Ryan Reynolds

For Ryan Reynolds, The Amityville Horror is not just an image makeover, it is a career transformation.

Known for juvenile comedies -- the quip-slinging Reynolds played party animal Van Wilder in National Lapoon's Van Wilder -- as well as for a key role in the much despised action flick Blade: Trinity, Reynolds is required to reach deeper in the remake of The Amityville Horror.

The 28-year-old, Vancouver-born Reynolds plays the real-life character of George Lutz, the head of a hybrid family that moves into 112 Ocean Ave. in the Long Island town of Amityville. It is 13 months after Ronald (Butch) DeFeo murdered his parents and his four siblings in the house with a shotgun, claiming that the house itself made him do it.

In a Los Angeles interview, Reynolds says he ignored the horror aspects of The Amityville Horror and concentrated on delivering George, who moves from a sunny disposition to the verge of psycho, a man willing to go to the dark side.

"I let Andrew Douglas (the English director) shoot the horror movie and I shot the drama with George Lutz," Reynolds says. "We went into it with that agreement."

His first scene -- one that made him want to throw up because of the butterflies in his stomach -- was a wood-chopping sequence in which George makes one of his step-sons hold the chunk while he slams the axe in.

"It was strange to me," Reynolds says of the scene, which differs from the original movie. "I had never worked with rage before on a film. This guy is so rageful. I never played the horror aspect. I played the psychological aspect, because I can't tell you what it's like to be possessed. So I had to find something concrete and tangible that I could play."

Whether he fully succeeds or not is a matter of opinion. What is true is that Reynolds combines his acting with sex appeal. When he is seen shirtless in The Amityville Horror, many women squeal. They react to the buff body he developed for Blade: Trinity, which was shot just before this one.

"It's contractual," Reynolds says, tongue-in-cheek, of doffing his shirt. "My next movie, it's just pants and black socks. I don't know why. It's a nice visual."

Reynolds, who is engaged to his girlfriend of three years, Canadian singer-songwriter Alanis Morissette, gets what is going on here. "I mean, it's good, if it sells tickets. It's funny. You shoot one day with your shirt off during the movie and it seems like it's 30 minutes worth."

Is it embarrassing for the lanky 6-foot-2 Reynolds to be hyped as a sex symbol? "Sure, some of it is. Some of it is a little cringe-worthy. But, you know, I recognize certain elements of it that I choose not to speak of, necessarily, and sometimes you have to add that element."

Asked if that way of describing sex appeal is part of being "a humble Canadian," Reynolds laughs ruefully. "It's actually passive-aggressive," he says. "That's what Canadians are."

Reynolds no longer carries the muscular weight he developed for Blade: Trinity and pumped up even more for The Amityville Horror. He says Morissette could care less.

"I know that's probably naive of me to say, but she really doesn't care either way. Neither of us tries to project too much of that crap on each other."

While Reynolds and Morissette have been engaged since 2004, there is no date yet set for the marriage, Reynolds says. "That's our plan," he says of marrying. "But we don't know when. It's just such a difficult thing to decide in terms of schedules and that sort of thing."

He does confirm one thing. Unlike many other celebrity couples right now, there is no baby on the way. "No," Reynolds says laughing, "there's nothing to report there."

But he is wary of disclosing too much of their life together. "I think, on some level, you have to court it a little bit to create a Bennifer, or whatever." Low key is better.

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