Parents' Guide to The Amityville Horror

In 1974, a family of six were murdered in their beds for seemingly no reason in a large rural home, setting off the chain of events in THE AMITYVILLE HORROR. Some years later, George (James Brolin) and Kathy (Margot Kidder) Lutz move into this home with three children from Kathy's prior marriage. When Father Delaney (Rod Steiger) arrives to bless the house, he enters on his own volition while the Lutzes play in the backyard. As he explores the home, he's driven away by demonic voices, doors shutting on their own, and a plague of flies. Upon returning to the rectory, he attempts to call the Lutzes, but the call cuts off into static and the phone is too painful to hold as he is overcome with blisters on his hands and violent pains in his stomach. Similar bad experiences and forebodings overcome Kathy's aunt, a nun, and the wife of the co-owner of George's business. Meanwhile, George grows increasingly sullen -- feeling cold all the time, he takes to obsessively chopping wood and sharpening his ax. The youngest girl, Amy, begins to spend time with a sinister imaginary friend named Jody. Strange and unpleasant events continue to occur. As they begin to look into the house's dark history, the family dog makes a discovery in the basement as he sniffs and tries to dig in a certain spot. Upon knocking the basement wall down with a sledgehammer, George and Kathy discover that their home contains a passage that is a gateway to hell. As the terror increases, the Lutzes must find a way to escape their home before becoming its latest in a long line of victims.