Whether you believe the validity of the 'based on actual events' disclaimer or not, The Conjuring (2013) was an extremely well executed fright flick, which followed a pair of infamous ghost-hunters / hucksters, Ed and Lorraine Warren, on their second most famous case involving a family trapped in an apparently evil house hellbent on destroying them all.
And it's easy to see why the film struck such a chord at the box-office, too, as those of us who grew up in the 1970s can easily see this was just The Amityville Horror (1979), which was The Blair Witch Project (1999) of its day, and the most famous Warren case, all over again.
Speaking of the horror in Amityville, I wanted to follow up my initial theatrical screening of The Conjuring with a rewatch of the original Amityville Horror, which was remade in 2005, but wound up unearthing a fascinating documentary instead: Eric Walter’s My Amityville Horror (2012)
Here, Walter’s doc centers around Daniel Lutz, the eldest son of George and Kathy Lutz, whose family allegedly lived through a month of sheer terror after moving into what was to become one of cinema's most infamous anthropomorphic abodes.
And as you watch Daniel struggle, trying to come to terms with whatever happened between December 18, 1975, and January 14, 1976, at the house on 112 Ocean Avenue, the word that immediately springs to mind is pathétique -- not pathetic, but pathétique, which is sort of a three-punch combo of passionate, roiling emotions, and pitiable as opposed to sad, scornful and worthless.
Again, whether you believe in the supernatural or not, as it unfolds, this tale of a troubled man still clinging to something so hard, and so fiercely, whose story has been told again and again, and reinforced again and again, a story that changes ever so slightly to appease any question to its validity or contradiction, becomes less about something paranormally evil and more about the psychological denial over a mother's betrayal and failure to protect her children from their abusive stepfather.
Yeah, the seething hatred Daniel has for George Lutz, his adoptive father, is palpable in this thing; and the doc really paints an awful (and downright sinister) picture of him, and Kathy, too, who, to be fair, are no longer around to defend themselves.
I honestly think there’s a fascinating alt-take to be made about the Amityville haunting, which focuses not on the bleeding walls or doorways to hell but on the behind the scenes squabbling and back-stabbing between several different factions -- the Lutzes, the Warrens, author Jay Anson, and lawyer William Weber -- all trying to cash in on what did or most likely did not happen back in 1975-76. (Alas, it will never happen due to the highly litigious nature of all parties involved.)
Because there’s a moment in My Amityville Horror that kinda gives the game away, where Daniel betrays his whole story with a visit to a now doddering Lorraine Warren, who comes off as a bit of a cuckoo bird; and Daniel clandestinely looks straight into the camera with a smirk and comments on how 'f@ckin nuts' she is.
There are other slip-ups, too, which only confirms that something horrible probably did happen in that house in Amityville; but sadly, something all too real and grounded in an unseemly reality.
Originally posted on October 28, 2013, on Facebook.
My Amityville Horror (2012) Film Regions International :: Lost Witness Films :: Lost Witness Pictures :: IFC Films / EP: Ronald Puleio, Michael S. Russo / P: Andrea Adams, John R. Blythe, Eric Walter / CP: Rebecca Breithaupt, Laura DiDio, Christine Irons / AP: Matthew LaCurts, Mel Rapster / D: Eric Walter / W: Eric Walter / C: Charlie Anderson / E: Eric Walter / M: Herman Witkam / S: Daniel Lutz, Susan Bartell, Laura DiDio, Lorraine Warren
