At Issue with Amityville Horror

It's been 35 years since I watched this film (1979), and about as long since I read the Jay Anson novel (1977), on which the film was based.  But the issue is fact vs fiction, so consider this documentary on the sleepy town and the grisly murders that Anson drew on:

The Amityville Horror. You've heard of it as a movie or maybe a true story. You might even have heard it mentioned in an Eminem song. However you first heard about it, you heard the real truth. Amityville is a real town in New York, Suffolk County to be precise. The town was settled back in the 1600's, but it wouldn't be until the 1970's that it'd rise to national prominence due to a tragic real crime committed at the famous address 112 Ocean Avenue.

On the night in November [13th] of 1974, Ronald DeFeo Jr killed 6 of his own family members in what would come to be known as the Amityville murders. That's the true Amityville horror, but the story continues after that. George Lutz and his wife (along with their three children) moved into that house on Ocean Ave the following December [19th 1975]. Kathy Lutz found the place creepy right away and 28 days later [January 16th 1976] (interesting?) the family moved from that residence claiming they'd experienced traumatic paranormal events.

Now, enter the author Jay Anson. He wrote not only the book 666, but also the novel titled 'The Amityville Horror' based on the events that the Lutz family went through, though it is up for debate how close he stuck to the original real story. That book (published in 1977), in turn, became used to base a movie that would bear its same title in 1979. The movie terrified audiences worldwide with James Brolin, Margot Kidder and Rod Steiger all giving creepy performances that only added to the already scary story of the Amityville horror house.

Does the Amityville house exist today in real life? It certainly does, though it's been renovated these days and the address has been changed. Many people came to see the site of the DeFeo murders and the place where demon possession was supposed to have taken place. Obviously, the home owners needed their privacy so they took steps to get that back.

I hope I've helped clear up any misunderstandings about the awful events surrounding the Amityville house. While the movies are terrific (a new version was made in 2005), the real stories are nothing to smile about.

Reference: Top Documentary Films: The Real Amityville Horror Story.  (Note: The foregoing write up was in the description box of this documentary.  But since I watched it, YouTube terminated the account.  In any event, I found the above version, instead.) 

The fact vs fiction matter of this film is more complicated than that of Captain Phillips, which I wrote about in the preceding article.  Besides the novelist himself, the Lutzes and William Weber, the attorney for Ronald DeFeo, Jr., among a range of parties involved, seem to have obscured the lines between fact and fiction.

In September 1979, Judge [Jack B] Weinstein dismissed the Lutzes' claims and observed in his ruling: "Based on what I have heard, it appears to me that to a large extent the book is a work of fiction, relying in a large part upon the suggestions of Mr. Weber." In the September 17, 1979 issue of People magazine, William Weber wrote: "I know this book is a hoax. We created this horror story over many bottles of wine." This refers to a meeting that Weber is said to have had with George and Kathy Lutz, during which they discussed what would later become the outline of Anson's book. Judge Weinstein also expressed concern about the conduct of William Weber and Bernard Burton relating to the affair, stating: "There is a very serious ethical question when lawyers become literary agents."

George Lutz maintained that events in the book were "mostly true" and denied any suggestion of dishonesty on his part. In June 1979, George and Kathy Lutz took a polygraph test relating to their experiences at the house, which they both passed.  In October 2000, The History Channel broadcast Amityville: The Haunting and Amityville: Horror or Hoax?, a two-part documentary made by horror screenwriter/producer Daniel Farrands to mark the 25th anniversary of the case. George Lutz commented in an interview for the program: "I believe this has stayed alive for 25 years because it's a true story. It doesn't mean that everything that has ever been said about it is true. It's certainly not a hoax. It's real easy to call something a hoax. I wish it was. It's not."

Reference: The Amityville Horror.

There is a lot to sort out, but it is clear that art does not exist in a vacuum, and there is probably no such thing as pure, unadulterated art.  Inevitably its context is human one, and thus subject to the best and the worst of people involved.  The original story spawned several films over nearly 40 years, so if money was at all a motivation for any of these people, there must've been plenty to grab.

Finally, we mustn't forget the matter of paranormal activity.  Doesn't it really happen?  Is it reasonable for me to say I believe it can, yet also say I am skeptical?  I am mindful enough of the many things we as humankind simply don't know, so weird stuff like a haunting is a possibility that we cannot categorically dismiss.  However, I am skeptical at the same time about what people may say, given whatever motives they harbor within themselves. 

They say, Sometimes fact is stranger than fiction.  Ain't that the truth.