Amityville: The Awakening | |
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Directed by | Franck Khalfoun |
Written by | Franck Khalfoun |
Produced by |
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Starring | |
Cinematography | Steven Poster |
Edited by | Patrick McMahon |
Music by | Robin Coudert |
Production companies |
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Distributed by | RADiUS-TWC |
Release date |
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Running time | 87 minutes [1] |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Box office | $8.4 million [2] |
Amityville: The Awakening is a 2017 American supernatural horror film written and directed by Franck Khalfoun and starring Bella Thorne, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Cameron Monaghan, Mckenna Grace, Thomas Mann, Taylor Spreitler, Jennifer Morrison, and Kurtwood Smith. It is the tenth installment of the Amityville film series and a direct sequel/metafilm taking place in the "real world" outside of the continuity of the series which establishes The Amityville Horror (1979), the sequels from 1982 to 1996, and the 2005 remake of the original film as fiction. Its plot follows a teenager who moves into 112 Ocean Avenue with her family, who shortly find themselves haunted by a demonic entity using her brain-dead twin brother's body as a vessel.
Originally titled Amityville: The Lost Tapes, it was announced in May 2011, and was initially conceived as a found footage-style film and a separate entry in the franchise. However, the studio abandoned the film's original idea, and hired Khalfoun to write and direct a new draft in early-2012. Filmed in 2014, the film suffered numerous release delays before finally being released for free on Google Play on October 12, 2017.
Amityville: The Awakening was theatrically released by Dimension Films in a limited release on October 28, 2017. The film had grossed $8.4 million worldwide and received mixed-to-negative reviews from critics, with criticism for its generic writing, horror cliches and reliance on jump scares. It is the last film to be released by distributor, as the company shut down along with Dimension and their parent company, The Weinstein Company, on July 16, 2018, following the sexual abuse allegations against its co-founder Harvey Weinstein.
Teenager Belle Walker moves to 112 Ocean Avenue in Amityville, Long Island with her mother Joan, younger sister Juliet, brain-dead twin brother James, and dog Larry. The family's reason for moving there was to be closer to Dr. Milton, a neurologist hoping to treat James, who is on life support after an accident that left him paralyzed. Upon moving in, Juliet tells Belle that James has been talking to her lately. That night, James flatlines, but is mysteriously revived and opens his eyes.
At school, Belle is taunted by her peers over moving into the home, which she learns was the site of a mass murder by Ronald DeFeo Jr. in 1974. In her third-floor bedroom, she discovers blood stains from the murder concealed under the wallpaper. One night, Belle invites acquaintances Terrence—an enthusiast on the Amityville haunting—and Marissa over to watch The Amityville Horror (1979) at the house. At 3:15 am in the middle of the film, the power goes out and the three go into the basement to locate the fuse box, where they are confronted by Joan, who thinks they are intruders.
Dr. Milton, who suspects James may have locked-in syndrome, performs an EEG test on James that shows increased neurological function. During the test, Dr. Milton witnesses an apparition of flies filling the room and attacking him, and leaves the house, shaken. James quickly gains the ability to communicate with the family via an AAC computer system that allows him to type by looking at letters on a screen. Terrence suggests to Belle that James' sudden revival may be a result of possession stemming from the house, and they suspect that a ring on the ground surrounding the house may represent a magic circle. Belle explains her troubled past to Marissa and reveals that James sustained his injuries after falling off a three-story balcony during a fight with a boy who had leaked nude pictures of Belle online. Belle asks James if someone else is inhabiting his body, to which he replies "Yes" and "Help" via his computer. He asks her to kill him, and she shuts off his ventilation machine. Joan enters the room and finds that James is now breathing on his own.
The next day, Belle types “Outside walk” on James’ computer in order to distract her mother and find the Red Room in the basement, which she believes to be the source of James’ power. Larry the dog is found mauled to death in the lake by Juliet, and Belle confronts her mother with the theory that the house is possessing James. Joan reveals to her that after having lost her faith in God following the death of her husband and James’ subsequent accident, she moved the family to the home, hoping to harness the demonic energy there in order to bring James back to life.
That night, as Belle prepares to leave, Joan knocks her unconscious. Belle awakens at 3:15 am, just as her aunt Candice arrives at the house. James rises from his bed, and harnesses the energy from the Red Room, which revitalizes his body. Belle makes her way downstairs as Candice enters the house, but James shoots Candice with a shotgun. Belle retrieves Juliet from her room, but the house locks the doors, preventing them from escaping. Joan is confronted by James in her bedroom and knowing she is facing death, she retrieves her crucifix, and holds it toward James, but he is unaffected. He reminds her that with the loss of her faith, God is not able to save her. James shoots Joan in the chest before throwing her on her bed and shooting her in the head. He lures Juliet to the third floor, where he attempts to kill her, but is stopped by Belle, who tackles him, resulting in them both falling from the window. Belle lands on top of James which incapacitates him. She drags James outside the circle, after which his body withers back to its paralyzed form, and he dies after thanking her for freeing him from the possession.
A newsreel epilogue reveals that Belle is being questioned for the murders of her mother, aunt, and brother. However, Juliet corroborates Belle's story that James was the murderer. James' fingerprints were discovered on the murder weapon, but Dr. Milton refutes the claim due to James’ paralysis. The news report comments on yet another tragedy occurring in the Amityville house.
The film was initially conceived as a separate film entitled Amityville: The Lost Tapes. Dimension Films and Blumhouse Productions were to co-produce the film together, with a screenplay by Casey La Scala and Daniel Farrands. It was to be a found-footage film in the style of La Scala and Blumhouse's highly successful Paranormal Activity films. The plot involved "an ambitious female television news intern, on the verge of breaking the most famous haunted house case in the world, who leads a team of journalists, clergymen and paranormal researchers into an investigation of the bizarre events that will come to be known as The Amityville Horror, only to unwittingly open a door to the unreal that she may never be able to close." [3]
Franck Khalfoun was set to write and direct the film, and filming was to begin in the summer and be released by January 27, 2012. In a press release, Bob Weinstein stated, "We are thrilled to return to the mythology of the Amityville Horror with a new and terrifying vision that will satisfy our existing fans and also introduce an entirely new audience to this popular haunting phenomenon." [4] After several delays, the film was rewritten with a completely new story and screenplay by Khalfoun. In March 2014, this new iteration was retitled Amityville. [5]
That month, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Bella Thorne signed on to star. [6] [7] [8] In April, Thomas Mann, Taylor Spreitler and Cameron Monaghan signed on to the film. [9]
Principal photography began April 1, 2014 and concluded May 9 that year in Long Beach. A full house set was built for production in El Dorado Park. [10] Further delays, including February 2016 reshoots, pushed the film's release to late 2016, and then early 2017. [11]
The film was originally scheduled for release on January 2, 2015. [12] However, in September 2014, it was removed from the schedule. [13] In May 2015, it was announced the film would be released on April 15, 2016. [14] When Filmyard Holdings sold Miramax to beIN Media Group on March 2, 2016, Miramax was no longer the production company of Amityville: The Awakening. [15] It was set to be released on April 1, 2016, [16] [17] but was delayed due to test screening responses and given the release date of January 6, 2017. [18] On December 16, 2016, just weeks away from the film's January 6 release date, the film was again pushed back, this time to June 30, 2017; it was eventually removed from there as well. [19] In September 2017, it was announced that it would be released in select theaters in the US on October 28, 2017, and for free on Google Play from October 12 to November 8, 2017. [20]
The film was released on DVD, Blu-ray and Digital HD on November 14, 2017. [21]
Despite the US delays, the film began its theatrical run in Ukraine and Central America on July 20, 2017, where the film grossed $580,466 from 830 screens. The film was released in the Philippines on August 2, 2017. [22]
The film opened in the US on a limited release on October 28, 2017. Playing in 10 theaters the film made just $742 in its opening weekend (an average of $74 per venue), finishing 60th at the box office. [23]
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 29% based on 21 reviews, and an average rating of 3.90/10. [24] On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating to reviews, the film has a weighted average score of 42 out of 100, based on 4 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". [25]
Witney Siebold of IGN gave the film a score of 5.5/10, writing that the film, "while largely a generic haunting film without much in the way of a hook beyond its famous setting, can at least claim to be one of the more watchable Amityville films, for whatever that praise may be worth," and deemed it "perhaps the best Amityville film since 1983." [26] Dread Central gave the film two and a half stars out of five saying "At the end of the day, this isn't such a bad flick, but viewers looking for an insane new Amityville experience will just have to keep chasing that dragon." [27] Slant Magazine gave the film two out of four stars and called it "an elegant entry in a lame series of horror films." [28]
The film was released on Blu-ray, DVD, and on demand on November 14, 2017, but was not released in the U.K. [29]
An eleventh film called Amityville: Where the Echo Lives will release on October 29, 2024 from Lionsgate. [30]
The Amityville Horror is a book by American author Jay Anson, published in September 1977. It is also the basis of a series of films released from 1979 onward. The book is based on the claims of paranormal experiences by the Lutz family, but has led to controversy and lawsuits over its truthfulness.
The Amityville Horror is a 2005 American supernatural horror film directed by Andrew Douglas, and starring Ryan Reynolds, Melissa George, and Philip Baker Hall. It also featured the debut of actress Chloë Grace Moretz. Written by Scott Kosar, it is based on the novel The Amityville Horror by Jay Anson, which was previously adapted into the 1979 film of the same name, while also serving as the ninth film in the Amityville Horror film series, and was also served as inspiration for The Conjuring 2, which documents the experiences of the Lutz family after they move into a house at 112 Ocean Avenue, Long Island. In 1974, real-life mass murderer Ronald DeFeo Jr. killed six members of his family at the same house in Amityville, New York.
Amityville II: The Possession is a 1982 supernatural horror film directed by Damiano Damiani and starring James Olson, Burt Young, Rutanya Alda, Jack Magner, and Diane Franklin. It’s an international co-production between Mexico and the United States. The screenplay by Tommy Lee Wallace is based on the novel Murder in Amityville by the parapsychologist Hans Holzer. It is the second film in the Amityville Horror film series and a loose prequel to The Amityville Horror (1979), set at 112 Ocean Avenue and featuring the fictional Montelli family, loosely based on the DeFeo family. It follows the Montelli family's decline under apparent demonic forces present in their home.
Edward Warren Miney and Lorraine Rita Warren were American paranormal investigators and authors associated with prominent cases of alleged hauntings. Edward was a self-taught and self-professed demonologist, author, and lecturer. Lorraine professed to be clairvoyant and a light trance medium who worked closely with her husband.
The Amityville Horror is a 1979 American supernatural horror film directed by Stuart Rosenberg, and starring James Brolin, Margot Kidder, and Rod Steiger. The film follows a young couple who purchase a home haunted by combative supernatural forces. It is based on Jay Anson's 1977 book of the same name, which documented the alleged paranormal experiences of the Lutz family who briefly resided in the Amityville, New York home where Ronald DeFeo Jr. committed the mass murder of his family in 1974. It is the first entry in the long-running Amityville Horror film series, and was remade in 2005.
The Amityville haunting is a modern folk story based on the true crimes of Ronald DeFeo Jr. On November 13, 1974, DeFeo shot and killed six members of his family at 112 Ocean Avenue, Amityville, on the south shore of Long Island. He was convicted of second-degree murder in November 1975. In December 1975, George and Kathy Lutz and their three children moved into the house. After 28 days, the Lutzes left the house, claiming to have been terrorized by paranormal phenomena while living there. The house became the subject of numerous investigations by paranormal researchers, journalists, and skeptics, including Ed and Lorraine Warren. These events served as the historical basis for Jay Anson's 1977 novel The Amityville Horror, which was followed by a number of sequels and was adapted into a film of the same name in 1979. Since then, many films have been produced that draw explicitly, to a greater or lesser extent, from these historical and literary sources. As Amityville is a real town and the stories of DeFeo and the Lutzes are historical, there can be no proprietary relationship to the underlying story elements associated with the Amityville haunting. As a result of this, there has been no restriction on the exploitation of the story by film producers, which is the reason that most of these films share no continuity, were produced by different companies, and tell widely varying stories.
Annabella Avery Thorne is an American actress, singer, and writer. She first received recognition for her roles as Margaux Darling in the series Dirty Sexy Money (2007–2008) and as Ruthy Spivey in the drama series My Own Worst Enemy (2009), the latter of which earned her a Young Artist Award.
India Joy Eisley is an American actress. On television, she is known for her roles as Ashley Juergens in the ABC Family series The Secret Life of the American Teenager (2008–2013), Audrina in the Lifetime film My Sweet Audrina (2016), and Fauna Hodel in the TNT series I Am the Night (2019). Her films include Underworld: Awakening (2012), Kite (2014), and Social Suicide (2015).
The Amityville Curse is a prequel to The Amityville Horror written by Hans Holzer and released in 1981. Two film adaptations also titled The Amityville Curse were both released direct-to-video in 1990 and 2023, respectively.
Taylor Danielle Spreitler is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Mia McCormick in the soap opera series Days of Our Lives (2009–2010), Lennox Scanlon in the sitcom Melissa & Joey (2010–2015) and Kendra Gable in the sitcom Kevin Can Wait (2016–2018).
House of Fears is a 2007 American horror film, directed by Ryan Little. It stars Corri English, Sandra McCoy, Michael J. Pagan, Corey Sevier and Alice Greczyn. The film was released Direct-to-DVD on April 27, 2009 in the UK. The DVD release in the United States was distributed by Your Indie Films. The movie features a cameo from American actor Jared Padalecki.
Franck Ange Khalfoun is a French film director and screenwriter, known for directing P2, Wrong Turn at Tahoe, Maniac, and the Amityville franchise entry Amityville: The Awakening. His latest film was the 2019 horror film Prey. His upcoming film is the action-thriller film Entry Level.
The Conjuring is a 2013 American supernatural horror film directed by James Wan and written by Chad Hayes and Carey W. Hayes. It is the inaugural film in The Conjuring Universe franchise. Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga star as Ed and Lorraine Warren, paranormal investigators and authors associated with prominent cases of haunting. Their purportedly real-life reports inspired The Amityville Horror story and film franchise. The Warrens come to the assistance of the Perron family, who experienced increasingly disturbing events in their newly occupied farmhouse in Rhode Island in 1971.
The Blackcoat's Daughter is a 2015 supernatural psychological horror film written and directed by Osgood Perkins. The film stars Emma Roberts, Kiernan Shipka, Lucy Boynton, Lauren Holly, and James Remar.
Keep Watching is a 2017 American horror thriller film directed by Sean Carter and written by Joseph Dembner. It was produced by Nicolas Chartier, Andrew Rona, Alex Heineman, Craig J. Flores, Michael Fiore, and Joseph Dembner. It stars Bella Thorne, Ioan Gruffudd, Natalie Martinez, Chandler Riggs, Leigh Whannell, Matthew Willig and Christopher James Baker.
The Amityville Terror is a 2016 American horror film directed by Michael Angelo, and written by Amanda Barton. It was released direct-to-video, and is the sixteenth film to be inspired by Jay Anson's 1977 novel The Amityville Horror. Nicole Tompkins stars as Hailey Jacobson, the daughter of a dysfunctional family that is terrorized by both evil spirits and malicious townspeople after moving into a haunted house in Amityville, New York.
House on Willow Street is a 2016 South African supernatural horror film written by Jonathan Jordaan and Alistair Orr and directed by Orr. It stars Sharni Vinson, Steven Ward, Zino Ventura, and Gustav Gerderner as kidnappers who take a young girl, played by Carlyn Burchell. It premiered at the London FrightFest Film Festival.
Amityville Exorcism is a 2017 American horror film directed by Mark Polonia, and written by Billy D'Amato. It was released direct-to-video, and is the eighteenth film to be inspired by Jay Anson's 1977 novel The Amityville Horror. The film stars Jeff Kirkendall as Father Benna, a Catholic priest who, with the help of a troubled father played by James Carolus, performs exorcism on the man's daughter after the girl is possessed by a demon that originates from 112 Ocean Avenue, a haunted house in Amityville, New York. It was followed by two sequels, Amityville Island in 2020 and Amityville in Space in 2022.