The Amityville Horror (2005)

From NetFlix:

Hapless home-buyers George (Ryan Reynolds) and Kathy (Melissa George) Lutz discover their dream home is possessed by evil spirits in this terrifying remake based on the popular book. The story begins when the Lutzes purchase a home with a bloody history: Ronald DeFeo killed his entire family in the same home just a year earlier. Soon after moving into the house, George, Kathy and their three children are terrorized by demonic forces.

In 1980 Jack Nicholson went stark raving mad in a giant hotel in the northeast in the film based on Stephen King’s “The Shining”. In 2005 Ryan Reynolds starts to go mad in a giant house in New York. I guess some things never change. Whereas “The Shining” is a classic (who will ever forget “Here’s Johhny” ?), “The Amityville Horror” is what I call a humanistic horror film. Why ever watch a horror film ? Well, just to have fun. It’s easier to cringe over unreal problems than to fester over real ones. I say “humanistic” because the acting is well-done. Stepfather George is a likeable husband trying really hard to connect with his step-children who miss their real but dead father. The special effects are the older, more subtle variety than the digital souped-up over-the-top effects of the 21st century. The plot builds well to a believable climax. If you are willing to watch a horror film, this is an acceptable choice. But you have seen “The Exorcist”, right ?

So far we have also seen Ryan Reynolds in the following:

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