Trivia for
The Amityville Horror (1979) More at IMDbPro »

• The outdoor scenes of the movie were not filmed in Amityville, Long Island, but rather Toms River, New Jersey. Local police and ambulance workers played extras.
  
  
• The Toms River, New Jersey volunteer Fire Company Number One was used to provide the "rain" during one of the exterior scenes. If you look closely, you can see that it is sunny and not "raining" in the background, the next street over.
  
  
• This film's theatrical success was followed by two theatrically released sequels - Amityville II: The Possession (1982) an official sequel/prequel; Amityville 3-D (1983), not an official sequel; and five direct-to-video low-budget sequels released from 1989 to 1996. Then there's The Amityville Horror (2005), based on the book written by Jay Anson.
  
  
• Jay Anson who wrote the book "The Amityville Horror" actually wrote out a screenplay for this film only for the producers to turn it down. Eventually they found Sandor Stern and liked his take on it so he was hired for the job.
  
  
• James Brolin was hesitant when he was first offered the role of George Lutz. He was told that there was no script and that he must obtain a copy of Jay Anson's novel and read it as soon as possible. Brolin started the book one evening at seven o'clock and was still reading at two o'clock in the morning. He had hung a pair of his pants up in the room earlier and at a really "tense" part in the book, the pants fell down from wherever they had been hanging. Brolin jumped out of his chair, nearly crashing his head into the ceiling. It was then that Brolin said, "There's something to this story." He agreed to do the movie.
  
  
• Even though James Brolin became friendly with George Lutz and his children, he was highly doubtful of their story.
  
  
• Finnish name for the film meant "For God's sake, get out of there!".
  
  
• James Brolin said he didn't get a job for two years after doing this movie because of the cruelty of his character.
  
  
• Due to all the unwanted fame the book and film had brought upon the real house in Amityville, the current owners have replaced the "evil eyes" windows with normal rectangle-shaped windows.
  
  
• Shot in seven weeks.
  
  
• At the time of its release the film was one of the highest grossing independent films of all time and American International Pictures' biggest hit.
  
  
• While shooting the scene where Kathy is startled by the red eyes in the window, director Stuart Rosenberg wasn't impressed by Margot Kidder's reaction. According to Kidder, Rosenberg then tried to hold up a "a day-glo orange stuffed velour pig with glass eyes" in an attempt to startle Kidder. She said the result was only hysterical laughter, not fear.
  
  
• Stars James Brolin and Margot Kidder visited the real Amityville house as part of a publicity junket.
  
  
• Contrary to popular belief, Lalo Schifrin's score for this film was not the legendary rejected score composed for The Exorcist (1973). The rejected Exorcist score has subsequently been released on CD and is completely different in every respect.
  
  
• Like James Brolin, star Margot Kidder also went on record saying she didn't believe the Amityville story either.
  
  
• In hopes of creating more publicity for the film the studio would concoct stories of "weird" occurrences on the set of the film.
  
  
• Honey was rubbed on Rod Steiger's head to draw the flies to him.
  
  
• James Brolin's brother was actually used for the image of the bearded man seen appearing from the 'red room' in the cellar. The studio wanted someone who bore a close resemblance to James Brolin and discovered he had a brother who shared a strong resemblance to the star. Brolin's brother was applied with a fake beard for the bit part.
  
  
• The film was originally planned to be a made-for-TV production for the CBS network, until executive producer Sam Arkoff bought the rights after reading Jay Anson's book in one sitting.
  
  
• In 1979, attorney William Weber (Ronald DeFeo's defense attorney) filed a lawsuit against George and Kathy Lutz, charging them with fraud and breach of contract. He alleged that they reneged on an agreement to collaborate with Weber on the book (and subsequent movie). In an interview with the Associated Press, Weber admitted that he and the Lutzes had concocted the horror story scam "...over many bottles of wine."
  
  

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