On the Nightstand: The Amityville Horror by Jay Anson

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

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/