 1/10 · 24 December 2011]

The Amityville Haunting was yet another movie filmed in the ultra- irritating 1st person style. The title has the word haunting in it, which to a lay-man like myself, lends itself to indicate there might be a chance you will be scared. I can only tell you there is no such scene. Sadly, this was an awful movie; there was so much script material, and different avenues that could have possibly been explored. Yet, the writers and Directors failed to follow any type of format that would resemble a professional movie; you might say, whatever does he means. Well, allow me to expand, this movie was filmed in such a way, that we are to assume that a child filmed it, really! Why, would anyone want to pay to see a film that has no plot, flow, professionalism, or natural progression, nothing! Yes, I am slightly perturbed, I actually was rooting for this whole family to be mutilated, and that's how annoying this movie was. I rooted and kept thinking to myself: I can't wait for this annoying kid with the camera to get it!

I know it's a low budget film but....

[mgreeny-uk · 1/10 · 25 December 2011]

The actual film was a parody of paranormal activity and the Amityville Horror, although it is the 'same' house it is now in the suburbs rather than countryside... but we need not mention the finer details. I loved both the original and Ryan Reynolds version of Amityville Horror so I thought that I would give it a chance regardless. It's not the same story or even a good sequel. It's shot like Paranormal Activity and seems to be an improv situation as no one really seems to know what to say. They try to add narrative with a child and a video camera who feels it necessary to annoy everyone in the film with the camcorder and me with his recap of each bad 'horror' segment. Where as in PA (which I did like) the characters seem scared... Not this kid, as he says things are 'really creepy'- Yes Tyler (or whatever generic name you have) it is actually if I was you I'd be like maybe we shouldn't be here rather than worry about your future career in documentaries.Although, he may get a job in one as he can't act.

This films acting I have got to say is pretty bad... really bad. I will watch films that give chance to new/young actors but I genuinely think they found these people on the street. I don't mean to offend but the emotions come across as if they were taken out of a labelled jar. The actors don't morph as a cast and the Dad's tone from the start makes me think that they casted him because he has the attitude of a serial killer with a slow mono-tone voice, and thats pretty much it.

I wanted to like this film due to my likings of any horror with a half decent storyline and OK effects. But even as low budget I cannot see any need for this film... No one is going to get a career from this.

"Real footage"?

[ankurkini-450-655463 · 2/10 · 30 January 2016]

so the movie starts with the words "what you are about to see is real" this is so not true, in fact, its another one of those Paranormal Activity "true story" plots where one person is shooting the video the whole time: it reeks of horror movie cliché. i don't really mind the whole 'shaky camera' trend in "real" horror movies these days, but what really gets to me is the fact that these people record the whole incident but don't bother to check what they have recorded until the very last moment. i mean whats up with that? aren't you even a little bit curious to see if there was any haunting recorded until you realize that people are dieing around you?

1 because it made me laugh

[atinder · 1/10 · 25 April 2012]

I have seen all 8 movies and the remake of Amityville. (This movie not to before confused with the upcoming found footage movie

The Amityville Horror: The Lost Tapes (2012))

(Here comes the 10th movies By by asylum) in the series, which is a found footage movie for the series!.

The movies start with saying, This footage you are about to see is real!.

It start with 4 drunk teenagers who break in and then drink and have sex with there a bit of nudity , while filmed by Phone and we see some one sucked in the door and blood sprays and girls scream and cuts to black screen (This happens under 2 minutes at start of the movie.

Then it cuts to a new family moving into the house Dad and wife, oldest is daughter in her teens, only one boy who's that documenting the things around the house and there a little girl You already know what roles they going to play!.

The acting and script were both really horrendous, all the chacaters are so annoying, that you what something really bad to happen to them, The boy was the only one that didn't annoy me at all!

This movie is not creepy or scary but do have one or two descent jumps scenes here and there and some scare are so utter silly that it will make who laugh!

The movie goes from bad to worse as it goes on and it is really hard to watch this movie, i still can not believe I saw the whole movie. T he worst movie in the series and this has to be one the worst horror movie of 2012! yes 2012.

1 out of 10

Not bad as found footage films go

[magwell-1 · 6/10 · 23 March 2012]

I don't know why people have such a problem with this film. It's nowhere near as bad as some of the silly reviews here make it out to be. People complain about the acting. While the performances here are far from Oscar-worthy, they are still reasonably competent. Wanna see a case of bad acting? Check out Strawberry Estates for an example of some truly awful performances by the entire cast.

Maybe I'm just a sucker for the 'found footage' sub-genre, but I thought this film delivered some genuinely creepy moments. It doesn't break any new ground or tell us anything we didn't already know about the history of the Amityville saga, but I enjoyed it for what it was. It's certainly hands down better than most of the Amityville sequels we've been subjected to over the years.

Has to be 0 for shoddy camera work for starters

[robert-gamble · 26 December 2011]

Watched 20 minutes of this utter waste of film space before I couldn't handle the DT's of camera work any further. OK, so since the first Amityville, there has been a keen interest in the paranormal & the story surrounding the so called Amityville Horror. I could have asked my 3 year old son to hold the cam steadier than the actors or so called actors in this so called movie. It is really that bad, not anywhere near the hopeless camera work of Blair Witch or Paranormal Activity, 100 times worse than that. If you're looking for a scare, go to Walmart & watch what some shoppers choose to wear when spending up big. Please, save your 30 seconds of your life in watching this trash. You will thank me later.

Lame!

[bonedigger50 · 1/10 · 31 December 2011]

This the one of the most laughable "films" I have ever seen. Bad acting, bad dialog, bad everything. The quality of everything that has to do with this movie is bad. It is not a true story - even though they try to make you believe it is. You would think that after the other horrible movies that were filmed like this - Blair Witch Trial, etc. they would have learned their lesson and given the whole "experience" a well deserved rest. The question I asked myself at the very beginning of the movie was "Why would you move into a house that has had something that terrible happen there?" And then half way through the movie the detective asks them that same question. My question to myself was - "Why did you waste the $2.50 to rent it in the first place?Don't waste your money!

Insultingly bad

[afishcalledsid · 1/10 · 15 October 2014]

The film is ridiculous. Firstly, the interior of the home meant to pass for the historic, palatial and atmospheric DeFeo-Lutz haunted house on Long Island is clearly a modern townhouse or semi-detached. Most of the ...umm ...actors ...are completely wrong for the parts they play, mainly because the filmmakers just used the family members and friends they had available to fill the roles. The effects are beyond pedestrian and the storyline is not all that imaginative. This is not an "indie film", it's a home movie. This work is an attempt to grab a few bucks by exploiting the Amityville name before any potential viewers realize that it sucks and has nothing whatsoever to do with the actual events or location of the 1970's American haunting. I actually resent their perception of indie horror fans' as gullible and there to be exploited in this manner. This might be the worst movie I have ever seen.

Failed Attempt

[joseph-jaeger · 3/10 · 1 January 2012]

Yet another film made to look like "real" footage. The only way for these types of films to be truly successful is to actually believe the footage may be real. First, the "father" character is so poorly acted you cannot get past it. His behavior has no clear motivation. It is completely unclear whether the "house" is making him crazy or if he is actually crazy all by himself. Second, the film is about one of the most recognizable icons of haunted house stories in American lore. We never see a sweeping view of the house, to prove it is actually the Amityville House. The Amityville house has three stories, amazingly, the house in this movie only has two stories. Thirdly, just pass this movie up completely and watch something else.

Stop saying it's based on a true story

[ericstevenson · 2/10 · 31 January 2018]

I thought I would be soon over these stupid "Amityville" movies for Book Month, but there's always more of them! They just keep getting worse! This film once again starts by claiming it's based on a true story. For the umpteenth time, none of this was based on a true story and the author admitted to making the whole thing up! It was based on a novel, not a work of non-fiction! I hope James Randi cancels these films.

This doesn't even have much to do with the actual Amityville story. There's a few allusions here and there, like the flies. This movie is dreadfully boring. It's basically trying to cash in on the "Paranormal Activity" movies and behaves exactly like them! Well, I guess a lot of found footage films act like this. The point is that new people are moving into the Amityville house and their son records everything weird that happens.

There's a scene where a ghost just appears and does nothing for a full minute. I haven't seen every single "Amityville" so forgive me if I missed something. The ending is probably the worst as it features the dad going nuts and acting like an idiot. He's just beating up air in one scene. People are violently killed throughout the beginning of the film and the family still stays there! It's a pointless clichéd film and I'm glad to be done with these stupid movies. *

The worst 'found footage' film yet

[Leofwine_draca · 3/10 · 2 August 2014]

Please note: I didn't realise THE AMITYVILLE HAUNTING was produced by The Asylum before I purchased it, otherwise I might have had second thoughts. This turns out to be a found footage twist on the whole AMITYVILLE HORROR franchise, which inevitably rips off just about every found footage movie in existence.

The main "inspiration" behind this film is, clearly, PARANORMAL ACTIVITY, although this movie makes that film look like a masterpiece in comparison. Everything about it is horrible: the acting, the style, the distinct lack of a story, in which the writer just throws everything into the mix in an attempt to make something stick (nothing does). So we get ghostly kids, intruders, doors opening on their own, murders. It's all ludicrous.

The film's main character is a kid, and about half the running time seems to consist of him pointing the camera at the floor while his parents argue; this doesn't make for a good use of screen time. Instead, I was bored witless by it. The only thing that kept me watching was the bad acting of the father, which was pretty amusing. There's quite a bit of incident in the last five minutes (none of which makes much sense) but it comes far too late in the game to make THE AMITYVILLE HAUNTING an interesting film.

The parents were the problem...

[xxmisssvxx · 4/10 · 24 January 2022]

Many people hate found footage films because of terrible camera stabilization, or there's not a lot of original work that makes a solid film deliver well. Personally, I enjoy found footage films but that doesn't mean it's always done right. For some, I question how these films even get made with how poor they are to begin with. In this case, they failed.

This film had some potential but the damn parents ruined it. They were so annoying throughout, and were too oblivious and stupid in my opinion. Listening to both them have pointless arguments, and verbally reprimand their son drove me nuts. Like STFU already and LISTEN.

If you're bored, you can kill some time watching this, if you care to.

Respect your body, don't watch this movie

[voxelfox · 1/10 · 17 June 2016]

If I could rate this thing lower than 1 I would. This film made me depressed. After I finished watching it I realised that I hated myself so much that I had just wasted 1 hour 26 minutes of my life that I will NEVER get back. The "actors" don't know their lines and constantly talk over each other, the script makes ZERO sense, the characters are entirely unbelievable, not to mention unlikable, and everything about the production values looks like something a high school A.V. club would put together. There's an entire scene where this punk kid finds an iPod Touch and keeps calling it a phone, until the actor forgets he's in a movie and calls it an iPod under his breath. That is the kind of movie we're dealing with. It's so bad they couldn't afford an actual phone to use for the movie, and instead of using a cheap old one from a salvage shop, or even just using one of the cast or crew's phones, they pull an iPod Touch out of their buttholes and try to tell us it's a phone. The only good thing about this film is that, after watching, I am at least 1 hour and 26 minutes closer to death.

Tyler Benson Is probably the worst Actor ever

[KyleBel · 1/10 · 24 December 2011]

This movie would be worth watching if the Kid wasn't such a horrible actor. On top of him being a horrible actor he has the Main camera the entire time. It was actually a great premise though, in the spirit of Paranormal Activity; but seeing the production company and remembering their failure "paranormal entity" I figured this one didn't stand much of a chance either. I was wrong this one was worse, if that's possible.

The youngest daughter's performance was the only one worth anything. I really did buy her character and she did a great job with it. It's sad that the youngest character in the cast was the best.

I would stay away from this one, unless you are an absolute horror fanatic and love the really cheesy / campy horrors.

1/10 stars - the one star goes to the youngest daughter - Great performance by her.

Beyond dreadful

[jackstupidjack · 1/10 · 25 October 2014]

This film has absolutely no merits whatsoever. The dialog is dire, the acting is below pre-school levels.

The characters have zero likability, you'll be waiting for them to die with joy especially the kid when he whines about his 'docoooomannary' and the less said about the father character who needs a good slap when he goes into 'military dad', the better.... mode. Scares are non existent. Whoever made and 'acted' in this drivel should never be allowed near a film set again. Moreover whoever wrote this should be exiled from the industry.

Simply don't waste an hour of your life on this nonsense....you will regret it. This is a hideous mess from start to finish.

A ghost hellbent on boring you to death

[KingTdogt · 2/10 · 3 September 2013]

I love the original Amityville horror series and the remake, they are some of the greatest horror movies of all time, and then there's this movie. The Amityville Haunting does nothing original whatsoever and steals a lot from the Paranormal Activity series. This movie shouldn't even be considered a horror movie, a five year old child could watch this and not even flinch, I've watched Disney movies scarier than this. The acting is so bad that it's funny, I mean I have no experience acting and never intend to ever but I could do a better job than these horrible actors. This movie barely follows any of the original story or the true story happenings and attempts to make a clone of an already done-to-death found footage style film. I do not recommend this movie to anyone at all. If you want to watch a scarier movie, just turn it to Disney.

One of the best since the original!!

[treakle_1978 · 10/10 · 15 June 2020]

I love found footage horror movies most of the time and this is one of those times. Supernatural horror is my favorite sub genre of horror after slashers. Definitely worth watching!! Decide for yourself and don't listen to the haters on here. Loved the way the movie opens and ends. Check it out!

Not as bad as reviews led me to think.

[blosgach · 6/10 · 23 December 2013]

If you've seen any of the Paranormal movies you'll be familiar with the style of this movie. Although I was pleasantly surprised this movie contains a bit more meat an leaves less to the imagination.

The next in a series of Amityville movies after The Amityville Horror (x2) and the Amityville Asylum.

The Amityville Haunting is purportedly based on a compilation of real hand-held camera and CCTV footage which depicts a series of events which surround the Benson family after they move into the old Amityville house.

Watch it if you like B-class horror movies. Just don't expect to be blown away by the acting or any ground breaking plot.

Boo ! Thats all the scare there is---

[guestar57 · 3/10 · 11 January 2012]

Okay,So we have beat this Amityville ghost horse to death ! Stop with all the ghost documentaries and Paranormal Entity 3 references.

Now,Yes,This effort has good points in suspense and shows some acting on the leads part.

Erin Marie Hogan, Who is not the daughter this time around,Built a career on Paranormal Activity nude scenes.

Bill Oberst ,Jr. played the sheriff in A Haunting In Salem and just has a look,None of which is here.

Feel bad there wasn't much to love about this effort,Maybe Asylum just needed a break from all its Disaster/SyFy/Giant monsters ? Geoff Meed did direct it and has done some wonderful work elsewhere.

I didn't believe the reviews...

[xxrawr_evilxcookiesxx · 2/10 · 4 March 2012]

I found this movie on Netflix and decided to give it a try. I looked it up and read the reviews and I thought all of them were just from people who critique too hard. This is honestly a really terrible movie. The main character, the one who films, really is a terrible actor. His lines seem pushed and over exaggerated, and he shows no real emotion. This was such a bad movie, I almost feel bad. I made an account just so I could review it. It's pretty much a spoof off of Paranormal Activity, but x10 worse. I usually love a bad horror movie, and love paranormal movies but this really was just such a terrible movie... I understand that it's a budget film, but no much more could have been done.

Disappointing

[jacobjohntaylor1 · 4/10 · 14 October 2016]

This is part nine to Amityville series. And it is very disappointing. The Amityville horror is so mush better. Amityville II the possession is a lot better. Amityville 3 the Demon is a lot better. Amityville 4 the evil escapes is a lot better. The Amityville cures it a lot better. Amityville it's about time is better. Amityville a new generation is lot better. The Amityville dollhouse is better. Amityville Asylum is a better movie. And that is an awful movie. Amityville death house is better. And that is an awful movie. Amityville playhouse is better. And that is an awful movie. This movie has an awful story line. It also has awful acting. The ending is awful. It is not scary. Do not see it. It is just an awful movie.

Not Sure What This Has To Do With Amityville...

[wandernn1-81-683274 · 2/10 · 20 January 2021]

When I hear about Amityville anything, I expect to see the Big House from the Amityville Horror. Preferably from the original movie but even the remake would be alright.

Oh yeah FLIES ON THE WINDOW.

Anyways the movie is bad. Found footage. Amityville. Not a great combo. 2/10