My Amityville Horror
Director: Eric Walter
Writer: Eric Walter
“Cast”: Daniel Lutz, Susan Bartell, Laura DiDio
Part of: /slash Filmfestival

Plot:
You might have heard about The Amityville horror movies, which were in turn based on the actual case of the Lutz family who moved into a new house in Amityville and then reported horrible occurrences. In this documentary Daniel Lutz, who was the son of said family, tells his side of the story, aided by a few other people who were involved at the time.

I have never seen any of the countless Amityville movies, though I am aware of them. So I probably wouldn’t have watched the film if it wasn’t part of the /slash program. And I really would have missed out. My Amityville Horror is fascinating, especially as a psychological study, though it’s also one of the saddest films I’ve ever seen.

If Daniel Lutz ever read this, he probably wouldn’t be too happy with my take on things. Because mostly what the movie provoked in me was an enormous sense of pity for him. If you listen to him talk, you can hear and see that he is still living in that time and he’s trying his best to cope with things, but that there’s still such an incredible amount of anger and hurt there that he hasn’t been able to come to terms with, or even access properly.

Because for him there really were supernatural phenomenon in that house. There were demons that made his life and his family’s life a hell. But what actually happened was that his parents were abusive. An abuse that started before Amityville, btw. And then they deluded themselves into not being responsible for that abuse, because demons made them do it.

Because they managed to frame it within that haunting storyline and people went along with it, it’s impossible for Daniel to talk about the abuse that happened. Instead he has to talk about the demons. And that makes me incredibly angry, too. Because there were so many adults around who were supposed to help. Instead they fed into that framing. They reinforced it and that way they let the abuse continue and they took away his chance to heal. Because now he has to fight the battle to be believed at all, which makes him believe even harder.

If you believe that all this bullshit belief in the supernatural is not hurtful, you should watch this film. Because here you have one clear victim of that belief – and he’s been struggling with the consequences basically his entire life [so it’s only fair now that his religious faith gives him a bit of respite at least], fighting tooth and nail to make people belief what he thinks to have experienced at the time because no other interpretation is valid anymore for him.

Summarizing: Yes, watch it. Even if you’re not interested in horror.