Regarding classic and sustainable horror films, it is difficult to correspond to “The Amityville Horror”. It is not only loved by many of those who grew up with this, but it was also in some respects before the curve of our culture obsessed with the real crime, because the director Sturt Rosenberg on the book of Jay Anson of the same name was inspired by the alleged paranormal experiences of the Lutz family after their moving in the house where Ronald Defeo Jr. murdered his family in 1974.
More than just a film, “The Amityville Horror” then inspired an entire franchise, which is made up of eight films that were produced in the 80s and 90s. However, horror fans who descended the rabbit burrow are surely aware that there are dozens of films that used the name “Amityville”, which is taken from the village of Long Island in New York. These range from the “relatively harmless” Handical of Amityville “to the” AMTYVILLE Vibrator “absurd. Yes, this one is real.
This raises the question, why are there so many “Amityville” films? In short, this has to do with the fact that no one technically controls the IP of the way in which most traditional horror frankas are controlled. Warner Bros. A The rights of the franchise “The Conjuring”, but Amityville is only a place. This is the knot.
Now, with regard to adaptations directly involving the book of the Lutz or Anson family? This is where things can become risky, but the vast majority of the films we are talking about have nothing to do with the source equipment that helped make a familiar name from Amityville.
The IP of Amityville is not controlled by anyone, really
The last really notable theatrical entry into the franchise was the remake of “The Amityville Horror” in 2005 with Ryan Reynolds, which made $ 109 million at the box office at a time when horror remakes were in fashion. Above almost everything has been produced independently and released directly to VOD / streaming, or released with such a small theatrical imprint that it barely counted.
An exception was “Amityville: The Awakening” of 2017, which absolutely bombed at the box office after being delayed for years. George Lutz, who was played by James Brolin in the original film of 1979, in fact continued “Amityville II: The possession” and “Amityville 3-D” Dino de Laurentiis in 1989. The conclusions of the judge of the case contributed to the bases of dozens of films “Amityville” in recent years. Essentially, they judged that the public associated the defeo murders franchise, not the Lutz family specifically. Via Paste magazine, opinion can be read:
“The mass murder in the house of Amityville and its supernatural heritage were well published at the time, attracting the attention of newspapers, magazines, television reports, church, and causing another book,” Murder in Amityville “of Hans Holzer. And even the applicants do not dare to pretend to be the owners of all secondary associations resulting from this advertisement.”
“The second and third images did not concern the Lutzes, which had no monopoly on the creation of horror stories in the house where the murders of Defeo took place,” added the judges. “This case is nothing other than an unjustified attempt by the applicants to arrogate to themselves the right to commercially exploit the name of the city of Amityville to the exclusion of literary, artistic and commercial worlds.”
It was mainly that. Legally speaking, filmmakers could use what was considered a very publicized case as well as in the city of Amityville, as long as they did not focus on the Lutzes without their authorization. For producers who seek to win quickly, it turned out to be quite important.
Amityville is an easy way to obtain brand recognition
If you are heading for the free streaming service, there are no less than 50 different films with the word “Amityville” in the title. The majority of them could not have less to do with the famous haunting who inspired this franchise in the first place. Rather, it is conceptually ridiculous and low -budget affairs that can generate curiosity clicks depending on the absurd premise.
Some examples are “Amityville in Space” from 2022, the “Amityville Ai” shocking and my favorite, “Amityville Death Toilet”. There is also the function of creature in the form of “Amityville Scarecrow” of 2022, which, itself, generated a franchise with “Amityville Scarecrow II” arriving the same year. The fact is that it was the Schlocky entrances to the “Amityville” cannon that took this from a horror frankness with less than 10 entries to an uncontrolled mastodon of cheap floors with more than 60 films and counting.
One wonders how it can be profitable. Does enough people look at “Amityville Bigfoot” to make such businesses? Without looking at business balance sheets like Edge productions or a release from Wild Eye, the short answer is yes. It’s nothing new. Mockbusters has been part of Hollywood for decades. For each “Top Gun: Maverick”, there is a “Top Gunner: Danger Zone” to accompany it.
These films are generally designed for money with bad special effects and emerging actors who will work for practically nothing. It is integrated into the business model. The reason why Amityville is worth having in these titles is that people will look for “Amityville” on their choice of choice of choice or on the menu of their intelligent television, and voila, some of these films will appear. And people will look at them out of curiosity or happy ignorance. Anyway, cheap “Amityville” films have become a bizarre chalet industry.
