jocal321 I just saw this documentary and it should have been named " Danny, Portrait of a Schizophrenic." Its obvious he came from a family that has mental illness. This disturbed man grew up in a sick family full of delusions and hallucinations which created all the "paranormal demonic activity." His reality was the sick parents' delusions and hallucinations. Add to that, the intense media coverage, movies, talk shows, church involvement, books,etc which further added false "proof" that all this happened to an already young vulnerable unwell mind. Unfortunately as the kids mental illness progressed, he lost all track of all reality,he became the kid's character in the infamous movie. What you see in this film is a broken mentally ill man, nothing more.

The_Dead_See As most of the other reviews have already mentioned, this is not a movie about the events that purportedly happened in the Amityville house in 1975. Instead it's a truly engaging portrait of Daniel Lutz - the 10 year old boy at the center of the events, and it's more about his (potentially abusive) relationship with his stepfather and the media scrutiny that invaded and shaped his life thereafter. While the documentary is competently made, it's Daniel Lutz himself who is the engine behind how powerful it is. He's a character full of nervous twitches and aggressive, eloquent storytelling. He's clearly got psychological problems and he wears most of them on his sleeve, but you also get a strong sense that this poor guy has a wall of defense mechanisms built up so high that he'll probably never escape it. He jumps in a single beat from being angry and intimidating to being open and borderline in tears. It would take a mean-hearted viewer indeed not to feel some sense of sympathy for him in spite of his abrasiveness.Director Eric Walter wisely leaves the documentary very open to interpretation. There's no narrative to guide the viewer to a moral conclusion. There's no musical soundtrack to subconsciously push emotional responses. This is just Daniel Lutz, sat in front of a camera and pressed to open up. The theme by the end seems to be an invitation to the viewer to make up their own mind about what happened in that house but with more complex possibilities to choose from than the usual "was it a real haunting or not?" angle. Was it child abuse? Was it fanatical parents leading suggestive children? Was it a structured hoax that inadvertently led to the crumbling of this poor child's life and psyche? Did something paranormal happen but get embellished in a ten year old's mind? All in all, a very compelling and thought-provoking biographical documentary. Well worth watching.

Michael_Elliott My Amityville Horror (2012) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Daniel Lutz was the stepson of George Lutz who most will remember as the father who claimed that his home in Amityville was haunted, which led to a bestselling book as well as a hit film, which followed with countless sequels. This is without question the most famous haunted house in history but more recently most people believe it was all just a hoax. Speaking for the first time, Daniel certainly doesn't believe it was a hoax as he explains what exactly happened inside the house as well as the various other forms of abuse that he suffered through the hands of George. Those expecting this to prove the Amityville case will probably be disappointed. While it's true that the case is discussed in great detail, I think the real focus of the film is on the mental state of Daniel and the obvious abuse he got from his stepfather. Look, no one except for the Lutz's will ever know what really happened in that house but after seeing this film I think I'm pushed further into believing that nothing did. It's clear that Daniel is suffering from some very strong mental problems, which are either true or perhaps everything here was just a performance. Again, only he will know for certain. Hearing the various stories of abuse he took from his stepfather and hearing how he felt his mother left him is something that could haunt a person just as much as a ghost inside the house. There are times when his stories are quite chilling but how much you believe them is going to have a lot of impact. It's worth noting that a title card at the end says the other two children were originally going to take part in the documentary but backed out. Also interviewed are many of the original journalists who covered the case as well as Lorraine Warren who of course is red hot now thanks to THE CONJURING.

tennisplaya3283 The documentary itself addressed some good points about the Lutz family. Is it possible they were experiencing financial trouble? Was George Lutz into sadistic occults? Danny Lutz was the main focus of the documentary, which was the mistake of the producers. The emotions seemed WAY too exaggerated and forced, which made me skeptical of his words. It wouldn't have been as bad if they would have taken bits and pieces of what he said to paint a picture of what happened, but don't let him keep talking in front of a camera. Towards the end, a producer/camera man asked if we was willing to take a lie detector test. Danny Lutz became very abrasive and defensive. It was to the point that the producer was defending himself over the question he asked, but it was mainly that Danny Lutz was avoiding an answer to the question. Simple as that.If the film's purpose was to make me even more of a skeptic, it worked.