PopcornTreeCt

It seems kinda silly to me to make a movie about the family moving in. Because *if the house was really haunted by the family that was murdered then why would they be evil? They were innocent. Seems kinda dumb to me.

TomOpus

They did... Amityville II: The Possesion

IMDB listing

Cameron

exactly...

caligulathegod

Real answer: They made it because it was a bestselling book.

Smart ass answer: They are saving that for Amityville Horror Episode 1:The Phantom Menace.

movielib

Is it really a movie about the actual murders if they attribute them to the killer being possessed?

(I have not seen this film but that is what it seems to be doing from what I read on IMDb.)

How about a movie about the actual murders without the mumbo-jumbo?

Buttmunker

Exactly. Make a true crime thriller that focuses on the DeFeo family dynamics. There is enough horror in this family without the appearance of the Devil. Witnesses say that Ronald DeFeo Sr was the Devil himself (one of these witnesses was the DeFeo housekeeper, who would have no reason to say those things unless they were true). The son, Ronald DeFeo Jr, was thrown out of schools and seeing psychiatrists before he even moved to Amityville. So much for evil spirits. The only evil spirit in his life was his abusive father.

The DeFeos lived in the Amityville house for 9 years before the night of November 13, 1974 - there's a lot of history to be told, so why not tell it?

Groucho

If you've seen the movie(s) or read the books, the house isn't haunted by ghosts, but rather possessed by demons. Turns out there's a gateway to hell in the basement.

Mr. Cinema

Maybe they can make it as a prequel to the remake of the original. Considering it grossed more than its budget this weekend.

Cameron

the mumbo jumbo is what sells it....Whether you believe in ghost, demons and the rest...the guy thought he had them....in his mind they were real....though i will say Amityville 2 does take a page from the exorcist here and there....

movielib

Plenty of true crime stories have sold without having to make them supernatural. Ann Rule, for one, has sold tens of millions of books without resorting to such nonsense (not that I don't like supernatural tales - as long as they don't pretend to be real). In this case the real story (as well as can be discerned) could possibly sell even better because it's been so junked up by all this crap for thirty years.
Maybe. Or maybe he used it to try to escape responsibility for what he did, both in the eyes of others and by rationalizing to himself. Or perhaps he knew exactly what he was doing and just made the whole demon thing up.

It would be interesting to see someone tell the story straight.

Buttmunker

It is true that Ronald DeFeo Jr was "coached" by his defense attorney, William Weber, to pretend insanity. This Ronald admitted to years later.

Cameron

after thirty years the vast majority would call foul if they went to see an amityville movie, and it was true crime instead of horror...

matome

I'm surprised we didn't get the red-eyed pig in this version. That was one of the few things that creeped me out in the original.