The Amityville Horror 1979

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The Amityville Horror ★★ 1979 (R)

Sometimes a house is not a home. Ineffective chiller that became a boxoffice biggie, based on a supposedly real-life occurrence in Amityville, Long Island. The Lutz family moves into the house of their dreams only to find it full of nightmares. Once the scene of a grisly mass murder, the house takes on a devilish attitude, plunging the family into supernatural terror. Pipes and walls ooze icky stuff, flies manifest in the strangest places, and doors mysteriously slam while exorcist Steiger staggers from room to room in scenechewing prayer. Based on the Jay Anson book and followed by a number of sequels. 117m/C VHS, DVD . James Brolin, Margot Kidder, Rod Steiger, Don Stroud, Murray Hamilton, Helen Shaver, Amy Wright, Val Avery, Natasha Ryan, John Larch, K.C. Martel, Meeno Peluce; D: Stuart Rosenberg; W: Sandor Stern; C: Fred W. Koenekamp; M: Lalo Schifrin.

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