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On November 13, 1974, at 112 Ocean Ave. in Amityville, New York, a young man named Ronald DeFeo woke up in the middle of the night, took up a shotgun, and went from room to room in his home, systematically murdering six members of his family. DeFeo was apprehended by the police. At first, DeFeo claimed the murders were mob-related, but he later confessed to committing the crimes himself. He was sentenced to 25 years to life for his crimes. DeFeo died in prison in 2021. 

DeFeo's murders became notorious with the publication of Jay Anson's nonfiction book "The Amityville Horror" in 1977. After the killings, the Lutz family moved into 112 Ocean Ave., and they claimed to experience a panoply of paranormal phenomena. Flies mobbed the building, and the entire Lutz family reported hearing eerie voices. George Lutz, the family patriarch, claimed to be possessed by a demonic presence that was driving him to kill his family.

The episode of Wtf Happened to This Horror Movie? covering The Amityville Horror (2005) was Written and Narrated by Adam Walton, Edited by Victoria Verduzco, Produced by Andrew Hatfield and John Fallon, and Executive Produced by Berge Garabedian.

This may be stating the obvious, but we love horror here at JoBlo towers, and it’s great to see that the genre is currently thriving, with not just the obligatory franchise stalwarts that rely upon jump scares doing well but also new and original movies such as Talk to Me and Ti Wests’ X follow-up Pearl. However, there’s also a trend that won’t go away, and will never go away, of course, for better or worse. Yeah, you know what we’re talking about gore-hounds, the remake. At the time of writing this episode the world is just about to bear witness to the return of a supernatural phenomenon from...

The Amityville Horror franchise has been a cornerstone of horror cinema for decades, weaving tales of terror inspired by the infamous Amityville Horror House. With numerous films in the series, it can be challenging to know where to begin. In this blog post, we’ll provide a clear and concise guide, presenting the best Amityville movies in the order they were released.

Related: 10 Best Horror Movies of All Time, Ranked by Viewers

From the original 1979 classic to the latest bone-chilling installments, we’ll lead you through the evolution of horror in this iconic cinematic universe. Get ready for a journey that delves into the deepest depths of supernatural fear and human dread.

10 ‘Amityville Exorcism’ (2017)

IMDb: 1.8/10 2.1K

Duration: 1h 17m | Genres: Horror | Director: Mark Polonia

Cast: Marie DeLorenzo, Jeff Kirkendall, James Carolus

“Amityville Exorcism,” a 2017 American horror film directed by Mark Polonia, adds a fresh layer of terror to the Amityville Horror franchise.

Twice a month Joe Lipsett will dissect a new Amityville Horror film to explore how the “franchise” has evolved in increasingly ludicrous directions. This is “The Amityville IP.”

We’ve reached the last of the studio Amityville films with writer/director Franck Khalfoun’s Amityville: The Awakening (2017). It’s taken this editorial series a while to reach this milestone because we’re going through the Amityville films chronologically, though anyone familiar with the troubled production history of the film could feasibly argue this should have been covered back among the 2014 films (when the film was originally filmed) or 2016 (when reshoots were done and the film was originally scheduled for release).

In addition to those 2016 reshoots – the results of poor audience scores – the film was derailed due to its ties to the Weinstein/#MeToo movement. It was eventually dumped onto Google Play for free in late 2017.

Putting aside the scheduling challenges,...

Suntup Editions has put up for grabs a signed limited edition of The Amityville Horror by Jay Anson, the latest offering from the prestige company that frequently revives classic horror novels with absolutely gorgeous books to die for. This one is no exception.

The edition includes an exclusive new introduction by Laura Didio, the first local reporter to cover the story, featuring her own startling and true account of what she and her crew experienced upon visiting the house after the Lutz’s fled, as well as an exclusive new afterword providing a wealth of historical context by Eric Walter, the director of the documentary, My Amityville Horror. The edition also features seven brand new illustrations by Brad Gray, and floor plans of the house at 112 Ocean Avenue adapted by Maxime Plasse.

The edition is highly limited with a very low print run, and is now available for pre-order.

A...

From Jeffrey Dahmer’s history of murder to the tragic death of Ronald DeFeo Jr., The Exorcist horror franchise has been addressed several times in practically all of these crime stories. According to some, The Exorcist responds erratically in their brains, especially those who infamously grew up to be murderers and serial killers, suggesting that the film served as inspiration for their crimes. The third episode of Amityville: An Origin Story also discusses these cursed movie franchises, like The Exorcist. Previously, issues about the veracity of George and Kathy Lutz’s story had been raised, but in this episode, we got a wide overview of both of these possibilities, whether it may all be a fraud or whether the Lutzes were indeed victims of such horrible occurrences. Let’s see what we can conclude at the end of the episode.

Spoilers Ahead

Who Was William Weber?

Carol opens episode 3 by...

On April 23rd, at 10pm Eastern and Pacific, the four-part horror documentary series Amityville: An Origin Story will be making its premiere on MGM+… and with less than a month to go before that date arrives, we’ve gotten our hands on a teaser trailer for the show. You can check it out in the embed above, but note that it’s geo-blocked, so some of you might not be able to see it. If you can’t, this one might work.

Amityville: An Origin Story tells the story behind the world’s most infamous haunted house tale: the Amityville murders. The project is the first elevated look at every aspect of this wildly layered story about the heinous murder of a family of six that became eclipsed by paranormal controversy. The 1979 blockbuster film, The Amityville Horror, inspired by the book of the same title by Jay Anson spawned an ever-expanding universe of movies,...

The short teaser trailer for MGM+’s Amityville: An Origin Story confirms the documentary series will be delving into the murders of six DeFeo family members in 1974 as well as the paranormal events that supposedly occurred in the home when the Lutz family moved in. The four-part docuseries will premiere on April 23, 2023 at 10pm Et/Pt following the season two debut of From.

MGM+’s trailer release was accompanied by new photos from the docuseries directed by Jack Riccobono (The Seventh Fire). Executive producers include Riccobono, Lesley Chilcott, Blaine Duncan, Brooklyn Hudson, Amanda Raymond, Rhett Bachner, and Brien Meagher.

The first Amityville Horror film, based on Jay Anson’s book, was released in 1979 and starred James Brolin and Margot Kidder. Amityville II: The Possession with Burt Young followed in 1982, and Amityville 3-D starring Tony Roberts and Tess Harper premiered in November 1983. A remake of the original film arrived in 2005 with...

Amityville: An Origin Story tells the story behind the world’s most infamous haunted house tale: the Amityville murders. The project is the first elevated look at every aspect of this wildly layered story about the heinous murder of a family of six that became eclipsed by paranormal controversy. The 1979 blockbuster film, The Amityville Horror, inspired by the book of the same title by Jay Anson spawned an ever-expanding universe of movies, books, supernatural theories, and horror superfans. But the mass murder behind the hauntings—and its alleged ties to organized crime—left a long trail of questions that have never been fully explored. Rooted in the dark cultural undercurrents of the 1970s, the series features firsthand accounts from witnesses, family members, and former investigators appearing on-camera for the first time. Exclusive archival footage, newly unearthed images, and stunning original photography are woven together into the most compelling and...

The MGM+ streaming service will be celebrating “Halfway to Halloween” on April 23 with “From” Season 2 as well as a new Amityville Horror series. Titled Amityville: An Origin Story, the four-part docuseries premieres at 10pm immediately following “From.”

Exclusively watch the trailer for the upcoming docuseries below.

From Director/Executive Producer Jack Riccobono, Amityville: An Origin Story tells the story behind the world’s most infamous haunted house tale: the Amityville murders. The project is the first elevated look at every aspect of this wildly layered story about the heinous murder of a family of six that became eclipsed by paranormal controversy.

The 1979 blockbuster film, The Amityville Horror, inspired by the book of the same title by Jay Anson spawned an ever-expanding universe of movies, books, supernatural theories, and horror superfans. But the mass murder behind the hauntings—and its alleged ties to organized crime—left a long trail of questions...

The MGM+ streaming service has announced today that they’ll be celebrating “Halfway to Halloween” on April 23 with “From” Season 2 as well as a new Amityville Horror special.

You can also watch the brand new trailer for “From” Season 2 below.

“From” unravels the mystery of a nightmarish town that traps all those who enter. As the unwilling residents fight to keep a sense of normalcy and search for a way out, they must also survive the threats of the surrounding forest – including the terrifying creatures that come out when the sun goes down. In season two, hidden truths about the nature and terrifying origins of the town begin to emerge, even as life for its residents is plunged into chaos by the arrival of mysterious newcomers.

The series stars Harold Perrineau (Lost) leading an ensemble cast which includes Catalina Sandino Moreno, Eion Bailey, Hannah Cheramy, Simon Webster (Strays), Ricky He...

Twice a month Joe Lipsett will dissect a new Amityville film to explore how the “franchise” has evolved in increasingly ludicrous directions.

At this point, the Amityville “universe” of films is something of a running joke in horror circles. It is borderline ridiculous that there’s so many entries (for those who are curious: 2022 has seen the release of no less than 10 new films!). As Paste editor Jacob Oller explains in his piece “Why Are There So Many Absurd Amityville Horror Movies?”, there appear to be two main reasons why there are so many movies with Amityville in the title.

After the Lutzs lost their suit against The Possession and 3-D producer Dino De Laurentiis, Amityville titles became open season so long as they didn’t skew too closely to the real-life story. As Oller explains: “The nuttier the twist, the less worried anyone has to be about getting sued.

Despite what popular perception might be, a lot of horror fans watch scary movies to get away from life’s harsh realities. So in a way, basing a horror on something that actually happened defeats the point. But the fact is it’s all in the telling. We’ve been quite strict about not including things that were just loosely inspired by a real event, with the majority of the story a fiction. So no Psycho or Texas Chain Saw Massacre (both inspired by Ed Gein) and no The Exorcist (the book was inspired by a real boy) etc.

Without further ado, here are our favourite horrors based on real events.

Dead Ringers (1988)

Arguably the last flat-out masterpiece of David Cronenberg’s exceptional mid-1970s/late-1980s run of films, Dead Ringers also marked a transitional moment for the filmmaker as he ventured beyond the visceral body horror he was...

The 1979 horror classic The Amityville Horror has been newly scanned & restored in 4K from its 35mm original camera negative by Vinegar Syndrome, we’ve learned this afternoon.

Available in a Standard Edition or Limited Slipcover Edition, The Amityville Horror is Now Available on 4K Ultra HD from Vinegar Syndrome!

“One of the most acclaimed and terrifying horror films of the 1970s, director Stuart Rosenberg‘s (Cool Hand Luke) The Amityville Horror features powerhouse performances from James Brolin (Westworld), genre film icon Margot Kidder, Rod Steiger (In the Heat of the Night), and cult star Don Stroud (Django Unchained).

“With a chilling screenplay by Sandor Stern, based on Jay Anson’s best selling novel, and an unnerving score by Lalo Schifrin (Mission: Impossible), Vinegar Syndrome is proud to present the Uhd debut of The Amityville Horror, stunningly restored in 4K from its 35mm original camera negative and featuring a comprehensive selection of new and archival interviews.

The Amityville film series is perhaps the most persistent and the most bizarre in the annals of franchise horror. The original "Amityville Horror," based on the 1977 "non-fiction" book by Jay Anson, told the story of the Lutz family who moved into 112 Ocean Ave. in Long Island, NY shortly after Ronald DeFeo had murdered several members of his own family at the same address. DeFeo claimed to hear a demonic presence urging him to kill. The Lutz family claims to have experienced a similar demonic presence after moving in, and were eventually scared out. 

It's since been revealed that the Lutz's story was...

The post Amityville in Space Trailer: It's More Amityville, But This Time, in Space appeared first on /Film.

Obviously, "Stranger Things" isn't exactly worried about factual accuracy, but season four of the hit Netflix show does take inspiration from two major real events. The first volume of "Stranger Things" season four dropped on May 27, and both the story of the Creel House and the town's reaction to the Hawkins murders are clearly inspired by real events from the 1970s and 1980s - the Amityville Horror and the satanic panic.

The Amityville Horror and "Stranger Things"

You might be most familiar with the story of the Amityville Horror from the series of films it spawned. But originally, the story was told in a 1977 book by Jay Anson called "The Amityville Horror: A True Story." The book tells the story of George and Kathleen Lutz, a recently married couple who moved with Kathleen's children into a house in Amityville on New York's Long Island. The relocation was meant to be...

Jay Anson's original non-fiction book "The Amityville Horror" was first published in 1977 and it quickly took the world by storm. "The Amity Horror" was based on the true crime story of Ronald DeFeo who, in November of 1973 (claiming to be under the influence of demons) prowled from room to room in his home at 112 Ocean Ave., and murdered six members of his own family. The eeriest thing about the slayings is that they were committed by shotgun, but no one seems to have left their beds, and the neighbors reported hearing nothing. After DeFeo had been apprehended and jailed, the Lutz...

The post The Amityville Murders Marked The Return of an Old-School Franchise Star appeared first on /Film.

Hot damn, it's finally happened. After a mind-boggling 32 feature explorations and offshoots of the infamous American haunting, the Amityville murder house is going to space. Stuart Rosenberg's 1979 hit "The Amityville Horror," based on Jay Anson's 1977 book of the same name, purports the claims of the Lutz family, who assert that a supernatural presence drove them out of their Dutch colonial home after only one month of occupancy. The story's veracity has since been cast in doubt, but the grim true story behind the house itself is still a subject of fascination. Now, the deadly dwelling is taking its mayhem...

The post Horror Fans Rejoice: Amityville is Finally Going to Space, Whatever That Means appeared first on /Film.

Jay Anson's 1977 book "The Amityville Horror" has yielded over 30 theatrical and direct-to-video films since it was first published, starting with the original 1979 feature starring James Brolin, Margot Kidder, and Rod Steiger. That's not even counting "The Conjuring" movie series, which centers on fictionalized versions of Ed and Lorraine Warren, the real-life paranormal investigators and married couple who gained recognition through their involvement in the Amityville case (as seen at the beginning of "The Conjuring 2").

While the facts of the alleged Amityville hauntings have been disputed and attributed to a hoax conceived over wine, the supernatural stories that arose out of...

The post The True Story Behind the Amityville Murders to Be Explored in Epix Docuseries appeared first on /Film.

Ronald DeFeo Jr., the Long Island man serving a life sentence for slaughtering his parents and four siblings in a 1974 crime that would inspire The Amityville Horror book and movie franchise, died March 12 at the Albany Medical Center in New York. He was 69.

His death was announced yesterday by the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. A ruling on cause of death is pending an autopsy.

DeFeo had been transferred to the hospital on February 2 from the Sullivan Correctional Facility in Fallsburg, N.Y., where he had been imprisoned since 1975 after confessing to six counts of second-degree murder.

DeFeo was 23 when, in the early morning hours of Nov. 13, 1974, he shot and killed his father Ronald DeFeo Sr., his mother Louise, and younger siblings Dawn, Allison, Mark and John Matthew. The bodies were found in the bedrooms of the family home in the village of Amityville, Long Island.

Ronald DeFeo, the convicted murderer who killed six family members and inspired the ever-growing “Amityville horror” franchise, died Friday, March 12th, The New York Times reports. He was 69.

DeFeo died in a hospital in Albany, New York, the New York State Department of Correction and Community Supervision confirmed. He had been serving a sentence of 25-years-to-life at the Sullivan Correctional Facility in Fallsburg, New York, and had been taken to the hospital on February 2nd. A cause of death has not yet been announced, but will be determined by the Albany County coroner.

Lorraine Warren has seen true evil at the start of The Conjuring 2 and wants to call it quits — at least for a while — but when the Hodgson family finds itself under siege by a terrible haunting, the paranormal investigators have no choice but to help. Set in the late ’70s in the London Borough of Enfield, The Conjuring 2 ticks off many of the same boxes as the original: haunted house, demonic possession, and a relentless pace full of jump scares that doesn’t let up until the Warrens are back in their spooky museum, locking away their latest ghostly trinket just before the credits roll.

And like the first movie, which is based on the real-life investigations of demonologist Ed Warren and the clairvoyant Lorraine, The Conjuring 2 is heavily inspired by a true story, one that captured the attention of British tabloids — and even the BBC — just...

Image Source: Everett Collection

Based on a well-documented story of paranormal hauntings, the 1979 film The Amityville Horror instantly became a cult classic, despite its poor critical reception. It's no surprise, though, because the movie took root in a terrifying and sensationalized real case. The actual house in Amityville might just be the epitome of a haunted house. The story starts as many a ghost story does, with a family moving into a creepy new abode with a horrifying history. In 1975, George and Kathleen Lutz brought their three children to a lovely Dutch Colonial home on 112 Ocean Avenue in Amityville, Long Island. But just a year before the family moved in, six people had been brutally murdered in the house. Now the residence is an iconic haunt - which may or may not be a total hoax.

What Is the House's Origin Story?

Let's rewind to November 13, 1974. 23-year-old Ronald DeFeo Jr.

The legendary haunted house in Amityville is getting a new film project. There have been a lot of movies based on what went on in this house, and now there’s a prequel coming called Amityville 1974.

The project is being produced by Wonderfilm Media Corporation and the film will tell the story of the “real-life rampage murders” that would become the background in Jay Anson’s 1977 book The Amityville Horror and all the films that followed.

The film will be directed by Casey La Scala (The Remaining) from a script that he wrote. “The focus shifts back to the traumatic murders that reputedly set the supernatural stage for the nation’s most notorious haunted-house legend. In November 1974, Ronald DeFeo Jr. shot all six members of his family in a spree killing that took on even more horrific hues a year later when a family bought the notorious property and lived...

There have been more than 20 movies inspired by the supposedly haunted house at 112 Ocean Avenue over the past four decades, and now longtime producer Casey La Scala (who also directed Grind and The Remaining) is adding his creative vision to the Amityville franchise with Amityville 1974, a new movie from Wonderfilm Media Corporation that will focus on the DeFeo family and will start filming this November:

Press Release: Beverly Hills, CA -- The Wonderfilm Media Corporation announced today that it has green lit the horror film “Amityville 1974” to begin principal photography in November of this year.

The film is based on the real life tragedy that spawned The Amityville Horror novel and subsequent films when Ronald DeFeo Jr. shot all six members of his family on a fateful November night. This tragedy was seared into the minds of the public consciousness by writer Jay Anson, whose book “The Amityville Horror” recounted...

The horrors that took place at the infamously haunted Long Island home will once again be explored in Wonderfilm’s upcoming project Amityville 1974. This time, however, the movie will go back to the originations of how the house became so sinister. The eerie film has been given the green light to begin principal photography this November as it chronicles the events leading up to the real-life murders that became the inspiration for Jay Anson’s 1977 bestseller The Amityville Horror.

A prequel has been rumored in Hollywood for years, but now finally appears to be in the works with the backing of a major studio. This comes after a reimagining of the original 1979 blockbuster hit theaters two years ago, just twelve years after yet another remake of the same movie frightened audiences in 2005. Over the years, countless other television films and direct-to-video projects evoked the shoreline village’s name to draw in the horror crowd.

The Wonderfilm Media Corporation announced today that Amityville 1974 has been given the green light to begin principal photography in November with its story of the real-life rampage murders that would became the background story for author Jay Anson’s 1977 bestseller The Amityville Horror and the numerous films that have invoked it in name or premise.

The Anson novel was adapted to the screen in a namesake feature film that became a cultural sensation in the summer of 1979 and one of the most lucrative hits in Hollywood history with its tale of hostile supernatural forces at work in a home in a Long Island, N.Y., shoreline village called Amityville. The 1979 hit was “re-imagined” twice in theatrically released films but over the years 20-plus other productions (either direct-to-video or for television) have used the real-life village...

Every house may have a history, but when it comes to 112 Ocean Avenue, it’s imbued with horror and hearsay.

We are, of course, referring to Amityville, New York’s most famous haunted house first depicted in Jay Anson’s 1977 book of the same name. Fast forward 40 years and 112 Ocean Avenue continues to be a point of fixation for Hollywood suits, given Amityville: The Awakening is all set to become the 19th (!) film based on the horror saga and the first to see a theatrical release since 2005, so there’s quite a lot riding on The Awakening.

Directed by Franck Khalfoun, Amityville: The Awakening keeps things on the straight and narrow by centering on a young woman, Belle (Bella Thorne), who takes up residence in a new home only to find that it’s haunted by a strange, inexplicable phenomenon. Cue the jump-scares and shrill music.

But with a late...

What I’m about to write is probably going to catch a lot of flack, but here it goes – in terms of creating a horror movie experience, I actually prefer The Amityville Horror (2005) to the 1979 movie. While director Stuart Rosenberg’s original is well-made and features strong performances from its leads, I’ve never really been a fan of it, and thus, have found over the last decade or so a true admiration for what Amityville (2005) was able to bring to the table.

Not only does the remake give us deeper characters to invest in, better scares, and made the act of chopping wood absolutely one of the most horrifying things ever, but it also does what all good cinematic retellings should do – respect its roots but also steps out and does something different. So when it comes to all the Platinum Dunes remakes, I do think The Amityville Horror...

Full disclosure: The Amityville Horror films do not make up my favorite franchise. And it has nothing to do with the central “haunted house” premise, but rather the execution of the series thus far, from the serviceable ground zero template, The Amityville Horror (1979) through the (as yet unseen) upcoming Amityville: The Awakening, with some stops in between at DTVville (not to mention the Ryan Reynolds remake; but I said not to mention, so not mention I shall). The name is so shopworn now that “Amityville” has become synonymous with “poopy”.

But, but, But…let’s rewind to a time when a follow up to the kind-of goofy James Brolin (and his glorious perm) starrer was actually anticipated. That film was a smash success at the box office, and the powers that be wanted to revisit the village of Amityville to see what other demons they could find in the basement.

Sarah looks back at the Amityville films, and finds a lot of scary things, not all of which were intentional…

112 Ocean Avenue, Long Island is probably the most famous haunted house in the world. Not that you’ll necessarily recognise the address – it’s far better known as the Amityville Horror house. Back in 1975, George and Kathy Lutz moved their family into the house… and then 28 days later, they moved back out, claiming to have been driven out by supernatural forces. Their story made the news, was turned into a book, and then made into a movie, in 1979.

It’s hard to imagine now that a family claiming to have encountered the devil in their basement could cause such a massive fuss, but I’m not here to interrogate the truth of their statement. What I am here to do, though, is to watch all of the Amityville Horror movies made to date,...

New Line Cinema

There’s one title card you’ll see, without fail, on any schlocky, bad horror film produced in the last couple of decades. No, not the Platinum Dunes name – well, yes, that, but that’s not what we’re talking about. We’re talking about the staggering amount of horror films that claim to be “based on a true story” or, at the very least, “inspired by actual events.” It’s something that seems to have begun in the seventies with The Amityville Horror, the classic ghost story that was indeed adapted from the “non-fiction” book by Jay Anson. The story of the Lutz family, who were terrorized by paranormal phenomena in their Dutch Colonial house, was a publishing sensation when it was released, and even more so when the film version was released.

Never mind that it turned out to be a heaping helping of bullsh...

Has any real-life story spawned more TV shows and feature films than the one behind The Amityville Horror? Jay Anson's book recounting the story of a family that moves into a house previously occupied by a man who murdered his own family has directly led to 13 feature films, including the documentary My Amityville Horror featuring the real Daniel Lutz who lived in the house as a child. It's been referenced all over TV, from The Simpsons to American Horror Story, and its theatrical influence can be felt from 1980's The Changeling to 2012's Sinister. And as if that weren't enough, now the story has evolved once again for a new generation in the form of Amityville: The Awakening. Directed by Franck Khalfoun (Maniac, P2), this new version stars...

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Of all the horror franchises, one of the most bafflingly resilient is "The Amityville Horror." And the trailer for the latest film has just debuted and will probably send a chill or two down your spine.

The original film came out in 1979, starred Margot Kidder and James Brolin and was based on the controversial 1977 nonfiction best-seller by Jay Anson, who moved into 112 Ocean Avenue in Amityville, New York, and immediately claimed to be terrorized by otherworldly visitations. (These supernatural situations were supposedly connected to a mass murder that happened in the house in December 1975, when Ronalde DeFeo shot and killed six of his family members while they slept.) From that one, admittedly cheesy film (slime? Has slime ever been scary?), there were seven (!) sequels and a fairly straight-faced remake in 2005 that starred Ryan Reynolds and Melissa George. (There were even a couple of sequels after that; this new film is...

There's something more chilling about movies based on true events. Knowing that at least some version of what you're seeing on the screen actually happened in real life makes the movie more powerful. With the upcoming release of The Quiet Ones, we decided to reminisce about other movies based on horrific real life events.

The Quiet Ones is inspired by a true story of a university experiment done on a young girl that goes horribly, horribly wrong, so we focused on movies based on claims of supernatural true events.

There is a huge list of honorable mentions in this category. We could even break it down into sub-categories, like movies based on the antics of Ed Gein: The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, The Silence of the Lambs, Psycho and Deranged. True crime reenactments: In Cold Blood, Helter Skelter and Zodiac just to name a few of the best. Even real...

Mike Flanagan wowed audiences with his feature directorial debut, Absentia, a few years back. Now he returns with an even creepier tale of supernatural terrors in Oculus (review). To celebrate the release of Oculus, we bring you a look at the Top Seven Supernatural Films that Haunt Us.

The funny thing about a really powerful supernatural movie, at least those that get wide theatrical releases, is they usually transcend the theater and become the talk of the nation for a while. And many of them even hang around our psyches for years and years to come.

We'll begin, as always, with our honorable mentions, and you'll see that many of them also took the country by storm. Low budget, found footage movies like Paranormal Activity and The Blair Witch Project were absolutely larger than life during their theatrical releases.

However, bigger films can also reach out and grab you. Poltergeist...

• Robin Wright (House of Cards) and Sam Worthington (Avatar) will join the cast of director Baltasar Kormakur’s Everest, which is currently shooting in Nepal. The large ensemble includes Jason Clarke, Jake Gyllenhaal, Josh Brolin, and John Hawkes. Worthington will play a climbing expert, and Wright will play the wife of Brolin’s character. The Universal pic is set for Sept. 18, 2015, release. [Deadline]

• John Leguizamo (Kick Ass 2) has reportedly signed on to American Ultra, starring Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart. Nima Nourizadeh (Project X) is directing the action/comedy about a stoner who becomes the target of a hostile government operation.

It’s that wonderful, frightful, cool and creepy time of year again, when everything including the leaves on the trees are dying and our taste buds are craving sugary sweets and pies made from the guts of our jack-o-lanterns. It’s October, which means Halloween is nearly upon us! Get you costumes completed, your home haunts constructed and your candy collected for trick’r treaters, because you have to make time to watch some of the scariest movies this time of year.

In an effort to assist you in your cinematic scare-fest, we’ve come up with a list of the scariest movies to watch on Halloween… with one caveat. We have excluded virtually all “slasher” flicks. Why? Well, let’s just say we all know them, we all love them on some level, but really… don’t we all want something more in our scary movies? In honor of...

The Amityville Horror Trilogy (Blu-ray Review) Rated: R/Region A/1080p/Number of Discs 3 Available from Scream Factory The Amityville Horror (1979) (Blu-ray Review) Directed By: Stuart Rosenberg Starring: James Brolin, Margot Kidder, Rod Steiger Rated: R/Region A/1:85/1080p/Number of Discs 1 Based on a true story that was claimed by writer Jay Anson, The Amityville Horror is about a large house on the coast of Long Island where newly weds Geor…...

The International Film Channel is more than just "Comedy Bang! Bang!" and Marc Maron. They also release some great films from time to time. And in August, they've got two horror flicks to tickle your scary bone and one seriously chilling documentary.

On August 6, IFC and Mpi Home Video will release Antiviral and My Amityville Horror, and they'll follow that up with an August 13 release of Errors of the Human Body. All three films will be released on DVD with Antiviral also being available on Blu-ray.

Antiviral Synopsis

Antiviral follows the story of Syd March, an employee at a clinic that sells injections of live viruses harvested from sick celebrities to rabid fans who wish to partake in the ultimate form of communion. Syd supplements his income by selling illegal samples of these viruses on the black market, smuggling them out of the clinic in his own body. When he...

My Amityville Horror is a documentary making the rounds on the VOD circuit, and is out in limited release around the country. You can find our review of the film here, but recently we had the opportunity to talk with director Eric Walter about the project.

Before we got started, Eric Walter made it clear that he was a huge Famous Monsters fan, that he’s been one ever since he was a kid, and his dad collected the magazine. Perhaps he still does. Now, he’s come full circle, talking with us about his first feature film, a documentary entitled My Amityville Horror, that delves into the infamous hauntings that took place at 112 Ocean Avenue in Amityville, NY that tore the Lutz family apart and made them household names for decades, as the specter of what did or didn’t happen loomed over the rest of their lives, including one Daniel Lutz,...

To watch The Amityville Horror and be terrified is one thing, but what about hearing the actual ghost story that inspired Jay Anson’s original book? Yes, the movie is all based on stories recalled by the Lutz family while living in one of the most fabled houses in Long Island history, although there’s much controversy over the actual details – and that’s where documentary filmmaker Eric Walter comes in with his brand new film My Amityville Horror. Yup, this young truth-seeker was able to have George and Kathy Lutz’s son Daniel open up about the experiences he had in the house, unleashing all the horrifying details in an attempt to let viewers decide what to believe.

Being the horror nerd I am, there’s no way a chance to speak with Walter about his experience was slipping by me. Check out my exclusive interview with Eric as...

Title: My Amityville Horror Director: Eric Walter Over the past three-and-a-half decades, the paranormal events at a house at 112 Ocean Avenue in Amityville, a suburban tract along the south shore of Long Island, New York, have inspired all kinds of books — most notably Jay Anson’s 1977 bestseller — and 10 movies. Make that 11, now. Director Eric Walter’s new film, however, is a bit different. “My Amityville Horror” is a documentary look at the events that terrified young Daniel Lutz and his family in late 1975, as told from the perspective and recollection of Lutz himself. In December of ’75, young Daniel, part of a newly blended family, moved into the [ Read More ]

The post My Amityville Horror Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

Even if you’re not a fan of the genre, you probably at least recognize the name Amityville and associate it with horror.

Published in 1977, "The Amityville Horror" by Jay Anson took the country by storm. The story of the Lutzes demonic experiences in their Long Island home has had a huge cultural impact, spawning a storm of media frenzy, paranormal investigations, legal controversy, and a series of horror movies that span from 1979 to current day and now Eric Walter has finally got Danny Lutz to tell his side of the story.

Just a brief history lesson for any who didn’t know (and let’s not forget, this is non-fiction): The house located at 112 Ocean Avenue in suburban Amityville was the site of a grisly murder spree. Ronald DeFeo Jr. murdered all six members of his immediate family in one evening, while they were sleeping, shooting them face down in their beds.

Dysfunction Junction: Walter Revisits Source of Classic Horror Film with Mixed Results

Thanks to Stuart Rosenberg’s 1979 film adaptation of Jay Anson’s infamous novel, “The Amityville Horror”, along with its various sequels, not to mention that high profile 2005 remake with Ryan Reynolds, the spooky tale of a family plagued by a series of chilling paranormal activities has long been cemented in the pop cultural psyche. For his documentary debut, filmmaker Eric Walter revisits this notorious case with My Amityville Horror, scoring an exclusive interview with Daniel Lutz, the eldest child of the Amityville family, given the chance to share his side of the story nearly thirty-five years later. The resulting documentary is, at times, unnerving, but more often a subjective exercise that reveals one of America’s most famous hauntings to be an overblown façade, and Daniel Lutz to be an intriguing case study as a victim of psychological (and not preternatural) abuse.

Xan Cassavetes — daughter of famed moviemaking couple director John Cassavetes and actress Gena Rowlands — seems to have been inspired by the sexy and twisted vampire films from the 1970s for her new movie "Kiss of the Damned." The cool, contemporary take on bloodsucking fiends tells the story of one vamp falling in love with a human, but the relationship is threatened when the undead woman's wild sister shows up.

The entire vampire community also becomes endangered thanks to the troublemaker's pathological personality. The red band trailer that popped up on Yahoo! this week reveals a very retro, erotic vibe. Look for "Kiss of the Damned" on iTunes/On Demand March 28, or see it in theaters May 3. We vote you whet your appetite in the meantime by watching this Nsfw trailer.

Check out the trailer (and the rest of Horror Bites) after the jump!

Returning to the "Horror"

Who doesn't love a good possession tale?...

The horror genre is always the first to jump on the bandwagon of any sort of gimmick that gets butts in the seats. Life insurance policies, 3-D, found footage, "See Paris Hilton Die" ... but let's be honest: Nothing is a better sales tool than real life.

Slap the label "Based on a True Story" in ominous red letters on that poster, and you've got yourself a surefire scare flick. People say to themselves, "Well, if it could happen to those people ..." Hang on, though, because while a storyline may have at least one toe in the waters of fact, there are varying degrees of "true" in the horror game.

We're taking a gander at the best this gambit has to offer. You can be sure that whether they happened for truthsies or not, these nine shockers have what it takes to frighten you out of your jammies.

9. 'The Strangers...

"Based on true events..." "Inspired by a true story..." However you phrase it, one key word always manages to make horror more horrific: true. Sit back and relax as we take a look at some movies based upon the strange, bizarre, and weird.

Sure, much horror carrying the "true story" tag is only loosely based on actual events. Just think of how many extremely different envisionings of the Ed Gein story there are. Everything from The Texas Chain Saw Massacre to The Silence of the Lambs and hundreds in-between trace their roots to that twisted Wisconsin deviant. But there's just something about knowing even a modicum of the heinous tale unfolding on the screen before your eyes is true that makes it that much more chilling.

Now, say your film is not only based on a true story, but one which involves supernatural, unexplainable events. Now you're really onto something.

Ten films apparently aren’t enough for the franchise, as The Amityville Horror prepares to cash in on the ‘found footage’ craze.

The Amityville Horror first shot into the spotlight in 1977 in Jay Anson’s book, The Amityville Horror: A True Story, which tells the story of Ronald DeFeo Jr. murdering six members of his family in 1974, and the paranormal activities experienced by George Lutz and his family, who moved into the house a year later. The ghostly activity was so intense the family left the house after just 28 days in the house.

Horror was on Hollywood’s mind so the little house in Amityville made it to the big screen for the first time in 1979. After a few sequels, the original movie got the reboot treatment by Michael Bay in 2005. Now, the haunted house is returning, this time with a ‘found footage’ angle.

I guess it was bound...

Evergreen Media Group is looking into a new cinematic take on the famous "Amityville Horror" incident reports Bloody Disgusting.

The infamous house saw Ronald DeFeo, Jr. murder six members of his family in 1974. However it was a year later when the house's new tenants, George Lutz and his family, claim to have encountered paranormal horrors that forced them to abandon the property after less than a month.

Said case became the Jay Anson’s 1977 book which has lead to ten movies based on the incident. This take will be based on the experiences of two reporters Laura Didio and Marvin Scott, who investigated the incidents in the Long Island community for New York TV station Wnew.

Didio and Scott were part of a séance that was held in the house on March 6, 1976 for a news report. Didio secured George Lutz’s permission to visit the house and the resulting news report purportedly revealed ghostly presences.