ROTTEN TOMATOES: Critical Consensus: “Amityville Horror” Remake Just as Bad as Original

Critical Consensus: “Amityville Horror” Remake Just as Bad as Original

by Senh Duong | April 15, 2005

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The remake of the classic horror film “The Amityville Horror” must have scared off the competition, because it’s the only new film to debut in wide release this weekend. As the week went by, it scared off critics, too. The original film, released in 1979 and starring James Brolin (“Westworld”) and Margot Kidder (“Superman”), was based on an alleged true story. It grossed $35M and was the highest grossing independent film at the time. Critics, on the other hand, weren’t as enthusiastic towards the film. The original has a Tomatometer of 27%. Critics weren’t questioning whether or not the supernatural events depicted in the film did truly happen, they just didn’t think it made a good film.

The remake, under the same title, substitutes the original stars with Ryan Reynolds and Melissa George, but still can't win the hearts of critics. It started the week off at a surprising 100%, but then took a nosedive as days went by. Although most of them think it’s an improvement over the original and does provide a decent number of shocks, critics say it still lacks suspense and character. As of this writing, the movie has settled at a moldy 29% on the Tomatometer.

Related Items

Movie:	The Amityville Horror
Celeb:	James Brolin
	Margot Kidder
	Ryan Reynolds
	Melissa George

(1-20 of 31 posts) | Reply

craygyrulez writes:
on Apr 15 2005 02:02 PM

dis looks scary dude

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halose7en writes:
on Apr 15 2005 02:33 PM

Since when have horror movies ever gotten a good review? Horror fans couldn't give a flying crap about the critics. All they do is drag the genre down. I say leave us alone and let us enjoy the movie.

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Senh Duong writes:
on Apr 15 2005 03:28 PM

Recently, critics did like The Ring, 28 Days Later, The Others, Dawn of the Dead, The Sixth Sense, etc... The ones they do like usually ends up being huge hits. Critics, on average, watch 200-300 films a year, so obviously they tend to look for quality and freshness rather than run-of-mill stuff.

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Senh Duong writes:
on Apr 15 2005 04:03 PM

28 Days Later was, at the time, Fox Searchlight's biggest hit. $44M isn't much compared to The Sixth Sense, but the budget for the film was only $8M. It put them on the map as a force in the independent film market.

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The Merm writes:
on Apr 15 2005 05:16 PM

Yeah um i dont know how to break it to you but the guy who posted before you did not mention anything about critics not liking horror films and i think his point was that Ammityville was an unoriginal movie, the only thing that is ironic is that you did not have your facts straight yet were criticizing someone who did for having their facts wrong.

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Stankton writes:
on Apr 15 2005 05:55 PM

In reply to this comment (#821441)
Yep, I misread a letter or to in that post... Well, time to delete it.

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Now it's dark writes:
on Apr 15 2005 06:06 PM

People will still flock to see it.

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Senh Duong writes:
on Apr 15 2005 06:07 PM

In reply to this comment (#821442)
That's what I thought...it's all cool.

(Reply to this)

Senh Duong writes:
on Apr 15 2005 06:09 PM

In reply to this comment (#821443)
Yeah, we must be in some kind of golden age for horror films or something - in terms of box office - because people are just eating it all up.

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skletonkee writes:
on Apr 15 2005 07:06 PM

[b]a first for me[/b]
this is the first time i have wished failure on a film.....the filmmakers had an oppurtunity to tell two very awesome stories. Either about the original murders or about the Lutz' scams..instead they went the easy way out....when will these stupid studio's realize that a quality film will earn them much more money in the long run versus these quick paint by number films?

sure this film will probably do 30million and then it will fall off the face of the earth..while The Exorcist has grossed how much? over 200million? silly silly studios..

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lancerbird13 writes:
on Apr 15 2005 07:45 PM

who cares about the reviews?? People are still gonna spend money on it anyway like every other horror flick and it will make a good profit.

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Ophiuchus writes:
on Apr 15 2005 08:02 PM

In reply to this comment (#821439)
Wow. You really know what you're talking about. I'm impressed. If critics really do watch that many films, it's not wonder they get fed up with movies that just trot out the same old same old every time.

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Now it's dark writes:
on Apr 15 2005 08:57 PM

In reply to this comment (#821445)
The special effects make horror films seem much less cheesy nowadays.

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VICVEGA06 writes:
on Apr 15 2005 10:13 PM

I just saw it. It really isnt that bad at all

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getluv writes:
on Apr 16 2005 01:32 AM

Amityville Horror is excellent. It's very scary - considering the horror pics this year have ben far from scary.

Originiality? - there is none, and who cares. many films these days dont have originality.

Critics are pathetic. Somy of the rottentomatoes came from people who gave the ring two a tomato. also alot of the rotteners hate horror films, and prefer arthouse films we have never heard of.

This movie is getting good word of mouth. Reynolds perfomance is excellent.

Also it effing scary!!! _ oops ive mentioned it.

Also the remake of "the texas massacre" was excellent. I heard one reviewer who walked out because it was too bloody. - hello its a horror film, what would expect butterflies and dolphins.

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Sadistik writes:
on Apr 16 2005 05:07 AM

In reply to this comment (#821451)
the remake of TCM was a disaster (and a blasphemy to the original work). Blood and guts does not a scary movie make. Sure I like my Italian splatterfests, but a truly scary movie is one that works psychologically (i.e. The Shining, Audition) rather than things jumping out of closets to a shrieking violin soundtrack.

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topher4 writes:
on Apr 16 2005 08:04 AM

Critics don't give good reviews to the Horror genre. In fact I think its rare for them to give good reviews to any genre outside of Drama, but thats just my opinion.

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skletonkee writes:
on Apr 16 2005 09:01 AM

[b]critics dont give good reviews to horror?[/b]
Holloween, The Exorcist, Silence of the Lambs, The Ring, The Sixth Sense, The Omen, The original Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Poltergeist all recieved positive reviews. This film is the equivelant of an Ashton Kucher film. And nobody expects his low-brow crap to get positive reviews or dismiss the negative reviews because of the genre.

Craps crap. No matter what color it is.

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Scott Weinberg writes:
on Apr 16 2005 10:10 AM

Just about every critic I know likes horror movies. Some more than others, of course, but even those who dislike the horror are intelligent (and professional) enough to gauge a film on its own merits ... regardless of its genre.

If lots of horror movies get bad reviews, that may be because there are SO MANY bad horror movies. Personally, I'm a sucker for the scary stuff. My favorite genre by far.

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gowansy writes:
on Apr 16 2005 10:30 AM

Certain ppl are naming horror films that recieved good tomato ratings, such as the sixth sense, the ring, the others, 28 days later, the grudge, boogey man, and hide and seek... those i dont consider horror films , there effects and nice direction are boring me now.

What i do consider a PROPER horror film is: Nightmare On Elm Street, The Shining, The Exorcist, Amityville Horror, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Halloween, Psycho, Alien...

Compare them to the new crap churned out these days. My point... sometimes a remake doesnt have any harm, you go and know what to expect. Ofcourse there not gonna beat the original but you already know that so why winge about it anyway? Also, I'd rather see a decent remake of a GOOD film, than see the shite thats being replicated over and over in cinemas these days (darkness falls, boogeyman, hide and seek etc.)

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