There’s another Amityville movie out. This one, like Amityville 2: the Possession (1982), is a prequel of sorts. It depicts the murders that occurred in this infamous suburban Long Island home in November 1974.
I watched Amityville 2 back in the 1980s. Amityville 2 was only loosely based on the murders. (For example, the family was named Montelli, and not DeFeo.) This newest movie, however, appears to be aiming for more of a biopic. The characters correspond to the actual members of the DeFeo family.
I’ll have to get around to watching this and reviewing it here. I saw that Diane Franklin is in it. Her performance in Amityville 2, as the family’s doomed elder daughter, was riveting. In this version, Franklin plays Louise DeFeo, the mother of the family.
I have mixed feelings about all these Amityville Horror movies. On one hand, I recognize that this is an almost irresistible topic for horror filmmakers—kind of like the Nazi era is for the makers of historical documentaries.
On the other hand, though, I also feel that the original tragedy, in which six people lost their lives, has been exploited somewhat. Perhaps it’s time to let the dead of Amityville rest in peace, and move on to other topics.
Nevertheless, I do want to see this one—if for Diane Franklin, if nothing else. She’s one of my favorite actresses from the 1980s, and she seems to be a genuinely nice person, based on what I’ve seen of her in interviews.
