Cady's Take:

I consider myself a horror flick enthusiast and in my opinion the late 1970’s and early 1980’s were a great time for scary movies. I personally loved the original Amityville Horror. One of the reasons I enjoyed it so much was because it was inspired by a true story. Let’s face it; we have all been terrified of the basement or things that go creak in the night. Haunted house movies are frightening!

Now, imagine moving into a house that a year earlier witnessed the murder of an entire family. In November 1974, the oldest son of the DeFeo clan massacred his entire family with a shotgun inside their Amityville, Long Island home, and claimed supernatural forces inside the house persuaded him to carry out the murders. This remake should be chilling right? It should be, but isn’t.
Only the eerie relationship with youngest daughter Chelsea and an "imaginary" friend with a bullet hole in the forehead rings up any real psychological terror, but not even enough to satisfy. And the third act with the old Indian burial ground plot line made me furious. A truly scary movie should leave a lasting impression, this does not.
On a brighter note -I did enjoy Ryan Reynolds’s 6-pack. He has come along way since his days on “Two guys a girl and a pizza shop”, so I don’t blame him for strutting around during the entire film with his shirt off, even though he spent the entire hour and a half complaining about the cold.

Now admittedly I am not the horror movie buff that Cady is - she loves a good scary movie. Not that I do not enjoy scary movies - I'm up for a good psychological thriller any day of the week. I do not, however, on the whole enjoy the horror movie genre.

I read The Amityville Horror and it was a very good book. And of course I have seen the original with James Brolin and Margot Kidder and again, very good. This version of Amityville lacks a few essentials. First, um, horror. I was not scared. Perhaps it is because I've seen the original and read the book and I sort of knew what was coming, but a retread can still throw in a few surprises once in awhile.

I am a big Ryan Reynolds fan - I used to tape "Two Guys, A Girl, and a Pizza Place" obsessively, however my love of all things Ryan Reynolds is not enough to garner The Amityville Horror a recommendation.