SHOCK DOCS - Amityville Horror House

[sherbetbizarre]

Monday, January 4 Exclusively on the All-New discovery+ Streaming Service

Shock Docs: Amityville Horror House (two-hour special)

In 1977, “The Amityville Horror” book was published and caused a sensation. The subsequent 1979 film adaptation was a surprise box office hit. It was a film that changed everything. It terrified audiences and became a film and story that people continue to return to. Today, it is the quintessential American horror story based on TRUE events. This is the story of the all-American family that moves into their dream house in the all-American town and experiences the most terrifying demonic haunting imaginable – demon possession, demon attacks, a portal to hell. It was a situation so dire, even the church couldn’t help them. Through archival footage and re-creations, the special, produced by 1895 Films, presents the harrowing true story of Robert Defeo, who murdered his entire family in the Amityville house, and the 28 terror-filled days the Lutz family lived in the house.

https://corporate.discovery.com/discove ... one-place/

[sherbetbizarre]

[Brooke Forrester]

I can’t get it to work.

[Amit Y Ville]

Works fine for me!

[Brooke Forrester]

When I click the play button it just appears it will play and the goes back to the start.

[sherbetbizarre]

Apparently this documentary is now available on Discovery+ in the UK!

[Anarane]

Yay! Thanks for the tip. Watching now...

FYI, Discovery+ is available for no extra cost for all existing Sky Q customers.

[Anarane]

Sorry for double post - left it too late to edit the post above - but my thoughts are as follows:

It's pretty good - one of the better docs I've seen, if not perfect. First six minutes were excellent, and then we hit the the-devil-made-me-do-it bit, and Ronnie's voiceover, which I could've done without (he doesn't deserve a single second of airtime). Talking heads include Eric Walters, DiDio, Jason Hawes (who seems sceptical), Tim Yancy, et al. Some good footage and pics I've not seen before from court etc., but mostly it's the same old photos and videos. There's also some footage from In Search Of... in it. Am pretty sure there's also footage from Katzenbach's High Hopes "movie" in it, too?? I've only watched the first part once, though, so I'm not 100% sure.

It's a little hyperbolic but generally handles the haunting pretty well, using the cassette recordings of George and Kathy as the basis of the tale without conflating the exaggerations/fabrications of the movie(s) and book too much. There's a lot of focus in the paranormal investigations and the seance, which was interesting. If I never hear Lorraine's "I hope this is as close to hell blah blah blah" line again, though, it'll be too soon!

It's also one of few shows I've seen that makes reference to the lie detector tests, too, and the experiences of the Lutzs after they left Amityville.

Joe - you come across really well, if sceptical!

[sherbetbizarre]

Thanks for the review! I might take advantage of the 2 week free trial...

[sherbetbizarre]

[Amityville Rock]

Thanks for the review Anarane.

[msmart112]

If I never hear Lorraine's "I hope this is as close to hell blah blah blah" line again, though, it'll be too soon!

[Amit Y Ville]

Havent got time to watch this. Could someone upload it somewhere to keep safe? Happy New Year.

[sherbetbizarre]

Havent got time to watch this. Could someone upload it somewhere to keep safe? Happy New Year.

I doubt it will be going anywhere.

[sherbetbizarre]

[sherbetbizarre]

Amityville Horror House Review: Old Ghost Story Gets an Enthusiastic Retelling

https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/amityville ... se-review/

[Wallace]

Okay, has anyone seen it, yet? I just saw it and while it was a decent documentary on the subject, it didn't really offer anything new except for pictures and home movies of the Lutzs' that I hadn't seen before. They also had an interview from the Lutzs' friend that was kind of interesting. One of the biggest disappointments that I had with the documentary was that they failed to mention Steven Kaplan. They did mention Webber and said he was the one leading the hoax charges against the Lutzs. So, how do you fail to mention somebody who was leveling hoax accusations at the very beginning? The man even wrote a book about it. Whether you agree with Kaplan or not, you have admit that he is worth mentioning. While I certainly think that it is worth watching during the free seven day trial, I would recommend anyone who is new to the subject to check out the History Channel documentaries on AH.

[msmart112]

They also had an interview from the Lutzs' friend that was kind of interesting.

Interesting indeed.

After over forty years...they managed to find someone who knew George well at the time (e.g. best man in the wedding)...and they severely limited his screen time...and instead opted to include Lorraine Warren repeating her closer to hell BS.

It was both sad and pathetic.

I understand that they wanted a very pro-haunting show...but damn...what a wasted opportunity.

I just hope that we hear more from Joe in the future.

[Wallace]

They also had an interview from the Lutzs' friend that was kind of interesting.

Interesting indeed.

After over forty years...they managed to find someone who knew George well at the time (e.g. best man in the wedding)...and they severely limited his screen time...and instead opted to include Lorraine Warren repeating her closer to hell BS.

It was both sad and pathetic.

I understand that they wanted a very pro-haunting show...but damn...what a wasted opportunity.

I just hope that we hear more from Joe in the future.

It isn't so much that the documentary leaned towards being pro-haunting, in some ways the History Channel documentaries kind of leaned in that direction. However, the HC docs showed the pro-hoax side too. In this documentary they didn't even mention Kaplan who was a nemesis to both the Lutzs' and the Warrens. Even if you think Kaplan was on the side of wrong, it seems completely dishonest not to mention him. Of course that seems to be the case there days. Sadly, I recently saw a documentary on that same streaming service about a despicable Youtuber named Onision, which actually made the Amityville documentary look much more honest in comparison. I personally think Discovery went downhill when they created the Amish Mafia. It was hard to take them seriously after that.

I am in agreement about Joe. He was the only new thing introduced in the documentary.

[believer]

For those who have seen it....what are your thoughts on Tim Yancey's segments. I'm not sure if they cut a lot of what he had to say but they made him seem like just another ghost hunter rather than one of the few people that Lee was very close to and open with. And as others have pointed out, Lee's old 'friend', Joe's segments seemed cut short.

[thebabylonguy]

I finally saw the Shock Doc: Amityville Horror House and as someone said my time was very limited and I assume the rest of the Q & A session was cut to stay with the old story lines of the "demon" house. They did use a few of my pictures of our days at Bike Week in Laconia where we stayed every year at the Half Moon Motel and Cottages on Weirs Beach. They left out us meeting Ray Buckland, another friends brother-in-law, a witch, an author on the occult/paranormal, who lived there a short time before moving on to Ohio? and a guy Lee seemed to be very interested in, though he never spoke one word to me about knowing him or knowing of him, or ever going to his museum in Bayshore, New York, as he claimed in one of his interviews. Very strange!, and I say this because we toured the Buckland House with its Gothic theme and after our goodbyes the guys gathered outside, ready to ride to Loudon, do some partying, but Lee stayed behind to talk further with Ray. We waited, had a smoke, chided him when he finally showed up and off we went. I often wish I could have sat with Lee and tell him my feelings on the subject but I traveled a lot for the company I worked for, spent a year in Chicago (1978) on a field assignment and was transferred to California, never to return. I did speak to Lee when he lived in Las Vegas, promised to get together since we were only 1-1/2 to 2 hours apart, but it never happened. The Shock Doc also omitted times with Lee, his first visit to my house in Babylon to tell my ex and I about the events unfolding at the Amity house and the last time I visited the house after they left it for good. And yes, though there has been much written and said I was and still am a skeptic, never experiencing anything Lee or Kathy spoke of during my time with Lee, our visits at the house, or any other time spent together as couples.