Ghosts in Amityville: The Haunted House

by Jack Demolay

A delightfully creepy account of one of the most famous ghost stories in America! Experience the story as the family that bought the house did - a year after murders took place in it.

24 pages, Library Binding

First published July 1, 2006

Reviews

[Manybooks · Rating 1 out of 5]

So yes indeed, and to be perfectly as well as rather brutally honest, the 2006 junior graphic novel Ghosts in Amityville: The Haunted House (and author/illustrator Jack Demolay's text and cartoon images) leave pretty much everything to be desired (at least personally speaking), and therefore also rates only as a one star reading and visual experience for me. For yes and definitely, pretty much everything both verbally and illustratively encountered in Ghosts in Amityville: The Haunted House by both my inner child and also by my older adult reading self feels at best rather draggingly uninteresting (read inadequate) and is at worst ridiculously teeming with hugely problematic errors, with (well, at least in my opinion) major mistakes that just utterly and totally make both of us hugely cringe and that we (inner child and myself as an adult reader) therefore jointly agree with labelling Ghosts in Amityville: The Haunted House with a huge and all encompassing no, no, no designation (and for a number of specific and big-time reasons, three of which I will be explaining below, although in my opinion, there are actually considerably more than three rationales as to why Ghosts in Amityville: The Haunted House is pretty much and in my opinion rather a joke).

For one (and first and foremost), the majority of scholars, paranormal investigators (and indeed not just so-called experts either) currently tend to pretty firmly believe that there in fact never was a haunted and cursed house in Amityville, Long Island, New York State and that the whole thing was actually a deliberate and extensive hoax perpetrated by the house's new owners, by the Lutz family (for attention and likely also for making money), that aside from George Lutz, his wife and their children claiming that their newly purchased domicile was haunted and cursed (because of Ronald DeFeo Jr. shooting and killing six members of his family in the house in 1974), there has NEVER been any unexplained and strange "haunted house" like activities either before the Lutz' purchased their house or after they left. Thus (and in my not all that humble opinion), it really is hugely textually infuriating how Jack Demolay's text for Ghosts in Amityville: The Haunted House seems pretty much in total agreement with the Lutz' false claims of demonic possession, of threatening paranormal occurrences, of voices yelling at the family and of malevolent staring eyes targeting them in Amityville, that Ghosts in Amityville: The Haunted House (and that even the questions being asked by Demolay the end of Ghosts in Amityville: The Haunted House seem to want to convince readers that there were and are legitimate ghosts in Amityville and that there was not some major, some elaborate hoax albeit the actual evidence certainly points and demonstrates otherwise). For two, how Jack Demolay textually presents the story of the Amityville horror in Ghosts in Amityville: The Haunted House is pretty stiffly penned and massively lamely on the proverbial surface. I mean, the story itself should of course incorporate the fact that none of what supposedly happened to the Lutz family is likely true anyhow, was probably all deliberately fabricated (see above), but even as a work of absolute and total fiction, sorry, but both with regard to contents and writing style, Demolay's words for Ghosts in Amityville: The Haunted House just drag on and on, are tedious and also kind of cringe-worthy and frustrating to the extreme (with the glib authorial support of the Lutz hoax absolutely grating).

And finally, and for three, although the comic book artwork Jack Demolay uses to accompany his story for Ghosts in Amityville: The Haunted House is nicely colourful, there is to and for my eyes no depicted emotion, there is little visual expression and equally only very minimal creepiness as well (with the eyes staring in the windows possibly a bit uncanny but also kind of making me groan derisively), and yes indeed, that the combination of Demolay's words and his illustrations for Ghosts in Amityville: The Haunted House does not work for me at all and also makes me (both my inner child and me as an adult reader) rather majorly and hugely annoyed at and frustrated with Ghosts in Amityville: The Haunted House (and as such also book I would nog consider recommending).

[Arianna · Rating 5 out of 5]

sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo scary.

[Riley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this book it wasn't like really scary but it was a little creepy. It's a really short book about a couple with three kids and things started going wrong right after they moved in for example they saw shadows, more than 1,000s of bugs were in a room and more. This book reminded me of a movie called Paranormal Activity. But not as scary. People that like creepy books would like this book.

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

For a book that pretty straightforwardly relates the facts (or allegations) of this controversial haunted house, it's pretty scary given its intended audience. Not necessarily inappropriate (it depends on the child) but definitely chilling. The art itself isn't great but supports the text well.

[Julia Jasztal · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked the pictures in this book. The eyes showing up in the windows was cool.