This movie's main problem is that it came out at the wrong time. In 1979, the age of the slasher flick was at hand: body-counts were racing up, blood was suddenly spattering our movie screens. As a result of which, one of this film's strengths its subtle approach to the horror became unfairly identified as its main weakness.
There are certainly technical faults on show. The investigating policeman thread leads nowhere, Rod Steiger overacts terribly as the tortured priest, Father Delaney, and the final appearance of the demon so frightening in the book is jettisoned in favour of a much less satisfying finale.
But otherwise, the slow-burn atmosphere works very well. The idea that there's something utterly evil yet at the same time intangible in the Amityville house is far more frightening than the glib, cartoon-like explanations offered in the 2005 remake. There's also a feeling of authenticity. Modern accounts of haunting suggest that the main effects on people so afflicted is sickness and disorientation. Those who are genuinely supposed to be possessed go through personality changes and become tired and ill-tempered, rather than turning into leering, Nicholsonesque maniacs. All of this is reflected here.
The dreary Autumnal setting, while it isn't OTT, creates a sensation that these people are alone, that their lives have suddenly taken a turn for the worse, that time is running out for them, while Schifrin's understated score has now become a classic in the history of horror movies.
Something this film is often accused of is looking like a TV movie, and in some respects that may be true, but it doesn't detract from the enjoyment. This is no roller-coaster ride full of special effects and ghoulish monsters; it's more like a documentary analysis of a real-life haunting, which at the time many viewers believed it was. And on that level it hits the mark. If only they hadn't stuck with that rather lame, uneventful ending.
There are certainly technical faults on show. The investigating policeman thread leads nowhere, Rod Steiger overacts terribly as the tortured priest, Father Delaney, and the final appearance of the demon so frightening in the book is jettisoned in favour of a much less satisfying finale.
But otherwise, the slow-burn atmosphere works very well. The idea that there's something utterly evil yet at the same time intangible in the Amityville house is far more frightening than the glib, cartoon-like explanations offered in the 2005 remake. There's also a feeling of authenticity. Modern accounts of haunting suggest that the main effects on people so afflicted is sickness and disorientation. Those who are genuinely supposed to be possessed go through personality changes and become tired and ill-tempered, rather than turning into leering, Nicholsonesque maniacs. All of this is reflected here.
The dreary Autumnal setting, while it isn't OTT, creates a sensation that these people are alone, that their lives have suddenly taken a turn for the worse, that time is running out for them, while Schifrin's understated score has now become a classic in the history of horror movies.
Something this film is often accused of is looking like a TV movie, and in some respects that may be true, but it doesn't detract from the enjoyment. This is no roller-coaster ride full of special effects and ghoulish monsters; it's more like a documentary analysis of a real-life haunting, which at the time many viewers believed it was. And on that level it hits the mark. If only they hadn't stuck with that rather lame, uneventful ending.