On the Nightstand: The Amityville Horror by Jay Anson

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My memory isn’t what it used to be, but I can say with some degree of certainty that Jay Anson’s 1977 novel “The Amityville Horror” not only ignited my love of horror and true crime, but my love of reading in general. I still have my original dog eared paperback that I got from my local used bookstore The Book Trader and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read it. I enjoy it more every time, but this time around I was being more critical, paying more attention to the mechanics of the story rather than just the events. Some of it is downright odd.

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The People vs Ronald DeFeo

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I’ve been pretty vocal about my opinion that the Amityville franchise has been bled dry at this point. But I have long thought that a more factual film about the DeFeo murders would be a nice change from the typical haunted house mess everyone seems to want to focus on. Amityville II: The Possession tried to tell this story, but took it a bit too far into fiction.

While deep in a YouTube hole this week I ran across this little short film by Out of Time Pictures called Amityville: The People vs Ronald DeFeo Jr. It appears to be a proof of concept to secure funding for a feature and it is damn impressive.

I guessing this will be based on the book High Hopes by prosecutor Gerald Sullivan since he appears to be the main character. I hope they get the money to make this film. It looks very promising.

I do have to wonder about one of the jurors though. The man on the far left seems a bit too “amused” by Ronnie’s courtroom confession. I’d keep an eye on him.

You can follow the progress over at https://www.outoftimepictures.com/in-development/

Review: The Amityville Curse (1990)

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“Careful, this place bites.”

The Amityville Curse title over a red-tinted image of the house. A screaming man is off to the side.

There have been an embarrassing number of movies using the fair hamlet of Amityville to get a few views online from unsuspecting horror fans. On the surface Tom Berry’s 1990 direct-to-video entry in the franchise might seem like one of them, perhaps even the first. The house on the poster is certainly not the house we know and love, not even if you squint.

The Amityville Curse is based on the 1981 novel by parapsychologist Hans Holzer. His previous novel, The Amityville Murders, documented the DeFeo murders and subsequent trial of Ronnie Jr. as well as Holzer’s own investigation into the haunting. He claims that Ethel Myers, trance-medium and shawl enthusiast, made contact with the angry Indian spirit that haunts the property. This vengeful chief and the curse he placed on the land is the basis for the story that unfolds. I reread the book, which comes in at just under 200 pages after watching the movie so I could compare them. I’ll post that review later.

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