The Amityville franchise has brought us a whopping 18 installments to date (hard to believe, eh?). Inspired by the critical and financial success of 1979’s The Amityville Horror (which still stands as one of the most commercially successful independent movies ever produced), we’ve been seeing various, remakes and reboots for decades now, but none of them have been able to reach the same level as the original.
The most recent effort was the dreadful Amityville: The Awakening – you can read our review here – and though it was a pretty dull and uninspired watch, the series will soldier on next year with The Amityville Murders. Like its predecessor, it doesn’t look like it’ll be able to return this once bankable franchise to its former glory, but fans of the series will no doubt be keen to check it out and to drum up some excitement, we’ve now got a new poster to feast on.
Seen in the gallery down below, it’s not terribly revealing, but does tease that we’re about to experience a pretty terrifying tale, with the tagline reading: Hell Lives Here. And given what we know about the story, we don’t doubt that.
For more, here’s the plot summary:
Based on true events, the film relays the nightmarish story that preceded the one detailed in the original 1979 classic film. On the night of November 13, 1974, Ronald DeFeo, Jr. took a high-powered rifle and murdered his entire family as they slept. At his trial, DeFeo claimed that “voices” in the house commanded him to kill. This is their story.
Given the past pedigree of the franchise, we don’t imagine The Amityville Murders will turn too many heads, but director Daniel Farrands has done some interesting work in the past. Not to mention that he’s brought together a solid cast in Paul Ben-Victor, Lainie Kazan, Chelsea Ricketts, John Robinson and Diane Franklin, who starred in the second Amityville movie.
With any luck, then, The Amityville Murders will be a harmless watch with a couple of genuine scares, and if you’re excited to see more from the franchise, know that you can catch it in theaters, on VOD and on Digital HD from February 8th, 2019.
