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“Amityville: Where the Echo Lives” enters a cinematic landscape already saturated with tales of the paranormal, its very title a nod to a globally recognized, if increasingly diffuse, horror brand. The film immediately signals a departure from geographical specificity, setting its stage not in the infamous New York locale but in Chicago.

This transplantation of the “Amityville” signifier speaks to a broader trend in genre filmmaking where brand recognition can become a powerful, placeless commodity. We are introduced to Heather West, a paranormal investigator whose professional pursuit is deeply entangled with personal loss – the recent death of her father, a figure who apparently looms large in her chosen field.

Heather herself appears somewhat adrift, with subtle indications of unresolved personal issues, adding a layer of vulnerability to her character as she embarks on a new case: investigating peculiar happenings in an attic, events linked to the tragic, decades-old disappearance of a young girl named Maryanne.

Few horror franchises are quite as complicated as The Amityville Horror franchise, though there’s a pretty clear reason as to why. Since Amityville is a real place, and the stories of both the DeFeo and Lutz families are historical, no single filmmaking entity can stake a claim. Want to make a movie titled Halloween? Go for it, but you’d better make sure there’s no Michael Myers. Want to make a movie about the haunted abode at 112 Ocean Avenue? Carte blanche freedom. Do whatever you want—not even the devil himself can stop you.

While there is a canonical series, the most recent entry of which is the Bella Thorne vehicle Amityville: The Awakening, there are considerably more unrelated horror movies endeavoring to capitalize on the famous property’s name. It reminds me a lot of when an old coworker thought they bought a new Shark Tale movie for their kid.

If you have clicked on this article to learn what Amityville: Where The Echo Lives has to do with the horrifying incident that occurred at the iconic 112 Ocean Avenue house, (spoiler alert) I am here to tell you that the use of “Amityville” in the title is nothing short of of clickbaiting. The movie, made by Carlos Ayala, was initially titled The Girl from the Other Side. Since I’ve seen the film’s trailer on the YouTube channel of Lionsgate Movies, I am guessing that they acquired the film, slapped “Amityville” onto the title (because Amityville is a word that is in the public domain which grabs eyeballs), and sold it to us. Congratulations, you have been duped. That said, if you do want to learn about what actually happens in the film when it isn’t padding the runtime by showing its protagonist going about her day doing her chores or procrastinating,...

With Halloween right around the corner in just a few days, we have reached the final new release roundup for one of the craziest Octobers of all time. And the spooky fun isn’t over yet…

Here’s all the new horror releasing from October 28 – November 3, 2024!

For daily reminders about new horror releases, be sure to follow @HorrorCalendar.

Lionsgate heads back to Amityville with Amityville: Where the Echo Lives, a brand new indie horror movie that will debut On Demand and Digital beginning on Tuesday, October 29.

Carlos Ayala directed Amityville: Where the Echo Lives, which doesn’t look to actually be set at the infamous Amityville Horror house. Instead, it looks to be another in-name only installment in the saga, which has become one of the strangest “franchises” of all time.

In the film, “When Heather West, a paranormal investigator, receives a call from a terrified woman who claims her...

It’s Day 13 of the SAG-AFTRA strike and Day 86 of the WGA strike.

Actor Adam Faison took a break from marching outside Disney in Burbank on Wednesday to speak with Deadline, calling artificial intelligence one of his primary concerns for the future of his profession and the industry at large.

His trepidation was informed by an unnerving encounter with the technology that he had within the past year, before the launch of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes and perhaps before AI was even breaking so prevalently into the public discourse. The project on which he was forced to grapple with AI was out of the “gaming world,” he said, and called for body scanning.

“Without going into too much detail, there was a recent situation where I was in negotiations with a company and they were very, very ornery and very trepidatious about even talking about AI,” said Faison, whose...