There are over 20 loosely connected horror films with Amityville in the title, and here’s why the tide of Amityville entries probably won’t stop. Horror is full of long-running franchises, some harder to comprehend than others. For example, it’s doubtful anyone involved with the first Leprechaun movie expected it to get seven sequels. It’s also doubtful the producers of Children of the Corn expected that series to produce ten films, creating horror’s most boring franchise along the way.
Arguably the weirdest case of an inexplicable horror franchise though is the Amityville series. The first film, The Amityville Horror, released in 1979, and is regarded by many as a classic, although we’d argue the 2005 remake starring Ryan Reynolds is better. Amityville II: The Possession arrived in 1982, and served as a prequel to the original. The dreadful Amityville 3-D materialized in 1983, and after that, things would head to direct to video land, and really get out of control.
To date, there have been a whopping 23 horror films made with Amityville in the title, some loosely connected to the older movies, and others that just seek to use Amityville’s notoriety for their own purposes. Many of these are bottom of the barrel schlock, and one might be inclined to wonder why MGM, who owns the rights to the older Amityvilles, doesn’t put a stop to this sullying of the brand name. The answer to that is simple: they can’t.
The Amityville Story is Essentially Public Domain
To be clear, none of the individual Amityville films are public domain. Nobody involved pulled a Night of the Living Dead, and forgot to get their copyrights in order. However, The Amityville Horror was based on a (purportedly) non-fiction book recounting the short time spent inside the infamous Amityville house on 112 Ocean Avenue by the Lutz family, who claim they encountered a demonic force that drove them away. This incident occurred roughly two years after the house became vacant, thanks to a young man named Ronald DeFeo Jr. murdering his family with a shotgun. DeFeo also claimed demonic forces told him to commit the murders.
Whether or not either the Lutz family or Ronald DeFeo Jr. was telling the truth about what they experienced, the town the events occurred in is really called Amityville, the house really did once have windows that resemble eyes, and both the alleged Lutz haunting and brutal DeFeo murders are considered historical events. Thus, those aspects of the Amityville franchise can’t be considered intellectual property, and thus can’t be subject to ownership by any particular studio. This enables any fly-by-night indie filmmaker to make a horror film, no matter how little it may incorporate the actual historical events, and slap the Amityville name and iconography on it in the hopes of suckering in dedicated horror fans.
More: 10 Horror Movies That Aren’t Totally Based On True Stories (& What Was Changed)
