This was a book I read way back in the 70s. I can honestly say it scared the pants off of me then. Then when the original movie came out, I dragged my mother to see it who had always told me about them going to see scary movies when they were young and having to walk home in the dark. The movie crept me out; however, my mother found it only mildly disgusting. After all she grew up with the original The Fly!
Anyway, this is one great example of a sub-genre of horror: the Haunted House movie. We all know the plot of the “True” story. Family gets a great deal on a great house, moves in with the kiddies, and soon strange and threatening things begin to happen involving flies and disembodied voices. This was all supposedly due to the DeFeo family murders there. All the creepy elements of the sub-genre are there: The family dog sensing some danger unseen; one of the kids having an imaginary friend (Jodie with his pig face and red eyes!); cold spots in the house; visions of demon faces appearing in the soot of the fireplace; flies in Winter; Priests come to bless the house told to “Get Out!”; etc. etc. it’s all there.
Anyway, this is one great example of a sub-genre of horror: the Haunted House movie. We all know the plot of the “True” story. Family gets a great deal on a great house, moves in with the kiddies, and soon strange and threatening things begin to happen involving flies and disembodied voices. This was all supposedly due to the DeFeo family murders there. All the creepy elements of the sub-genre are there: The family dog sensing some danger unseen; one of the kids having an imaginary friend (Jodie with his pig face and red eyes!); cold spots in the house; visions of demon faces appearing in the soot of the fireplace; flies in Winter; Priests come to bless the house told to “Get Out!”; etc. etc. it’s all there.
As for the validity of the claims, I recently read an article online about how one of the now grown children said though unexplainable things happened, that the whole thing was essentially a hoax created by the step-father to make some money off the book rights. He accused the stepdad, George Lutz of making a lot of stuff up. But then he turns around and says he will tell the real story if you pay some money to listen to it on a recorded message. What a joke.
Whatever the case may be, it’s a good, creepy haunted house tale and for that I love it. I chose the 2005 version because…well….frankly…five words…Ryan Reynolds with an axe! Enjoy!
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