In 1975, Danny Lutz was the little boy living in the Amityville house during the infamous haunting. It’s been a book, it’s been more than one movie, “Amityville” is probably a household word. Now, after almost 36 years, Danny Lutz has decided to tell his story about growing up in the famously “haunted” house.
When George and Kathy Lutz moved their family into the new, huge, home, they were moving into a recently vacated crime scene. A mere 13 months before they moved into the house, Ronald DeFeo Jr. had been the only person in his family left living after a horrendous mass murder.
The crime scene was disturbing. Six members of the DeFeo family had been shot, lying face down in their beds. How they were killed remains a mystery. It is puzzling that none of the family members were awakened by the sounds of gun shots.
Almost immediately upon moving into the Amityville home, the Lutz family began to experience unusual events. That is the point at which a, now adult, Danny Lutz begins to tell his story.
Lutz is a gruff UPS truck driver. He’s blunt and straightforward and, seems to be, a man tormented by his past. His stories are chilling. Never having met the man, it’s difficult to judge, but he seems to be telling a story that is causing him pain to even remember. He speaks, more than once, about having trouble ridding himself of the images that telling his tale puts in his mind. There are often reluctant tears in Lutz’s eyes and he admits to many things but he will never change his story.
Danny Lutz was 9 years old when he lived through the events at the Amityville House
As the documentary progresses, Lutz speaks about his step father, George Lutz and what a horrible man he was. At one point, Danny smiles warmly when his interviewer mentions that his former parent is deceased. Friends and reporters who spent time with the family remember George as intimidating, mean and speak of the children being frightened and living in fear. There was something “off with” the man.
Even without a haunting, Danny seems to have had a horrible youth.
Watch this with an open mind and you may be surprised what conclusions you come to.
My Amityville Horror (2012)
88 min – Documentary – 22 September 2012 (USA)
For the first time in 35 years, Daniel Lutz recounts his version of the infamous Amityville haunting that terrified his family in 1975. George and Kathleen Lutz’s story went on to inspire a best-selling novel and the subsequent films have continued to fascinate audiences today. This documentary reveals the horror behind growing up as part of a world famous haunting and while Daniel’s facts may be other’s fiction, the psychological scars he carries are indisputable. Documentary filmmaker, Eric Walter, has combined years of independent research into the Amityville case along with the perspectives of past investigative reporters and eyewitnesses, giving way to the most personal testimony of the subject to date. Written by Lost Witness Pictures, LLC
Director: Eric Walter
Writer: Eric Walter
Stars: Daniel Lutz, Laura DiDio, Neme Alperstein