Amityville: The Horror, The Hoax?, The Franchise

[Chew Toy McCoy]

A thread for all things Amityville. Myself a big fan, hoax, not, or somewhere in between.

But first I'll start with this. According to Just Watch there are 38 Amityville horror movies/documentaries, or they at least have that in the name, but most of them look like they are related to the original story. Out of all those, this has the highest IMDB rating.

WTF? Even higher than the original (which is good but no masterpiece)? Titled Amityville Cop? Came out in 2021? This has to be the biggest mystery sourrouding the whole franchise.

 

[Edd]

I didn’t know about all of those extra films. I was aware of maybe 6. I read the book when I was a teenager. It was scary.

I find most of life’s problems can be solved with karate; it’s ridiculous nobody has tried this with the Amityville haunting. Use your brain (rolls eyes, taps temple).

 

[DT]

I see Amityville Banana is set for release in 2022 ...

 

[Huntn]

I don’t remember liking this story, not sure if I read the book either. Was this supposed to be based on a true story? And how many liberties were taken with the book and original movie. I asked my wife, she says a lot,

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

I don’t remember liking this story, not sure if I read the book either. Was this supposed to be based on a true story? And how many liberties were taken with the book and original movie. I asked my wife, she says a lot,

it started with a guy shooting the other 6 members of his family in the house while they were asleep in their beds. Interesting to note that nobody heard the shots from the high powered rifle and it appears none of the victims were awakened by the shots either as they were all discovered face down in their own beds. That part is true.

But what started things off with national attention is when another family moved into the house about a year later and they completely abandoned it after less than a month claiming it was completely uninhabitable from the haunting. One interesting fact of note was they kept all the furniture from the family that was killed there including the beds they were killed in. If you believe in these type hauntings that probably wasn’t a good call but sans the hauntings that’s just poor taste.

 

[Huntn]

it started with a guy shooting the other 6 members of his family in the house while they were asleep in their beds. Interesting to note that nobody heard the shots from the high powered rifle and it appears none of the victims were awakened by the shots either as they were all discovered face down in their own beds. That part is true.

But what started things off with national attention is when another family moved into the house about a year later and they completely abandoned it after less than a month claiming it was completely uninhabitable from the haunting. One interesting fact of note was they kept all the furniture from the family that was killed there including the beds they were killed in. If you believe in these type hauntings that probably wasn’t a good call but sans the hauntings that’s just poor taste.

Kept the murdered family’s furniture, I’m not sure I’d do that. Now as far as the house being haunted, I’d find this to be very interesting. Was the book reasonable? As I recall the movie was kind of over the top, as blood oozing from the walls?

 

[Edd]

As I recall the movie was kind of over the top, as blood oozing from the walls?

Is that weird?

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

Kept the murdered family’s furniture, I’m not sure I’d do that. Now as far as the house being haunted, I’d find this to be very interesting. Was the book reasonable? As I recall the movie was kind of over the top, as blood oozing from the walls?

As horror movies go I found it kind of meh, even for the time period. The Exorcist came out a few years earlier and that was way more extreme. Beyond that there is all kinds of debate on if it was completely made up or largely exaggerated. I believe there is a confession from the parents in the family that it was at least exaggerated for profit at the guidance of their lawyer at the time, but there is also a documentary that came out some years back featuring one of the kids, now an adult, saying things did happen.

Regardless, it is interesting that it still persists to be explored and to this day the house is still frequently visited by paranormal enthusiasts. Later owners have even changed the street address and replaced the telltale quarter circle eye windows with square windows but people still find the house.

There's also a new generation interested who saw the 2005 movie remake and didn't know at the time it was a remake and that there was a long documented history on the house. There are all kinds of "based on a true story" movies that you can't find anything beyond that text being put on the screen or what takes place in the movie is very far removed from what it was supposedly based on. That isn't the case here.

 

[rdrr]

Didn't some of the family behind the book claim it was all made up? I thought that happened in the late 90s early 2000s

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

Didn't some of the family behind the book claim it was all made up? I thought that happened in the late 90s early 2000s

I don't know about "all" but some and/or exaggerated. But also as I mentioned above there was a fairly recent documentary where the son of the family says some things did happen.

 

[Thomas Veil]

Didn't some of the family behind the book claim it was all made up? I thought that happened in the late 90s early 2000s

I read the same thing, admittedly a long time ago. Something about how the author, Jay Anson, and a family member got drunk at a party and said, "Wouldn't be great if we made up something about the place being haunted?", and the rest is history.

Personally, when I read that, that was it for me. I never took the story as anything more than fiction since then. Doesn't mean the original movie wasn't fun.

It's not quite as easy to pull off that trick today. There were a few people who thought the Blair Witch really existed, but they wised up real fast.

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

I read the same thing, admittedly a long time ago. Something about how the author, Jay Anson, and a family member got drunk at a party and said, "Wouldn't be great if we made up something about the place being haunted?", and the rest is history.

That’s roughly the story I heard also, except I believe they said it was haunted from the get go and drunken meeting was more “Let’s exaggerate and make some things up for potential profit”. Then of course the Warrens (inspiration for The Conjuring universe) got involved and they claimed the house was haunted by demonic forces along with other paranormal researchers. I know many think they are hoaxsters too, but that’s fine. I think it’s interesting whether it’s all true or just in how much it captivated the public so much and for so long.

Recently rewatched the 3rd movie, the creatively named Amityville 3D. In it’s defense that was pretty much the law back then. You making a 3rd in a series sequel? Then you’re making it in 3D and noting that in the title, fucker. It wasn’t too abusive with the 3D other than the comical opening credits coming at you in really poorly drawn stone faced text. Also there were a couple hilarious scenes with plastic flies dangling from a fishing line (sorry to ruin the magic).

I didn’t remember this, but Meg Ryan and Lori Louglin are in it, probably the most recognizable stars, but back then they didn’t even get a solo mention in the cast. Their names come later grouped in with 2 other actors.

For me the suspension of disbelief didn’t get broken by the haunting aspect. It was that 3 people died in the movie and it had pretty much zero impact on the protagonist. This includes his daughter drowning in the lake behind the house and his first concern is convincing the disbelieving mother that she is in fact dead. He does this with little emotion. Next scene he’s asleep on the couch like a baby and wakes up like he doesn’t have a concern in the world. One of the other deaths was his work partner who got cooked to a crisp in a car fire. He pretty much blew that one off too.

Also there was a C.H.U.D in the passage to Hell hole in the basement for some reason. Other than those things the movie was completely stupid.