31 Days of Horror: Day 17 Movie: The Amityville Horror (1979)

Every year we have a tradition in the Forto house where we celebrate the greatest month of the year, October, with scare your socks off, hide under the covers, turn on all the lights, sleep with one eye open, fright fest, movie marathon every night of the month! We call it 31 Days of Horror.

 

31 Days of Horror: The Amityville Horror

 

Day 17 Movie: The Amityville Horror (1979)

This movie scared the socks off of me when I was a little kid. It still remains one of the scariest of the 31 Days of Horror fright fest

While the movie is “based on real events” the stars, James Brolin and Margot Kidder (Superman’s flame) went on record saying they didn’t believe the story.

The movie is so 70’s. Everything from the hair styles to the ridiculous clothes. I love it! I remember watching this as a junior high school student for a “book” report. I was supposed to READ a book and I chose The Amityville Horror. I will say that I read the book years later and it scared the bejesus out of me because I read it before bed with the lights low of course…

Fun Facts:

When Jackie the babysitter gets trapped in the closet you can clearly see a keyhole on the door when she tries the knob, yet later George claims it has no lock.

James Brolin said he didn’t get a job for two years after doing this movie because of the cruelty of his character.

In hopes of creating more publicity for the film the studio would concoct stories of “weird” occurrences on the set of the film.

In this movie (and all the other sequels), there is a chimney between the quarter eye-like windows. If you see a picture of the real/actual house in Amityville, there is no chimney.

Honey was rubbed on Rod Steiger’s head to draw the flies to him.

Through out the whole movie the main stair case has carpet running up the middle of it. At the end when the walls and stairs are bleeding the carpet is missing.

Plot: Based on a true story that was claimed by writer Jay Anson, The Amityville Horror is about a large house on the coast of Long Island where newly weds George and Kathy Lutz and their three children move into the house that they hope will be their dream house but it ends up in terror. Despite full disclosure by the real estate agent of the home’s history, George and Kathy buy the house. George says, “Houses don’t have memories,” but they turn to their family priest Father Delaney who believes the house is haunted and performs an exorcism on the house. But the evil spirit in the house causes him to become blind and makes him very ill. George and Kathy with the help of another priest Father Bolen and a police detective they face the fears of the house, but not knowing the spirit is planning to possess George and then the children…

What is your favorite scary an/or Halloween movie? I would love to hear from you!

Day 1 Movie: Trick ‘r Treat

Day 2 Movie: The Exorcist

Day 3 Movie: Nosferatu

Day 4 Movie: White Zombie

Day 5 Movie: The Serpent and the Rainbow

Day 6 Movie: Creepshow 2

Day 7 Movie: The House of 1000 Corpses

Day 8 Movie: The Blob

Day 9 Movie: The Devils Rejects

Day 10 Movie: The Shinning

Day 11 Movie: The Omen

Day 12 Movie: The Thing

Day 13 Movie: Embrace of the Vampire

Day 14 Movie: (Stephen King’s) Desperation

Day 15 Movie: Dracula (1931)

Day 16 Movie: The Wolfman (1941)

Day 17 Movie: The Amityville Horror

Robert Forto | Team Ineka | Alaska Dog Works | Mushing Radio | Dog Doctor Radio | Denver Dog Works

___________________

Dr. Robert Forto is a musher training for his first Iditarod under the Team Ineka banner and the host of the popular radio shows, Mush! You Huskies and The Dog Doctor Radio Show