This barely watchable schlock horror film is based on Jay Anson's allegedly true bestseller about the Lutz family and their Long Island dream house that's possessed by ghostly squatters. Oozing black mud in the cellar and swarms of flies in the parlour signal a few harrowing moments, as valiant James Brolin and Margot Kidder continually battle the evil spirits. Meanwhile, an overblown religious subplot unfolds starring Rod Steiger. Although bafflingly a box-office hit, director Stuart Rosenberg's tepid chiller never matches the flesh-crawling terror contained in Anson's book.

George Lutz, his wife Kathy, and their three children have just moved into a beautiful, and improbably cheap, Victorian mansion nestled in the sleepy coastal town of Amityville, Long Island. However, their dream home is concealing a horrific past and soon each member of the Lutz family is plagued with increasingly strange and violent visions and impulses.