The Amityville franchise has seen a slew of sequels, spinoffs, and remakes, but how do the canon films stack up? The Amityville Horror, inspired by the supposed genuine haunting of the Lutz family as recorded in Jay Anson’s book of the same name, established the horror franchise in 1979.
The original picture was such a tremendous hit that it spawned sequels almost instantly, and the Amityville plot became increasingly bizarre with each iteration. Though many of the book’s allegations have been discredited, the actual true crime case of the DeFeo family killings has piqued people’s interest.
While The Amityville Horror’s canon is incredibly shaky, nearly a dozen films can claim a relationship to the source material in some way. On the other hand, a seemingly never-ending flood of unlicensed Amityville films leverages the familiar brand to attract potential clients merely because the plot and setting are in the public domain.
Though there is some debate over which Amityville films are considered franchise canon, the actual films in the series pull their concepts from a section of the original story, and the 11 installments are in the correct chronology.
The Amityville Horror (1979)
The Amityville Horror, based on Jay Anson’s book of the same name, follows the Lutz family as they encounter terrible supernatural phenomena after moving into a house once the location of a horrible sequence of murders.
Despite receiving mixed reviews from reviewers at the time, The Amityville Horror was a box office triumph (according to Box Office Mojo) and immediately established itself as a new horror classic. The 1979 film was a generally faithful version of Anson’s book, and so came the closest to conveying the alleged true narrative of The Amityville Horror.
Amityville II: The Possession (1982)
While the order of the Amityville films is unimportant to the individual parts, Amityville II: The Possession is a prequel to the original. The Montelli family relocates and is quickly pursued by demonic powers that possess Sonny, the eldest child.
Amityville II sped up the pace considerably from the original, and its spectacular effects and utilization of tension were praised. The film is an adaptation of parapsychologist Hans Holzer’s novel Murder in Amityville, which is primarily based on the real-life DeFeo family murders that sparked the Amityville craze in the first place.
Amityville 3-D (1983)
Amityville 3-D is still canon in a roundabout sense, although it was not marketed as a direct successor to the first two Amityville films due to a series of legal challenges. In the movie, a skeptical reporter moves into the notorious Amityville mansion to refute the ghostly stories, but he quickly discovers that the legends were all too true.
The famous movie theater gimmick of 3-D was employed to spice up the otherwise bland sequel, and Amityville 3-D was an unneeded cash grab due to its loose link to the order of the Amityville films.
Amityville 4: The Evil Escapes (1989)
The chronological sequence of the Amityville films becomes unclear with the destruction of the Amityville home at the end of Amityville 3-D, and Amityville 4: The Evil Escapes does not continue up where the third left off. Its plot revolves around a woman who buys a possessed lamp from the Amityville house and brings it to California.
Amityville 4 is based on John G. Jones’ fictional novel, which initially detailed the Lutz family’s cross-country migration. Amityville 4 was the first non-theatrical Amityville chapter, and it was widely panned for its ridiculous premise and lack of horrors. It premiered as an NBC TV movie.
The Amityville Curse (1990)
The Amityville Curse was inspired by Hans Holzer’s novel of the same name, yet the film’s position in the Amityville franchise is uncertain other than that it was the sixth picture to be made. Set in Amityville once more, it follows a couple that moves into a house haunted by an evil spirit tied to murder.
The Amityville Curse, which continues the Amityville Horror possessed object trope, lacks the same power as its predecessors. Aside from that, the tale is riddled with unanswered mysteries, and it’s unclear whether the film was supposed to take place at the original Amityville house.
Amityville: It’s About Time (1992)
The fourth film, Amityville: It’s About Time is based on John G. Jones’ novel Amityville: The Evil Escapes and follows an architect who carries home a possessed clock from the Amityville house. The straight-to-video thriller offers few scares, and its low budget prevents it from becoming anything more than mediocre.
Its place in the Amityville film series is as uncertain as its predecessors’, and its connection to the Lutz family and their terrible purported ghost story is pushed further than ever before.
Amityville: A New Generation (1993)
Though the genuine horror story of The Amityville Horror could hardly be considered valid, the mythos of the Amityville flicks was stretched to its breaking point in this straight-to-video chapter. Amityville: A New Generation is about a man who is the son of an Amityville murderer who is given a possessed mirror from the infamous Amityville mansion.
Though Amityville: A New Generation has just a tenuous relationship to the franchise, it did have some innovative monster effects, and its central city setting was novel compared to the flood of haunted home stories that preceded it.
Amityville Dollhouse (1996)
Amityville Dollhouse, the final film in the original Amityville series before it was rebooted, follows a family who discovers a dollhouse copy of the infamous Amityville home and is soon attacked by the demonic forces that live within.
While earlier Amityville films had some link to the source material or were based on a book, Amityville Dollhouse is one of the few canon films that have no connection to the original story at all.
As a result, the film falls short of even its direct-to-video predecessors, and its razor-thin plot contributes nothing to the Amityville franchise’s greater mythos.
The Amityville Horror (2005)
After nearly a decade without an Amityville film, the 2005 remake reshuffled the horror franchise’s pecking order. Like the picture that inspired it, the Amityville Horror was not well received by critics; it was universally criticized as being relatively uninteresting.
Nonetheless, it added creative wrinkles to the ghost story that had not previously been recounted, and it attempted to be a horror film first, and a “true story” second. It made an astonishing $100 million (according to Box Office Mojo), but it failed to relaunch the Amityville franchise as planned.
Amityville: The Awakening (2017)
Amityville: The Awakening is one of four films with the same title released in the same year, but it is the only one considered canonical to the series. The story involves a teen who lives in the renowned Amityville home and suspects her brother is a vessel for demonic evil.
Dimension Films and Blumhouse co-produced the film, which had a fantastic twist on its premise by establishing that the previous Amityville films were all made up. Though it is far from a horror classic, The Awakening frequently refers to the original DeFeo case and has firmly established itself in the Amityville film canon.
The Amityville Murders (2018)
The Amityville Murders is a direct sequel to the original film. Set in 1974, the film follows the last days of the DeFeo family before they are brutally murdered by Ronald DeFeo Jr., who claims he was instructed to kill by voices.
Unlike Amityville II: The Possession, which elevated the same story to verbose heights, The Amityville Murders takes a plain and realistic approach, which makes it unique but somewhat monotonous. It is based on Hanz Holzer’s novel Murder in Amityville and is possibly the most iconic Amityville film after the original.
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