In 2005, a remake of The Amityville Horror written by Scott Kosar and starring Ryan Reynolds and Melissa George was released. Melissa George played the character of Kathy Lutz in the remake.

Recently on Celebrity Ghost Stories, Melissa talked about her frightening experiences during the filming of the movie at various locations in Illinois and in Salem, Wisconsin.

An exact replica of the original house located in Amityville, New York was built in Salem, Wisconsin in 2004 to be used as the set for the movie. Coincidentally, Ron Defeo Sr. grew up in Salem.

From the start of the filming, when Melissa first saw the movie set of the house in Salem, she felt cold. She said she actually felt the blood drain out of her face at that moment. She felt like there was something wrong with the set.

The next day, the news was delivered to the cast and crew that Kathy Lutz had passed away suddenly that morning. She had just stopped breathing at only 57 years of age, although she did suffer from emphysema.

Melissa felt very sad that Kathy would not see the way that Melissa had portrayed her character. She walked into the set home and sat down. A short time later, she felt an icy blast of cold air, and continued to feel the icy patches following her throughout the house. She compared this to the freezing sensations that George Lutz experienced every morning upon awakening at 3:15 a.m. when he was living in the original home in Amityville.

After this time, many of the cast and crew members started to experience lights going on and off, windows and doors opening, things rolling off the table, and feelings of being pushed. The feelings of being pushed by unseen forces were documented in the production notes. Crew members would just fall down for no apparent reason.

One night after wrapping up production, security staff saw shadows moving through the house and up the stairs and lights flickering on and off. They called the sheriff, who came out to investigate but nothing was found.

This paranormal activity continued day after day during the filming. One time Melissa was in the kitchen going over script notes when she saw a shadow crossing the doorway. She walked down the hall and saw the shadow again. She felt no doubt that an evil spirit was following her. She had had enough for the day, so she left and went home to bed.

At exactly 3:15 the following morning, Melissa awakened and felt very sick. When she went in to work the next morning, and told some of the other actors, they admitted that they had also been awakening at 3:15 a.m. every morning.

At one point during the filming while sitting down in one of the rooms, Melissa felt someone’s hands on her throat strangling her. Her head felt like it was going to explode. The blood vessels in her face began to burst around her eyes, cheeks, nose, lips and chin. They were breaking all over her face. She felt possessed. She felt like she was dying. It was the scariest moment of her life and she feels that this was the work of an evil spirit. That somehow this spirit had been conjured to this set house where they were filming the remake of The Amityville Horror. She actually felt like Kathy Lutz and insists nothing about her acting in the movie was faked.

References:
www.biography.com/tv/celebrity-ghost-stories/videos
https://www.varietyportal.com/melissa-george-ghost-story/