The Amityville Horror (2005) Dir: Andrew Douglas
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Recently, I watched the 1979 classic horror film that was based on a series of creepy and true events. While I wasn't the biggest fan of it, I was still engaged enough to find it worthwhile to go ahead and watch this Andrew Douglas directed remake from 2005. I didn't necessarily expect to love it, but I had a feeling it would be better.
I won't say this is an amazing film, but I did feel that it was a significant level above the original, which is not exactly a common feat. That said, this film does have plenty of shortcomings. The cinematography, while certainly atmospheric, was messy, and lacked any finesse. The amount of flashing in the film was absurd.
The original was a very bloated film, which this certainly was not. It was a lot easier to sit through, being a fair bit shorter and snappier. The writing wasn't particularly great. The dialogue meandered between dull and adequate, and there were a number of predictable and tropy jump scares throughout.
The narrative, unsurprisingly, was near enough identical to that of the film it took inspiration and name from. For what it's worth, though, it did feel more enjoyable, and more suspenseful, with this version - I think that advancements in technology definitely helped its case. It meant that there was a lot more room to be visually creative for the filmmakers.
Ryan Reynolds was an interesting choice of actor to lead this film. Certainly by contemporary standards, he's an unexpected choice, but back in the mid 2000's, he was less type-cast and less successful. His performance was okay - I can't say anything better, because some of his more sinister antiques felt awfully forced. His earlier scenes were good though.
Melissa George was the strongest performer in the film, in my view. I thought that she had a stability in her performance that her co-stars lacked. I felt like she was more compelling than Reynolds, and certainly more consistent. She seemed to be a lot more comfortable with the character as well.
The child actors were all fairly good, though not world-beating. Of the three, I felt that Chloë Grace Moretz was the superior actor, which matches up with how their various careers have panned out. I do think that both Jesse James and Jimmy Bennett had commendable scenes at different points though.
Overall, I'd say this was a pretty alright horror film. It did some enjoyable things with the supernatural element of the story, and improved upon the foundations of the 70's original. It's definitely a very watchable horror - the type of film you can put on in the evening with some popcorn and enjoy.
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