THE AMITYVILLE HORROR Horror Book Review

Frankly, I find myself in a difficult spot reviewing this book. If I take Anson’s words at face value, this is a carefully reconstructed, vivid recounting of a series of frightening and disturbing events at a suburban home in a small town. I can’t and don’t take it at face value, though. I don’t, out-of-hand, rule out the possibility of ghosts or other supernatural influences. But I do discount claims made by those who A) profited from them immensely and B) later freely confessed to their falsehood.


Thus, I am left to consider this as a work of fiction . . . and if read in that sense, it’s not very good. This book is largely composed of a series of inexplicable events—many frightening, some merely odd. There is no clear progression to these events. There is no explanation of why one event leads to another or what any of these manifestations are supposed to mean.


One child talks to an invisible pig named Jodie. This is supposed to be ominous, but the pig never apparently does any harm or even threaten. It just shows up sometimes looking kinda scary. The sound of a marching band parades through their living room at night . . . but no one ever says what this is supposed to indicate. Depending what song they’re playing, it could actually be fun. They’re warned by various “sensitive” people not to go into certain rooms, but those rooms have no apparent significance. The murders that made the house notorious in the first place were all through the house, not in one or two rooms.


The book ends with these frightening supernatural manifestations pursuing them when they finally flee to a family member’s house . . . but then it just stops there. Either this is a badly incomplete account, or after following them to another house in another town, these malevolent spirits got bored and went back home.


All of this could easily be explained in a true account. Events in the real world do not have the clear progression and structure of well-crafted fiction. Even years afterward, we may not understand what really happened or why. I simply don’t believe this is a true story, however, and don’t see any particular reason to believe it in the face of contradictory evidence and a confession of falsehood from one of the key players, William Weber, Defeo’s lawyer.


Thus, I must judge this as fiction, as a story created purely for entertainment, and as such, it’s terrible. I’m glad I read this because it’s so well-known, and it’s good to familiarize oneself with such a significant part of contemporary culture, but I don’t recommend it for either its truth value (slightly higher than zero) or its entertainment value (frustrating and unsatisfying).


If you want to read this, by the way, do not put more money in the pockets of fraudsters, borrow it from a library, or at most buy a used copy. I despise paying people to lie to me. And if I really wanted that, I’d hire a professional and go see a Michael Moore movie.