The ORIGINAL Amityville Horror is Coming to 4K UHD! (1 Viewer)

[Kaskade1309]

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[Kaskade1309]

I seem to recall the upside down cross being a nightly thing in the book, or at least happening several times. I may be wrong. I haven't read it since I was 9 in 1978.

I gotta go back and re-read the Anson book, too -- it's sitting feet from me in our loft/hi fi area. I don't recall the upside down cross manifesting nightly for the Lutzes, but I do know many elements of the original "tale" were altered for the film version, including Kathy waking up to see a haggard old lady in the mirror (in Rosenberg's film, she merely glances in the mirror after she and George attempt to bless the house, where she notices nasty boils all over her face), Kathy levitating off the bed several times (wasn't in the film at all) and the hooded ghostly apparition that stands at the top of the second floor landing and points at them when they were attempting to flee the house on the final night (in the film, you can see where this scene may have been edited out last minute because Kathy, played by Kidder, quickly points to something behind them at the end when they're going through the front door, but George, played by Brolin, merely glances for a moment and that's it).

 

[Mark B]

I gotta go back and re-read the Anson book, too -- it's sitting feet from me in our loft/hi fi area. I don't recall the upside down cross manifesting nightly for the Lutzes, but I do know many elements of the original "tale" were altered for the film version, including Kathy waking up to see a haggard old lady in the mirror (in Rosenberg's film, she merely glances in the mirror after she and George attempt to bless the house, where she notices nasty boils all over her face), Kathy levitating off the bed several times (wasn't in the film at all) and the hooded ghostly apparition that stands at the top of the second floor landing and points at them when they were attempting to flee the house on the final night (in the film, you can see where this scene may have been edited out last minute because Kathy, played by Kidder, quickly points to something behind them at the end when they're going through the front door, but George, played by Brolin, merely glances for a moment and that's it).

I may be mudding the cross together the 3:15am awakenings, the marching band, and all of that. But, as a straight up fictional ghost story I remember it being quite compelling. Upon seeing the film the first time it was disappointing that many favorite moments in the book didn't make it into the film or were altered and less effective.

 

[Kaskade1309]

I may be mudding the cross together the 3:15am awakenings, the marching band, and all of that. But, as a straight up fictional ghost story I remember it being quite compelling. Upon seeing the film the first time it was disappointing that many favorite moments in the book didn't make it into the film or were altered and less effective.

It wasn't a fictional story. It's just that much of what they reported to Anson, who took notes at the time as George and Kathy recalled the experiences, fudged the occurrences to the point that they were becoming caricatures of themselves; what made it worse was how executives at American International Pictures, which put up the funding for the motion picture adaptation (now a defunct studio), saw an opportunity to turn this into an exaggerated mess to cash in on the Exorcist craze that was still sweeping the globe.

There were some things, that George attested to in History Channel documentaries, that were just out of their control when they began to get more and more detached from the actual truth. For example: the whole "front door blew off its hinges" thing was confirmed to be a bad weather incident which almost all Long Island homes situated on the water experience in the winter (it wasn't the front door as shown in the film, but rather a mere screen door).

As for the 3:15 AM thing and marching band -- yes, that was on a nightly basis that they experienced these things. I don't believe, now thinking about it, that the cross was ever found upside down every single day/night. There were always a couple of things that could never be explained, whether by the legions of skeptics, the Warrens or even law enforcement investigators, such as the fact that none of the family members woke up during the De Feo murders even though Ronnie was gunning them down with a high-powered Marlin rifle (and no drugs were found in their bloodstream) -- a mystery that became even more bizarre when Kathy began having nightmares about where the bullets traveled throughout Mrs. De Feo's body (and the details about this were NEVER leaked to the public). Further, there were no real concrete answers for why the bodies were found face-down in the house, a position that mimicked the way Native Americans that were believed to have occupied the land at 112 Ocean Avenue buried their dead (coupled with the fact that the De Feos never slept on their stomachs, according to reports from other family members; the Lutzes began noticing that their children started doing the same in their own beds as the 28 days wore on).

Additionally and specifically referencing the aforementioned 3:15/marching band elements, it was never explained why George kept waking up exactly at that time (the established time of Ronnie De Feo's shooting spree) nor why he was the only one of the family who heard what sounded like a blaringly loud marching band barreling through the living room in the middle of the night.

 

[SFMike]

The real question in my mind is do all these cheap B pictures deserve the 4K treatment lavished on them? It's actually sad.

 

[Robert Crawford]

The real question in my mind is do all these cheap B pictures deserve the 4K treatment lavished on them? It's actually sad.

Probably not, but they make money for those companies releasing them. The horror movie fanbase is huge and they buy such products.

 

[Malcolm R]

Yep, these are the titles that keep these businesses open and allow them to bring out other films that some may see as more deserving.

Guaranteed this will sell at least 5x the numbers of most any critically-acclaimed "classic".

 

[darkrock17]

Horror $ell$

 

[Mark B]

It wasn't a fictional story. It's just that much of what they reported to Anson, who took notes at the time as George and Kathy recalled the experiences, fudged the occurrences to the point that they were becoming caricatures of themselves; what made it worse was how executives at American International Pictures, which put up the funding for the motion picture adaptation (now a defunct studio), saw an opportunity to turn this into an exaggerated mess to cash in on the Exorcist craze that was still sweeping the globe.

There were some things, that George attested to in History Channel documentaries, that were just out of their control when they began to get more and more detached from the actual truth. For example: the whole "front door blew off its hinges" thing was confirmed to be a bad weather incident which almost all Long Island homes situated on the water experience in the winter (it wasn't the front door as shown in the film, but rather a mere screen door).

As for the 3:15 AM thing and marching band -- yes, that was on a nightly basis that they experienced these things. I don't believe, now thinking about it, that the cross was ever found upside down every single day/night. There were always a couple of things that could never be explained, whether by the legions of skeptics, the Warrens or even law enforcement investigators, such as the fact that none of the family members woke up during the De Feo murders even though Ronnie was gunning them down with a high-powered Marlin rifle (and no drugs were found in their bloodstream) -- a mystery that became even more bizarre when Kathy began having nightmares about where the bullets traveled throughout Mrs. De Feo's body (and the details about this were NEVER leaked to the public). Further, there were no real concrete answers for why the bodies were found face-down in the house, a position that mimicked the way Native Americans that were believed to have occupied the land at 112 Ocean Avenue buried their dead (coupled with the fact that the De Feos never slept on their stomachs, according to reports from other family members; the Lutzes began noticing that their children started doing the same in their own beds as the 28 days wore on).

Additionally and specifically referencing the aforementioned 3:15/marching band elements, it was never explained why George kept waking up exactly at that time (the established time of Ronnie De Feo's shooting spree) nor why he was the only one of the family who heard what sounded like a blaringly loud marching band barreling through the living room in the middle of the night.

I understand that it was purported to be a true story. But outside of the DeFeo murders and the Lutz family moving in and out, I don't buy any of it.

 

[Mark B]

The real question in my mind is do all these cheap B pictures deserve the 4K treatment lavished on them? It's actually sad.

Like any format that begins well-intentioned with something different to offer (Laserdisc, DVD, Blu-Ray), it eventually becomes a dumping ground for anything they think they can get format adopters to buy.

 

[Lasermanfan]

Would be great if Vinegar Syndrome releases Amityville 2 and 3. For part 2, I hear there are deleted scenes, but it may be lost forever. If VS can find them, fantastic. I have the Scream Factory box set, and I read that Amityville 3D was not transferred correctly. I have a Panasonic Plasma 3D television. Hopefully VS will get the 3D film archive company to remaster Amityville 3D.

 

[Kaskade1309]

I understand that it was purported to be a true story. But outside of the DeFeo murders and the Lutz family moving in and out, I don't buy any of it.

That's your right; it literally wasn't a fictional story, though, regardless of what many have been spoon-fed to believe. As I explained in a previous post, there was a lot going on here, including greedy suits at the American International offices, a gaggle of vengeful attorneys, an author who wanted recognition under a pen name so millions upon millions of copies of a book could be sold, parapsychologists masquerading as non-fraudulent entities (outside of the Warrens and Holzer) and rabid skeptics who had personal fish to fry when it came to the Lutzes and Warrens, like the late Stephen Kaplan (who ended up devoting the remainder of his life to debunking -- or trying to debunk -- the Lutzes claims via his The Amityville Horror Conspiracy novel, which ended up being nothing more than a hack job of an "investigation" that proved he was nothing but an angry zealot who had a personal agenda).

And, as I said, many of the events were totally blown out of proverbial proportion or turned into funhouse versions of what had actually been reported via tape recordings the couple made in the offices of both Jay Anson and attorney William Webber; much of this stuff was simply unleashed and massaged by American International and Samuel Arkoff for the film variant, which even George himself has called a work of fiction in many spots -- but he also has stated, even under lie detector conditions, that there was nothing they could do about it once these entities wrestled creative control away from parties involved.

I actually know some of the people who were involved post-investigation, such as Laura DiDio, who was a fledgling journalist at the time of the Lutzes' abandonment of 112 Ocean Avenue (I ended up befriending her at New York's Hofstra University when I was taking some pre-law classes there and actually studying the De Feo murder case for a paper I was writing; she actually participated in some Q&A sessions at the time, and we became friendly) and who confirmed that the family was scared for their very lives because some of the events being experienced simply couldn't be explained. The flies were a good example of this -- yes, that sequence in the film when Rod Steiger's character is being attacked in the second floor sewing room (which actually existed) was dramatically exaggerated (the family's real priest, Father Ralph Pecoraro, renamed "Father Mancuso" in the novel to protect his identity at the time, initially testified in court that when he was blessing the house for the first time, he heard a disembodied voice tell him to leave and felt something or someone actually slap his face while the flies were buzzing about...but, like just about everyone connected to this case ended up doing, he changed his story several times over the decades so he wouldn't be lumped in with non-skeptics who were being attacked on a regular basis for believing in the Lutzes, eventually sticking to the "yes, this was all bullshit" script), but George, Kathy and the family DID witness hordes of flies at the wrong time of year in Nassau County, NY, which could never be explained by exterminators, investigators or even psychics who worked with them. And, they did appear and then disappear in a matter of moments, which also could never be explained.

The film was unfortunately a thick work of fiction in most spots, but it gave a decent idea of what they ran into during their time in the Dutch Colonial on Long Island's south shore; of course, it's very difficult to turn what began as a series of frightening mysteries lightly touched by the supernatural into a dramatic motion picture that would attract audiences at the time, so dramatic liberties had to be taken (such as they are today when concocting a film from a true story).

 

[Kaskade1309]

The real question in my mind is do all these cheap B pictures deserve the 4K treatment lavished on them? It's actually sad.

 

[Kaskade1309]

Would be great if Vinegar Syndrome releases Amityville 2 and 3. For part 2, I hear there are deleted scenes, but it may be lost forever. If VS can find them, fantastic. I have the Scream Factory box set, and I read that Amityville 3D was not transferred correctly. I have a Panasonic Plasma 3D television. Hopefully VS will get the 3D film archive company to remaster Amityville 3D.

That's what I was saying in a previous post -- we can assume that VS will at least look into releasing a 4K set with all three, as they already put out the BD set containing the direct-to-video sequels that followed Amityville 4: The Evil Escapes (that may have been included, as well).

We may even see one from Scream if VG's standalone disc of the first film sells well.

There are deleted sequences related to The Possession, including the "lost souls" scene in the basement and supposed anal rape moments between Anthony and Delores (plus a scene where Jan attempts to drown Mark in the bathtub), but they have never seen the light of day on celluloid.

The third film never looked good on any medium -- the DVD version as included in MGM's Amityville Horror Collection looks pretty horrid in most places, suffering from that distortion and fuzziness at the outer edges of the 2.35:1 image because of the 3D-to-2D dumbdown.

 

[JimJasper]

Overall good news, methinks. ....the following is indulgent drivel by me for whoever is slightly interested.... Margot Kidder is at her absolute most beautiful in her career when Aunt Helana arrives at the house with a welcoming plant and gets instantly ill, but Kidder begs her to stay...Kidder is a real beauty there in those shots. ...can't resist saying that Amityville II (1982) is a very bold, yes very imperfect film with some dumb moments, that me and Mr. S (Kaskade1309) have a huge thread here in hometheaterforum. But I'd argue that this film has a few very powerful scenes (the birthday scene....) and hope it gets following treatment. The Shout release (of the trilogy) on Blu-ray only emphasized Amityville II's artifacts (dust, lint) and while it had more lines of resolution so it was clearer, the transfer wasn't properly cleaned up.

Great, detailed responses, Mr S! You would offer a terrific, very comprehensive and careful featurette on the upcoming releases. I've talked to the youngest son, Christopher Quaratino [Christopher "Lutz"] here and there online. He was portrayed in the first film. And he's still bound and determined to tell his side of the story in a future production book/film/tv. Yeah, I believe part of it is to make money (money's been made on him!), but mostly for the catharsis of getting his actual account told.

A couple of times after he would post something about his since-passed mom, Kathy (like a birthday); I told him I always thought she was under the most enormous pressure throughout the events, and subsequent book/film/fame and she was a great person, but he actually never responds to me about that. But he'll respond to me about other topics like God and world/national events, and the gym lol. Really curious to get his feedback on what his brother Danny Lutz said in his 2013 documentary "My Amityville Horror," But I haven't directly, though some of Chris's online (very generous, actually) interviews throughout the years directly corroborate what (explosive) Danny said in his documentary. I never asked Chris about house events, though I'm curious, but I'd wait for what he fully wants to say. Anyway....thanks again for posting, Mr. S.


Chris posted this that was funny....

 

[Malcolm R]

She will speak to the manager ... then tear his soul apart!

 

[Kaskade1309]

Overall good news, methinks. ....the following is indulgent drivel by me for whoever is slightly interested.... Margot Kidder is at her absolute most beautiful in her career when Aunt Helana arrives at the house with a welcoming plant and gets instantly ill, but Kidder begs her to stay...Kidder is a real beauty there in those shots. ...can't resist saying that Amityville II (1982) is a very bold, yes very imperfect film with some dumb moments, that me and Mr. S (Kaskade1309) have a huge thread here in hometheaterforum. But I'd argue that this film has a few very powerful scenes (the birthday scene....) and hope it gets following treatment. The Shout release (of the trilogy) on Blu-ray only emphasized Amityville II's artifacts (dust, lint) and while it had more lines of resolution so it was clearer, the transfer wasn't properly cleaned up.

Great, detailed responses, Mr S! You would offer a terrific, very comprehensive and careful featurette on the upcoming releases. I've talked to the youngest son, Christopher Quaratino [Christopher "Lutz"] here and there online. He was portrayed in the first film. And he's still bound and determined to tell his side of the story in a future production book/film/tv. Yeah, I believe part of it is to make money (money's been made on him!), but mostly for the catharsis of getting his actual account told.

A couple of times after he would post something about his since-passed mom, Kathy (like a birthday); I told him I always thought she was under the most enormous pressure throughout the events, and subsequent book/film/fame and she was a great person, but he actually never responds to me about that. But he'll respond to me about other topics like God and world/national events, and the gym lol. Really curious to get his feedback on what his brother Danny Lutz said in his 2013 documentary "My Amityville Horror," But I haven't directly, though some of Chris's online (very generous, actually) interviews throughout the years directly corroborate what (explosive) Danny said in his documentary. I never asked Chris about house events, though I'm curious, but I'd wait for what he fully wants to say. Anyway....thanks again for posting, Mr. S.


Chris posted this that was funny....
View attachment 152990

Good to hear from you, Jim! Where have you been? It's almost a year I haven't heard anything....hope you're okay.

 

[JimJasper]

Good to hear from you, Jim! Where have you been? It's almost a year I haven't heard anything....hope you're okay.

Thanks, man. Yeah, since the HTF site doesn't work that great I just backed off (notifications fail constantly). Still, some headlines will cum through to my email. I saw your post on Amityville 4k, which gave me a ridged hard on, thought what the hell. I'll respond in the thread. Even though no one will care much what I have to say...shot my wad anyway

 

[Kaskade1309]

Thanks, man. Yeah, since the HTF site doesn't work that great I just backed off (notifications fail constantly). Still, some headlines will cum through to my email. I saw your post on Amityville 4k, which gave me a ridged hard on, thought what the hell. I'll respond in the thread. Even though no one will care much what I have to say...shot my wad anyway

Fo real? That's why you haven't posted here?

You could have even shot me a PM -- I would have replied. I was worried about cha, and even asked folks around here what had happened...someone told me you were working on some kind of film project or something.

Your other comments are just side-splittingly hilarious yo -- "gave me a rigid hard on," "shot my wad anyway...."

Holy mother fuckin' LOL....

 

[JimJasper]

Fo real? That's why you haven't posted here?

You could have even shot me a PM -- I would have replied. I was worried about cha, and even asked folks around here what had happened...someone told me you were working on some kind of film project or something.

Your other comments are just side-splittingly hilarious yo -- "gave me a rigid hard on," "shot my wad anyway...."

Holy mother fuckin' LOL....

Thanks Mr Scott, yeah, mostly been working a lot of hours for months. ...working on a movie??!!! Holy cow. Nope. Fun to hear that, though, makes me wanna shake that guy's hand for thinking that. And yep, I might sex it up a little with eggplant jokes (LOL) - glad you got a chuckle - gotta get a little crazy on here sometimes, huh?