The Amityville Haunting | |
---|---|
Directed by | Geoff Meed |
Written by | Geoff Meed |
Story by | Geoff Meed |
Produced by | David Michael Latt |
Cinematography | Ben Demaree |
Edited by | Cody Peck |
Music by | David Raiklen |
Production companies | The Asylum Taut Productions |
Distributed by | The Asylum |
Release date |
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Running time | 86 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
The Amityville Haunting is a 2011 direct-to-video horror film released on December 13, 2011. The film is inspired by Jay Anson's 1977 book The Amityville Horror . It was produced by The Asylum and Taut Productions.
The film is written and directed by Geoff Meed and stars Tyler Shamy, Devin Clark, and Jon Kondelik, all of whom are uncredited. The tagline is "The family did not survive. But the recordings did." It claims to be based on "actual found footage that documents the horrifying experiences of a family that moved into the infamous haunted house." The film was panned by critics, and has been often cited as one of the worst horror films ever made.
In June 2008, the Benson family moves into 112 Ocean Avenue, Amityville, due to issues with their teenage daughter, Lori. Despite the disturbing history of the house where Ronald DeFeo Jr. shot and killed six family members in 1974, the Bensons agree to purchase the house. Upon their decision, they find their realtor dead in their driveway. The following day, Tyler Benson witnesses one of the movers falling down the stairs, killing him instantly. The family continues to live in the house, despite the tension growing from the unexplainable events occurring.
From doors opening to a mysterious phone appearing in the kitchen, paranormal phenomena continue to bother Tyler, while his parents refuse to believe anything is happening beyond their own explanation. Douglas Benson takes matters into his own hands when he decides to install CCTV cameras in the house. Young Melanie Benson attracts the family's attention when she starts talking to her "imaginary friend," John Matthew, which leads Douglas to wonder if Lori or Tyler told Melanie about the house's history.
As the family grows more fearful of the unexplainable deaths of a close family friend and a neighbor boy attracted to Lori, Douglas breaks down, using religious paraphernalia to rid the house of any spirits that reside within the house. After one month within the house, Lori, Virginia, Douglas, and Tyler Benson all die in various manners. Melanie Benson is the only survivor, as she says that she has plans to stay in the house forever, along with John Matthew. The autopsy reports shown at the end of the film emphasize the fact that each victim was under extreme stress at the time of their death.
The Amityville Haunting was panned by critics, and has been cited as one of the worst films made by The Asylum. A Horrornews.net writer called it "simply just a bad movie with no offering for viewers whatsoever", criticizing the over-used low-budget scare tricks and its false advertising as "Actual found footage". He also described Jason Williams' performance as Doug as "not believable for what it's trying to achieve and simply comes off as d*ck with an attitude", but said that "The military freak-out tops the icing by just making it all seem rather silly". [1] Dread Central's Foywonder scored it a one out of five, concluding his review with "A part of me almost wonders if the only reason The Amityville Haunting even exists is because someone made a bet that they could dethrone Amityville 3D for the title of worst “Amityville” movie of all time. I don’t know if they succeeded here, but they sure give it a run for its money." [2]
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.
Ronald Joseph DeFeo Jr. was an American mass murderer who was tried and convicted for the 1974 killings of his father, mother, two brothers, and two sisters in Amityville, New York. Sentenced to six counts of 25 years to life, DeFeo died in prison on March 12, 2021. The case inspired the book and film versions of The Amityville Horror.
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, 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.
Amityville 3-D is a 1983 supernatural horror film directed by Richard Fleischer and starring Tony Roberts, Tess Harper, Robert Joy, Candy Clark, Lori Loughlin and Meg Ryan. It is the third film based in the Amityville Horror series, it was written by William Wales, a pseudonym for David Ambrose. It was one of a spate of 3-D films released in the early 1980s, and was the only Orion Pictures film filmed in the format. It’s an international co-production between the United States and Mexico.
The Amityville Curse is a 1990 Canadian supernatural horror film directed by Tom Berry and starring Kim Coates, Cassandra Gava and Jan Rubeš. It is loosely based on the novel of the same name by Hans Holzer. It is the fifth film in the Amityville Horror film series.
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.
Andrew Jones was a Welsh screenwriter, producer and director of low-budget independent feature films, mainly in the horror genre.
Stephen Kaplan was an American paranormal investigator, vampirologist, and founder/director of the Vampire Research Center and the Parapsychology Institute of America, both of which were founded in Suffolk County, New York and subsequently relocated to Elmhurst, Queens. He was also an author and radio commentator, and a prominent skeptic of the alleged Amityville Horror hauntings. Kaplan lived in Suffolk County, New York and worked for the New York City Board of Education. His overview of the Amityville Horror became the basis for the film [[ The Amityville Horror Conspiracy] that chronicles his attempt to prove the story was a hoax.
Murder In Amityville is a non-fiction book written by Hans Holzer and first published in 1979 which serves as a prequel to the 1977 novel The Amityville Horror. It has since been re-released as part of a trilogy under the title Amityville: Fact or Fiction?.
High Hopes: The Amityville Murders is a book written by Gerard Sullivan and Harvey Aronson and tells the story of Ronald DeFeo, Jr. and how he murdered his family. A 2018 film was based on the book.
A Haunting in Salem is a 2011 3D horror film directed by Shane Van Dyke and starring Bill Oberst Jr., Courtney Abbiati, Jenna Stone and Nicholas Harsin.
Terror Trap, is a 2010 American horror film. It was written and directed by Dan Garcia. Filming took place in Louisiana. The film stars David James Elliott, Michael Madsen and Jeff Fahey. Movie tagline is "Once you check in, there's no escape...". The film is similar to the 2008 film, Vacancy which also features a couple being terrorized by a motel's owner and his employees while being recorded.
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.
The Amityville Asylum is a 2013 British horror film written and directed by Andrew Jones. It is the eleventh film to be inspired by Jay Anson's 1977 novel The Amityville Horror. Sophia Del Pizzo stars as Lisa Templeton, a young woman who is hired to work as a custodian at High Hopes Psychiatric Hospital, an asylum that was built on the site of a haunted house in Amityville, New York.
Brandon Slagle is an American filmmaker and former actor, known for his films The Black Dahlia Haunting and House of Manson. In 2016 news of his film "Crossbreed" went viral when the casting of Vivica A. Fox' as the President of the United States was found to be the first time an African-American Woman had been cast as the President in a feature film.
The Amityville Legacy is a 2016 American horror film written and directed by Dustin Ferguson and Mike Johnson. It was released direct-to-video, and is the fifteenth film to be inspired by Jay Anson's 1977 novel The Amityville Horror. Mark Popejoy stars as Mark Janson, a father who begins murdering members of his own family after being gifted an evil cymbal-banging monkey toy that was taken from 112 Ocean Avenue, a haunted house in Amityville, New York.
Amityville: No Escape is a 2016 American supernatural horror film written and directed by Henrique Couto, and co-written by Ira Gansler. It is the seventeenth film to be inspired by Jay Anson's 1977 novel The Amityville Horror. A found footage film, it follows two storylines, one set in 1997 and the other in 2016, that both involve 112 Ocean Avenue, a haunted house in Amityville, New York.