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PostPosted: Thu May 11, 2006 8:35 am 
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George Lutz, 59, Who Found Horror in Amityville, Dies

LAS VEGAS, May 10 (AP) — George Lee Lutz, whose brief stay in a home in Amityville, N.Y., spawned one of the most famous haunted house stories, the basis for the "Amityville Horror" novel and movies, died here on Monday. He was 59.

The cause was heart disease, according to the Clark County coroner.

The family's tales of eerie feelings and the waking dead became the source for Jay Anson's 1977 book, "The Amityville Horror," a 1979 film of the same title and a 2005 remake of the movie.

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PostPosted: Fri May 12, 2006 7:14 pm 
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So in the span of a few months, the originator of AMITYVILLE and the director of AMITYVILLE both die. Does this mean it's time for a full on AMITYVILLE retrospective at the Horror Marathon? Did I just say that? I don't know if I can survive Rod Steiger's master class in ham acting a second time. Tim, I'll allow you to take the podium now.


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PostPosted: Sat May 13, 2006 1:05 am 
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Hate to be nitpicky, but Richard Fleischer directed Amityville 3-D, not the original Amityville Horror. The director of the original, Stuart Rosenberg, is still alive (as far as I know).


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PostPosted: Sat May 13, 2006 7:33 am 
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I think Amityville has been long absent from the marathons, The Amityville Horror and Amityville II would be great to see on the big screen, Part 3 would be fun but it's in 3-D and none of the Drexels are set up to project it properly due to lack of a silver screen.

I would have to say STAY AWAY from the 2005 remake and stick to the original only.

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PostPosted: Sat May 13, 2006 10:33 am 
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WolfNC17 wrote:
Hate to be nitpicky, but Richard Fleischer directed Amityville 3-D, not the original Amityville Horror. The director of the original, Stuart Rosenberg, is still alive (as far as I know).


Hey, I just said AMITYVILLE, not WHICH AMITYVILLE. :wink:


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PostPosted: Sat May 13, 2006 3:16 pm 
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It would be so cool if you could get Margo Kidder or Mr. Streisand to come to the horror marathon to talk about making the movie and any meetings they had with the late George or Kathy Lutz.

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PostPosted: Sat May 13, 2006 3:50 pm 
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Wasn't the whole Amityville thing proved to be a hoax anyway? Supposedly Lutz made up the story so he could sell the book and movie rights (making him ahead of his time, apparently). He knew that Ronald DeFeo had killed his family in the house and made up the whole story about seeing ghosts to cash in.

This is all documented in a chapter in a book called "Based on a True Story: Fact and Fantasy in 100 Favorite Movies" by Jonathan Vankin and John Whalen. "According to skeptical author Joe Nickell, during the trial (the case was later settled out of court) the Lutzes admitted that virtually everything in The Amityville Horror was pure fiction".


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PostPosted: Sat May 13, 2006 8:04 pm 
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A supposedly haunted house turned out to be a hoax? Well, duh.

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PostPosted: Sat May 13, 2006 11:36 pm 
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Well yeah, obviously the house wasn't really haunted! Everyone with common sense knows that. But the book and movie treat the story as if it all really happened, and to this day many people think of it as "a true story". The whole thing is kind of a scam on the audience, and for anyone with the knowledge that Lutz admitted making it all up, it's pretty much impossible to take the film seriously.

Imagine if Lutz had stuck to his story until his dying day. It still wouldn't be believable, but you could always think, "what if"?


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PostPosted: Sun May 14, 2006 8:18 pm 
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WolfNC17 wrote:
Imagine if Lutz had stuck to his story until his dying day. It still wouldn't be believable, but you could always think, "what if"?


George Lutz did stick to his story until the final day, A lawyer that wanted to write the original book but was denied the rights by Mr. Lutz made it his personal quest in life to discredit the whole story mainly because he lost out on the fame and fortune that Jay Anson got when his novel was released.

No one will ever know the whole truth but I personal like to beleive something supernatural happened.....mainly because it makes the movies more fun to watch.

No mater if it was fact or fiction one thing is true, The Amityville House is the most famous house in the U.S.A

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PostPosted: Sun May 14, 2006 11:46 pm 
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Hmmm...OK, that's interesting. That same book does mention a lawyer named William Weber, who claims that he helped the Lutzes make up the story so that he could include it in his book about Ronald DeFeo. "When the Lutzes beat Weber to the punch with their own book, the disgruntled attorney filed a two-million-dollar lawsuit against them, charging them with backing out of his book deal". So I suppose it's possible that Weber lied about the whole thing.

I guess we'll never really know the whole truth. Here's how the chapter ends: "A couple of years ago author Ric Osuna asked George Lutz about the truth in the Amityville affair. Osuna writes, "George informed me that setting the record straight was not as important as making money off fictional sequels".


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