July 18, 2006

Amityville

As late to the party as ever, I finally watched the re-make of The Amityville Horror this weekend. I'm no horror afficiando or anything, but I thougt it was better and scarier than the 1979 version. One thing that really surprised me, though, was that people are still getting away with describing this as a "true story." The tagline even reads something like "what happened those 28 days has never been explained." Oh, you bet your sweet boopy it has. Over and over and over and over again. It was a hoax. A lie. Completely made up. Don't get me wrong - it's a great spooky story, but so was Poltergeist. That doesn't make it true.

The extras on the DVD even contain interviews with the actors talking about the "true story," though in fairness, this might have been at the encouragement of the producers as a hook. It also has a feature on the DeFeo murders that had interviews with famed "demonologist" Lorraine Warren, who now sits at the top of my list of Most Annoying Human Alive (I don't have the courage to visit or link her official site) for her bogus posturing and manipulation of this story for personal gain. At one point she says something along the lines that the best weapon the devil has against mankind are skeptics that don't readily believe everything that goes bump in the night is the work of ghosts. Okay, so every person who doesn't buy the extremely doubtful accounts the Lutz's gave (they're both dead now) about their month in the Amityville house, which would include myself, is a minion of Satan. I guess I can live with that.

Posted by Emily at July 18, 2006 12:12 PM | TrackBack (0) |
Comments

Another good site is www.thenightthedefeosdied.com.

I'm not ashamed to say I bought the book. Ric Osana has really researched it, and interviewed ALL the players, even Butch DeFeo.

Posted by: Lisa, True Crime's Whore at July 18, 2006 12:33 PM

I love true crime books, Lisa. I've been thinking about buying that one myself. It's certainly an interesting case.

Posted by: Emily at July 18, 2006 12:35 PM

I love that it has pictures of the house in all its 1974-era "Sopranos" glory.

His theory about who shot whom makes sense to me. It certainly answers the question about why no one woke up.

Posted by: Lisa, True Crime's Whore at July 18, 2006 12:38 PM

What was the explanation? Go ahead and give it away. I'm really curious.

Posted by: Emily at July 18, 2006 12:43 PM

IIRC, his sister Dawn killed the younger kids, which she wasn't supposed to do. She was only supposed to hold the gun on them while Butch killed the parents. When Butch realized what she did, he killed Dawn in the basement and then put her in her bed. There was another person there (whose name I can't remember) and he drove Butch out to the pier to throw the gun away, then drove him back home where he "discovered" the bodies.

I haven't read the book in a couple of years. If you've got an hour or two, take a look around that site. He's got TONS there.

Posted by: Lisa, True Crime's Whore at July 18, 2006 12:53 PM

I think I read that theory somewhere, but I thought it was supposed to be some bullshit story Butch made up for a parole hearing or something? I always figured nobody heard the shots because there was a thunder storm. It was a pretty big house, after all. Also, in the documentary on the DVD, the "demonologists" were all insisting it was weird that everyone was in the same position on their stomachs. Isn't it possible that DeFeo actually ordered them to lay that way? He could have fooled the children into doing this easy enough by promising he wouldn't hurt them.

Posted by: Emily at July 18, 2006 12:58 PM

I'd have to go and check in the book; I think he did blame his sister and everyone called bullshit, but the author said that with the testimony of the other man and the evidence (as he interpreted it, of course) it seemed he was telling the truth.

He has no love for Butch by any means, and like everyone else, thinks he's right where he belongs. But there were other people there, allegedly, and they need to share some of the blame, he thinks.

Posted by: Lisa, True Crime's Whore at July 18, 2006 01:12 PM