Category Archives: DeFeo Murders

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/

A Haunting on Long Island

The latest installment in the seemingly endless Amityville franchise is another retelling of the DeFeo murders. You can check out the trailer here. (sorry it won’t embed)

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The Amityville Murders: A Haunting on Long Island is written by screenwriter and Amityville historian Daniel Farrands and stars Diane Franklin and Burt Young who you might remember from Amityville 2: The Possession which was also based on the DeFeo murders.

No word yet on a release date.

 

The Haunting on Long Island

The producers of The Haunting in Connecticut have teamed up with Amityville historian Dan Farrands and cooked up The Haunting on Long Island: The Amityville Murders. Farrands wrote and screenplay and is directing, and given his extensive knowledge about the case I have no doubt we’ll get an accurate look at the tragic final days DeFeo family minus all the conspiracy theories that Shattered Hopes was selling.

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Production begins summer 2017.