And Their Little Dog, Too

Yesterday I came close to recommending the Amityville Horror remake, so I thought I should mention that while the movie itself is mildly effective and mostly watchable, it also completely misrepresents itself as something akin to a true story and unconscionably twists the facts, both established and asserted, of the famous Amityville haunting.

The most troubling of the movie's many manipulations is the libelous representation of George Lutz. Several times, The Amityville Horror reminds us that Lutz was a real person and that the movie is based on his family’s ‘true’ story. Therefore it would’ve been nice if the filmmakers had mentioned that the real Lutz didn’t build coffins for his wife and her children before chasing them around with an axe trying to kill them.

The filmmakers protect the identity of the house by changing its address. Couldn’t they have also protected Lutz by changing his name? Sure, he told the world a crazy story that was probably complete fiction. But that doesn’t make it okay to say he hacked up the family dog.