There are over 30 horror movies with Amityville in the name, but fans could use a guide to which ones form the franchise’s official canon. All of the cinematic property traces back to actual property, the infamous house at 112 Ocean Avenue in the town of Amityville, New York on Long Island. Fitted with top-floor windows that look like eyes, the Amityville house is one of the most well-known haunted places in history. That’s on condition that the story of what supposedly happened there is believed.
What is 100% indisputable fact is that in November 1974, at this address, a young man named Ronald “Butch” DeFeo Jr. brutally murdered his entire family with a shotgun. He later claimed that he was told to do so by sinister voices. For these crimes, he was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. What has been called into question many times over the years is the allegedly true story of the Lutz family, who moved into the DeFeo home in December 1975, only to flee shortly thereafter. The Lutz family said they left due to terrifying paranormal encounters inside.
Jay Anson’s book about Lutz’s tale was adapted in 1979 The Amityville Horror, a film considered by many to be a horror classic. It was a big hit and led to multiple sequels, most of which only had small connections to each other from a narrative standpoint. A remake of the original also came in 2005, starring Ryan Reynolds as George Lutz. Starting in 2011, the floodgates suddenly opened on what is called Amityville movies, with low-budget effort after low-budget effort pumping. Here’s why it happened with ventilation whose Amityville the movies are the canon entries that are definitely worth watching.
Why There Are Over 30 Amityville Horror Movies
There is a fairly simple reason behind the recent explosion in the number of Amityville aftermath, and given the circumstances, it’s pretty morbid. Unlike most movie properties, where a writer, director, producer or studio owns the rights to the story and its characters, the fact that The Amityville Horror was based on actual events – the DeFeo murders and the Lutz family’s sojourn story – means that these materials are in the public domain and can be used or referenced by anyone, to some extent. Amityville is also the real name of a Long Island community, and therefore, this name is also in the public domain.
Unfortunately, this public domain status has allowed dozens of Hollywood wannabes to concoct a horror movie with the word Amityville for as little time and money as possible, probably in hopes that the most legitimate fans Amityville the films merge and praise it. While there’s certainly nothing wrong with independent horror filmmakers, arguably the lifeblood of the genre itself, people who make things like Amityville vibrator, Amityville in the hoodand the next Amityville in space apparently doing it for no other reason than trying to make a quick buck. This is evidenced by their shoddy production values, poor acting, and haphazard writing. These films have no real artistic value and have contributed to Amityville name the laughingstock of horror fans.
What Movies Make Up the Official Amityville Franchise
Although there is some debate regarding whether Amityville movies are part of the “official” franchise canon, there is a general consensus that 11 titles are suitable for inclusion in this group. The first is, of course, from 1979 The Amityville Horror, signed by George and Kathy Lutz, as well as writer Jay Anson. The 1982 prequel Amityville 2: The Possession dramatizes the events leading up to the DeFeo murders, but with a change of names. It is partially based on the book Murder in Amityville by parapsychologist Hans Holzer, who investigated Lutz’s haunting, as did Ed and Lorraine Warren. The 1983 installment Amityville 3-D sees a new family move into the house and references the Lutz incident.
The 1989 TV movie Amityville: Evil Escapes sees a lamp from the house sell, only to be possessed by evil. It was based on an official sanction Amityville novel, Amityville: The Return of Horror. Then there are the 1990s The Curse of Amityvillea Canadian production based on a Amityville novel by Hans Holzer. The next three direct-to-video entries, Amityville 1992: About time, Amityville: a new generationand Amityville Dollhouse all follow from evil escapes, with a possessed clock, mirror, and 112 Ocean Avenue dollhouse featured in each. Fast forward to 2005, and MGM released the Amityville Horror remake. Then there is 2017 Amityville: Awakening, a meta sequel made by Blumhouse that says all the previous movies were actually just movies in its universe. Finally, 2018 The Amityville Murders once again recounts the DeFeo murders, this time with names intact and again taken from books like Murder in Amityville.
Which Movies Are Unofficial, Including Amityville In Space
With 35 amazing horror movies with Amityville in the title now, including a few that are slated for release in 2022, and 11 of them being the closest thing to official franchise canon, which leaves a whopping 24 movies best avoided. Even by horror fans who love bad movies, like the official Amityville titles tend to be more boring and slow than pleasantly silly. They’re not B-movie gems, even if the trailers manage to convince that they could be, as in the case of the absurd. Amityville in space. This film finally enters Amityville in the realm of horror franchises that have lazily gone into space.
Films Included So Far on the “Unofficial” List Amityville horror movies are: The Haunting of Amityville, Amityville Asylum, The Amityville Playhouse, Amityville House of Death, Amityville: Vanishing Point, The Amityville Legacy, The Amityville Terror, Amityville: No Escape, Amityville: Evil Never Dies, Amityville Exorcism, Amityville Jail, Amityville: Mount Misery Road, Amityville Island, Amityville vibrator, Amityville Witch Academy, The Amityville Harvest, The Amityville Poltergeist, The Amityville Moon, Amityville Cult, Amityville in the hood, Amityville Vampire, Amityville Scarecrow, Amityville Uprising, and Amityville in space.
As one would imagine, given their meager budgets, many of these films are found footage, as this subgenre lends itself to cheap guerrilla filmmaking tactics. In some ways, it’s only fitting that this explosion of forgettable Amityville dreck was started by The Haunting of Amityvillea production of The Asylum, the company behind famous mockbusters like Snakes on a train and Transformers.
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