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Way back when Amityville Horror came out as a film, a friend of mine's mother was reading the book. After she finished, they lent it to me. I was in fourth grade, and that was the first adult fiction I had read. Around this time also, they took me out to see the movie. And we saw it in a drive-in.
At that young age, I found the film to be pretty scary. Also, it took me a few weeks to get through the book. Heck, at that time I was only reading Beverly Cleary and that sort of thing. Amityville Horror was quite a leap for me.
After I grew up a few more years I re-read the book and got through it a lot faster, and still thought the movie was pretty good.
Years later, re-reading it again, I found I could get through the book in a few hours. It's a pretty fast read, actually, but IMHO, it's not really that well written. Nearly every chapter ends in an exclamation point! And as we all know at AW, the overuse of exclamation points is a great way to build suspense!
Anyway, the book was a mega-best seller because it said it was based on a true story. As we all learned later, the story was a fabrication by the Lutzes because they had bought more house than they could afford, and decided to capitilize on the murders committed in the house a few years earlier. Enter Jay Anson, who listened to their story and fabricated the rest, and a best seller and hit movie were born.
I remember being able to go to used bookstores and see entire shelves crammed with used copies of Amityville Horror. Does anyone remember that?
So, what did you think of the book and/or movie? Good literature? Great film? Even today I still kind of like the movie. It's really not bad. (The remake though, I didn't so much care for.)
At that young age, I found the film to be pretty scary. Also, it took me a few weeks to get through the book. Heck, at that time I was only reading Beverly Cleary and that sort of thing. Amityville Horror was quite a leap for me.
After I grew up a few more years I re-read the book and got through it a lot faster, and still thought the movie was pretty good.
Years later, re-reading it again, I found I could get through the book in a few hours. It's a pretty fast read, actually, but IMHO, it's not really that well written. Nearly every chapter ends in an exclamation point! And as we all know at AW, the overuse of exclamation points is a great way to build suspense!
Anyway, the book was a mega-best seller because it said it was based on a true story. As we all learned later, the story was a fabrication by the Lutzes because they had bought more house than they could afford, and decided to capitilize on the murders committed in the house a few years earlier. Enter Jay Anson, who listened to their story and fabricated the rest, and a best seller and hit movie were born.
I remember being able to go to used bookstores and see entire shelves crammed with used copies of Amityville Horror. Does anyone remember that?
So, what did you think of the book and/or movie? Good literature? Great film? Even today I still kind of like the movie. It's really not bad. (The remake though, I didn't so much care for.)
