The Amityville franchise has racked up a whopping 18 installments to date (seriously). Inspired by the critical and financial success of 1979’s The Amityville Horror (which is still one of the most commercially successful indie movies ever), various filmmakers have been churning out sequels, remakes and reboots for decades now, but none of them have quite reached the same level as the original.
The most recent was the dreadful Amityville: The Awakening – you can read our review here – and though it was hardly very memorable or even enjoyable, the series will soldier on next year with The Amityville Murders. Admittedly, it doesn’t look to be doing very much to turn this once bankable franchise’s fortunes around, but a new trailer has debuted today and you can check it out up above.
Set to bring us a fictionalized account of the events leading up to the night Ronald DeFeo, Jr. murdered his family with a high-powered rifle – which he did after hearing voices in the house that were apparently “plotting” against him – this appears to be a pretty run of the mill horror thriller, with the whole ‘dad goes crazy’ thing coming with more than a whiff of The Shining.
Given the past pedigree of the franchise, it’s hard to imagine The Amityville Murders turning too many heads, but in all fairness, director Daniel Farrands has some interesting credits on his resume. Not to mention that he’s brought together a decent cast in Paul Ben-Victor, Lainie Kazan, Chelsea Ricketts, John Robinson and Diane Franklin, who starred in the second Amityville movie.
With any luck, The Amityville Murders will at least turn out to be a harmless watch with a couple of genuine scares, if nothing else, and if you’re eager to see more from the franchise, know that you can catch it in theaters, on VOD and on Digital HD from February 8th, 2019.
Published: Dec 27, 2018 04:25 pm