Parents Guide for
The Amityville Horror (1979)

A brief scene in which a woman's breasts can vaguely be seen in a reflection.

A very mild sex scene that involves groping and passionately kissing. Nothing is shown other than bare backs, and there is very little movement or sounds.

Some innuendo.

Gun violence in the start of the film with some blood (a man shoots his entire family while they're sleeping). Mild moments of violence throughout the film including a dream sequence where Kathy sees George holding an ax over a bloody Amy (implying that he killed her with it).

Very mild for an R:

-Surprisingly, no f*cks or any variations of f*ck -Sh*t is whispered but it is pretty inaudible -1 bullsh*t -3 G-damns -Several uses of hell -A few uses of damn

Smoking and minor alcohol usage can be found in the film.

The opening and closing scenes of the film may scare smaller viewers. There are several "jump" scenes throughout, though they are light by todays standards.

-Overall, the movie probably would've been given a PG-13 rating had the rating existed back in 1979. The sexuality is actually very tame for an R especially since it did not contain any strong or crude dialogue. We see Ronnie Defeo, Jr. shoot the gun, hear the noise, and get a quick shot at the victim, full of blood in a very fast motion. The most violent part was probably in one of Kathy's visions where we see Ronnie holding the gun from a distance and shoot it at someone who immediately knocks over the lamp and falls to the ground (we don't see the bullet hit them and there's no blood). This is only a mild depiction with very little graphic detail of what happened the night of November 13, 1974. The language probably would've been accepted in a PG or at the most a PG-13 film.