Customer Reviews

Amityville : The Final Chapter

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Yet another journey into the horror infested lives of George and Kathy Lutz and family in the infamous Amityville house. Chilling, intense action, which never seems to let up

Could have been written better but, it was okay. I think the first book beats the others, though. The second book and now this one seem to draw the story out then is really neccessary.

John G. Jones' second Amityville book is a marked improvement over his first, the silly and way over the top The Amityville Horror II. This time out Jones tells of how the Lutz's and those close to them (including himself) came under supernatural attack during the release and publicity tour for the film version of Jay Anson's book. Whether such outlandish tales are actually true or not I will leave up to the beliefs of individual readers, but I think the reason Jones opts for a novel style narrative to capture the feeling of the attacks is because the supporting characters are as fictional as the events that befall them. It would be nice to have some corroborative evidence of these events taking place (photos, medical or repair bills and/or invoices, interviews with doctors, etc), but none is offered. There is also very little actual story or character information between attacks, so the 'story' itself is overly fragmented at best. But some scenes were entertaining, such as Dr. Quentin Cosmos arrival at the Lutz home (a scene that has a passing resemblance to Julian Beck's arrival at the Freeling home in Poltergeist II: The Other Side, which was made a year or two after this book was released) and a babysitter's run in with some men (and a woman) in black. The title is also a bit of a fib. Jones followed this 'Final Chapter' with two more books - 'The Horror Returns' and 'The Evil Escapes'. Taken as entertainment, Amityville: The Final Chapter is passable stuff (in other words, you can give it a pass, other books are far scarier), but as a work of non-fiction reporting it truly fails, for it is sorely lacking in credibility. While the Lutz's may believe themselves, they offer nothing to help me believe them.