Back in 1974, six members of the DeFeo family were shot to death in a house on Long Island. The next owners, the Lutz family, lived there for less than a month and then helped write a book, The Amityville Horror, claiming the house was haunted and that strange events drove them out. Much of their account has been disputed over the years — some claim it was all just a plan to get out of mortgage payments — but it has spawned a small industry of films, books, spin-offs and (mostly unwanted) ghoulish tourism.

This latest film version strays pretty far from the original events, in spite of claims onscreen that it is a true story. Even the most basic elements don't coincide with established facts. The main ghost in the film is a spooky little girl named Jodie, but none of the DeFeo kids had that name. For the film, the front of the distinctive and somewhat creepy house was rebuilt on a lake in Wisconsin, a setting that doesn't really capture the flavor of the Long Island shore.

Some real newspaper headlines and a recording of the police emergency call that reported the murders are used to set up the aura of an authentic story. But the film quickly becomes a fairly derivative horror epic, with snippets of movie moments that most fans will easily recognize. The Shining is borrowed from fairly heavily. New homeowner George Lutz (played by Ryan Reynolds) starts to be possessed by the house and runs around with an ax. The youngest Lutz child encounters a ghost that wants a new playmate — forever. The Exorcist comes in when a priest played by a dour Philip Baker Hall tries to bless the house and faces demons. There's a dab or two of Poltergeist, with the lot turning out to be cursed Native American land. Even Halloween gets a quick nod, with a babysitter being terrorized. For good measure, there's some of The Omen sprinkled on top, too.

Some of the tricks still deliver chills. When the ghost of Jodie, played by Isabel Conner, sticks a finger deep into the bullet hole in her forehead, it's truly creepy. Jodie appears suddenly on ceilings and other places, always inducing a fright, even if the effects are clearly computer-generated. People with a fear of heights will cringe at the scenes with one of the kids following the ghost's instructions to the walk to the edge of the roof. Michael Bay, whose name will live in infamy because of Pearl Harbor, was the producer of both this and the remake of Texas Chainsaw Massacre. He knows how to deliver cheap, derivative thrills.

As the main villain, Reynolds is a bit miscast. Most of his previous roles, like Van Wilder and The In-Laws, have been comedies. Even in Blade: Trinity he did a fair bit of wisecracking. Here he plays the hopeful suburban father and then the crazed maniac both fairly straight, unable to manage the same level of terror that Jack Nicholson commanded when he chased his family with an ax. Reynolds comes off as too much of a wimp. Just like Arnold Schwarzenegger, he needs that touch of bad humor to round out his characters.

According to Court TV's Web site, the real George Lutz is suing the filmmakers over his depiction in the film as a homicidal maniac. In the book, he was nonviolent.