No marketable horror concept is ever allowed to sit on the shelf for too long, and that even extends to those purported to be based on a true story. In November 1975, the Lutz family moved into the home where Ronald DeFeo Jr. had murdered six members of his family just a year previously, but the new occupants lasted less than a month before fleeing, claiming that they’d been terrorized by the supernatural.
A book based on the tale was published in September 1977, with the first big screen version of The Amityville Horror arriving in the summer of 1979, where it went on to become a major box office success. And after raking in $86 million on a budget of less than $5 million, gaining a reputation as one of the best horrors of the time and even landing an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Score, a franchise was born.
There’ve since been a further nine movies based directly on The Amityville Horror, including the 2005 remake starring Ryan Reynolds and reboot Amityville: The Awakening, which was released in October 2017. Despite the premise having been run into the ground a long time ago, insider Daniel Richtman now claims that another new spin on the story is in the works, although that’s about as much information as we’ve got.
While hearing an established property could be getting a reboot is hardly groundbreaking news, there may be some mileage left in the concept of The Amityville Horror if it was handled by an outfit like Blumhouse, with the company building its reputation on delivering solid scares regardless of how formulaic the setup appears to be on paper. That being said, they were the ones behind The Awakening, so we can probably rule that out.
