FAQ

George (Ryan Reynolds) and Kathy (Melissa George) Lutz and their family—sons Billy (Jesse James) and Michael (Jimmy Bennett) and daughter Chelsea (Chloë Grace Moretz)—move into an old lakefront Dutch Colonial house in Amityville on Long Island, New York that they were able to purchase for the "deal of a lifetime". The only disadvantage is that the house has a gruesome history. The previous family, the DeFeos, were murdered a year ago by the son Ronald Jr (Brendan Donaldson), who shot his parents and four siblings, claiming "voices" made him do it. Shortly after moving in, strange things begin to happen to the Lutzes. George begins hearing voices and seeing disfigured bodies. Chelsea acquires an imaginary friend named Jodie. When George becomes more and more withdrawn and his behavior starts changing dramatically, Kathy comes to realize that something evil is happening in the house. But what?

The Amityville Horror is a remake of The Amityville Horror (1979) (1979), which was based on The Amityville Horror, a 1977 novel by American author Jay Anson. The screenplay for this movie was written by American screenwriter Scott Kosar.

That's what it says at the beginning of the movie. It's true that Ronald DeFeo murdered his entire family in 1974, and it's also true that, when the book first came out in 1977, it was marketed as a true story. Since then, there has been much controversy, many inconsistencies, questionable evidence, and numerous lawsuits by the many people involved. The Lutzes maintain that the events really happened, while other witnesses claim otherwise. Other than the DeFeo murders, the house has no history of violence or paranormal activity prior to the Lutzes moving in, and the families who have lived in the house after the Lutzes moved out have reported no paranormal activity. Upon learning about the 2005 movie, George Lutz attempted to stop production because of all the changes that were made in the story. Unfortunately, Lutz died while the suit was still in litigation, and a verdict was never rendered.

After reading about the history of the house and speaking with Father Callaway (Philip Baker Hall), Kathy calls George and tells him to get himself and the kids out of the house and then she hurries home. George, however, now almost entirely taken over by the evil spirits, has other ideas. When Kathy gets home, she finds George in the boathouse where he tries to kill her when she falls into the water and catches her hair in the blades of the outboard motor. Kathy manages to free herself, run back into the house, and collect the children, but George, armed with a shotgun, pursues them out onto the rooftop. As they scurry across roof, Billy hides behind the chimney and knocks George out with a pipe, causing him to lose the shotgun and fall to the ground below, giving them time to get down from the roof. When George comes to, he picks up a nearby axe and continues the pursuit, but Kathy manages to knock him out again with the butt of the shotgun. She then binds his hands and feet with rope, and they carry him out to the boat house. Billy wants to leave George behind, but Kathy is certain that he'll be okay if they can get far enough away from the house, so they load him in the boat and head out on the lake. As she suspected, the further they get away from the house, the more George comes back to his senses. As they continue across the lake, a note appears, reading: "After 28 days, the Lutz family fled Amityville. They never returned for their personal possessions." In the final scene, Jodie is shown standing at the bottom of the hallway stairs. She begins to scream, and the house seems to reset itself. The clocks go back to 3:15, screws holding the windows shut are released, and magnetic letters fly from the floor back to the refrigerator door. As a tear rolls down Jodie's cheek, hands suddenly grab her ankles and pull her through the floor, leaving only her one-eyed bear lying there.