amityville the awakening movie review

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Amityville: the awakening, common sense media reviewers.

Not bad for Amityville, but still not great; violence.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Offers few chances for anything other than selfish

The main character is a teen girl who deals with a

Flashbacks to original murders. Scary stuff, some

Teen girl wears tight outfits. Very skimpy, reveal

A use of "f--k," plus "s--t,"

Parents need to know that Amityville: The Awakening is one of many movies in the Amityville horror franchise, though it ignores all the previous installments, instead following up where the 1979 original left off. There are flashbacks to the original murders, plus jump scares and other scary stuff, plus blood…

Positive Messages

Offers few chances for anything other than selfish behavior, but there are moments when characters attempt to overcome challenges or help others.

Positive Role Models

The main character is a teen girl who deals with a very tough situation; she mainly thinks of herself and her own problems, but she's at least two-dimensional, and she occasionally goes out of her way to protect her younger sister.

Violence & Scariness

Flashbacks to original murders. Scary stuff, some jump scares. Blood stains. Brief guns and shooting. Stabbing. Crashing through window. Squirmy bugs and attacking flies. Family members argue.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Teen girl wears tight outfits. Very skimpy, revealing underwear in one scene.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

A use of "f--k," plus "s--t," "bastard," "damn," and "hell." "Freaky" used as an insult.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Amityville: The Awakening is one of many movies in the Amityville horror franchise, though it ignores all the previous installments, instead following up where the 1979 original left off. There are flashbacks to the original murders, plus jump scares and other scary stuff, plus blood stains, guns and shooting, stabbing, crashing through a window, creepy bugs, and arguing. Language includes a use of "f--k," several uses of "s--t," and more. A teen girl is shown wearing tight clothes at school and very revealing underwear at home. Although the film starts off with some good ideas and is a little better than most of the others in the series, it's still not that good. Note: The movie was originally rated R but was edited to earn a PG-13 rating. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

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Community Reviews

• Parents say (3)
• Kids say (1)

Based on 3 parent reviews

Spooky, but may be too intense for little kids

Amityville: the awakening review, what's the story.

In AMITYVILLE: THE AWAKENING, the Walker family moves into the infamous Amityville house, home of so many brutal murders. Mother Joan ( Jennifer Jason Leigh ) hopes that the change will be good for her son, James ( Cameron Monaghan ), who's in a coma. But teen daughter Belle ( Bella Thorne ) is upset about having to move and feels that her mother loves her less than she does James. Belle meets Terrence ( Thomas Mann ) at school, and he introduces her to the Amityville Horror stories and movies, which she knew nothing about. Soon youngest daughter Juliet ( Mckenna Grace ) claims to have been "speaking" with James, and then James opens his eyes and appears to be recovering. But before long, the old horrors arise again.

Is It Any Good?

This umpteenth sequel in the Amityville franchise isn't that great, but it's surprisingly better than most of the other entries. Directed by Franck Khalfoun ( P2 , the remake of Maniac , etc.), Amityville: The Awakening -- which was postponed many times over nearly three years -- actually brings a couple of interesting ideas and characters to the table. There's poor James, lost in a coma, as well as all the stress and jealousy that his situation brings about in the family. It's a strong start, rather than some clueless family simply moving into a haunted house.

Moreover, the movie sets its story in a universe where the true story (the 1974 murders) actually occurred and became the basis for the fictional movies. (It jokingly points out how awful the 2005 Amityville Horror remake is.) And Khalfoun's camerawork and editing are a notch above the usual noisy jump scares in most horror movies. But at every point, Amityville: The Awakening drops the ball. It never follows up on any of its ideas, never takes anything very far. It ends up feeling disappointingly simplistic. By the time the third-act climax comes, it all seems fairly pointless.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about Amityville: The Awakening 's violence . How much is actually shown? Does the (relative) lack of gory stuff make the movie any less horrific? What's the impact of media violence on kids?

How scary is the movie? What's the appeal of scary movies?

How does this movie compare with the original book? The original movie? The sequels?

What is the sibling relationship like in this story? Can you relate?

Movie Details

• In theaters : October 28, 2017
• On DVD or streaming : November 14, 2017
• Cast : Jennifer Jason Leigh , Bella Thorne , Thomas Mann
• Director : Franck Khalfoun
• Inclusion Information : Female actors, Pansexual actors, Latino actors
• Studio : The Weinstein Company
• Genre : Horror
• Topics : Monsters, Ghosts, and Vampires
• Run time : 85 minutes
• MPAA rating : R
• MPAA explanation : strong horror violence and for language
• Last updated : January 14, 2023

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Amityville: The Awakening Reviews

The Awakening suffers in large part because Khalfoun sticks to familiar possession tropes, but also because he refuses to embrace the interesting facets of his narrative...The result is bland; this is a movie that just is.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Jul 31, 2023

She (Bella Thorne) is the clichéd Goth girl incarnate, made even more laughable by the fact that almost no teenager in 2017 still wears the studded belts and corset tops that is Belle's "sad girl" costume.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Jan 7, 2020

A vulgar exercise of terror that, despite its defects, manages to stand out from its delectable predecessors. [Full Review in Spanish]

Full Review | Jul 30, 2019

The director and screenwriter could not be concerned to narratively justify the very obvious incidents. [Full Review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Jun 16, 2018

A worthy sister to Amityville II. [Full Review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jun 16, 2018

A depressingly tedious ghost story...

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/4 | Jun 16, 2018

Enjoyable B-movie horror without pretensions nor cynicism. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jan 29, 2018

It reminds us that evil, in capital letters, is cyclical. [Full Review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jan 22, 2018

Instead of tension and thrills, there's just a bunch of clichs and an overwhelming sense of dj vu.

Full Review | Original Score: 0.5/5 | Dec 1, 2017

Horror fans can probably give it a single viewing but if you aren't a fan of the genre, you could skip this one.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Dec 1, 2017

Amityville: The Awakening becomes a different kind of movie for its climax, embracing a cheesy camp factor that might have worked if the entire thing were that way.

Full Review | Nov 14, 2017

It's a series of routines within a routine formula, and the result is as tedious as it sounds.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/4 | Oct 27, 2017

This umpteenth sequel in the Amityville franchise isn't that great, but it's surprisingly better than most of the other entries.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Oct 26, 2017

The script is just as lazy as the acting, leaning on a fitfully applied, Scream-esque meta subplot to justify why the hell we're all here in the first place.

Full Review | Original Score: C- | Oct 26, 2017

The most horrendously dull film with the word Amityville in the title yet.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/5 | Oct 25, 2017

Amityville: The Awakening is the kind of "meta" sequel that pokes fun of other franchise entries - saying 2005's remake "blows" - without ever recognizing its own place in (back of) the pack.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/10 | Oct 25, 2017

The Awakening often feels as if it's starting all over again from scene to scene, drinking in Belle as she wanders one shadowy corridor after another.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Oct 22, 2017

The film does not escape the classic recipes of the genre, but ... the thriller convinces by its climate of sustained suspense and sows terror among the grateful spectators. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Oct 20, 2017

Amityville: The Awakening has a good cast, and, if viewed by a group of rowdy friends late at night, may certainly do its due diligence in periodically startling you for 87 minutes

Full Review | Original Score: 5.5/10 | Oct 13, 2017

Feels half baked and woefully under developed.

Full Review | Oct 12, 2017

Summary Belle (Bella Thorne), her little sister, and her comatose twin brother move into a new house with their single mother Joan in order to save money to help pay for her brother's expensive healthcare. But when strange phenomena begin to occur in the house including the miraculous recovery of her brother, Belle begins to suspect her Mother i ... Read More

Directed By : Franck Khalfoun

Amityville: The Awakening

Where to watch.

Jennifer Jason Leigh

Bella Thorne

Mckenna Grace

Cameron Monaghan

Thomas Mann

Taylor Spreitler

Jennifer Morrison

Kurtwood Smith

Dan martino, brian breiter, young belle, sabrina harris, darrell duane, stuffed seal, critic reviews.

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Amityville: The Awakening - Review

One of the more watchable amityville films, for whatever that praise may be worth..

Franck Khalfoun's Amityville: The Awakening is, according to the press materials, the 10th canonical film in a long-running central Amityville series, a franchise of films that has wended its way calmly and unobtrusively through the history of horror movies without much notice. While the 1979 film The Amityville Horror, based on Jay Anson's notorious “true story” of a real-life haunting in the titular New York town, is considered to be something of a minor horror classic, few of the film's many sequels, reboots, and spinoffs have left much impression in people's minds (Amityville II: The Possession being, perhaps, the one exception, if only for its incestuous underpinnings).

Amityville: The Awakening, while largely a generic haunting film without much in the way of a hook beyond its famous setting, can at least claim to be one of the more watchable Amityville films, for whatever that praise may be worth. Awakening boasts decent production values, a notable cast that includes Jennifer Jason Leigh and Kurtwood Smith, and a few fleeting moments of palpable, spooky atmosphere. And while Awakening never manages to move the needle anywhere past the most basic baseline reading, it is perhaps the best Amityville film since 1983.

Awakening stars Bella Thorne as Belle, a stereotypical broody Goth teen whose doting mother (Leigh) has moved her, her younger sister (Mckenna Grace), and her comatose twin brother James (Cameron Monaghan) into the infamous 112 Ocean Ave. house in the hopes that the new setting will revive her son. James, a frightening, skeletal figure, is a dark specter that hangs over the family. Mom believes he can still recover, but his sisters have largely accepted that James left them long ago. It's during the heady and serious conversations about James that Awakening threatens to break into something salient and poignant.

Belle, perhaps naturally, doesn't know about the dark history of the house until an enthused classmate (Thomas Mann) shows her a DVD of the 1979 feature film and a copy of Anson's book. That the 1979 film exists as a film within its own continuity is a little dizzying, but a wise horror fan knows to ignore such trifling double-backs. As if on cue, Belle begins seeing shadowy figures lurking in the hallways at night, and James begins showing signs of recovery... or possession.

There are the makings of a very good family drama hidden within Awakening, and director Khalfoun (Maniac, P2) manages to squeeze a notable – if not enormous – amount of tactile suffering out of his trim screenplay. The film, however, swiftly jettisons its maturity, preferring to become a usual collection of usual jump scares, usual banging noises, and usual shots of usual pajama-clad teens wandering slowly down usual darkened passageways to investigate usual spooky noises. The scares are handled with competence, but horror fans deserve more than mere competence.

Amityville: The Awakening was completed in 2014, but was shelved for three years due to various distribution problems. It is now finally been made available for free on Google Play in advance of a proper theatrical release on October 28th. (It will also be available on Blu-ray and DVD on November 14.) Incidentally, in the three years it took this film to be released, about five or six other Amityville films made their way to the public.

The Verdict

Amityville: The Awakening has a good cast, and, if viewed by a group of rowdy friends late at night, may certainly do its due diligence in periodically startling you for 87 minutes, but never manages to transcend its genre in any meaningful way.

Amityville: The Awakening

Amityville: the awakening review.

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Horror fans can probably give it a single viewing but if you aren’t a fan of the genre, you could skip this one.

Amityville: The Awakening Movie Review

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Amityville: The Awakening (2017)

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• Play Trailer

Every house has a history. This one has a legend.

Belle, her little sister, and her comatose twin brother move into a new house with their single mother Joan in order to save money to help pay for her brother's expensive healthcare. But when strange phenomena begin to occur in the house including the miraculous recovery of her brother, Belle begins to suspect her Mother isn't telling her everything and soon realizes they just moved into the infamous Amityville house.

Franck Khalfoun

Director, Writer

Top Billed Cast

Bella Thorne

Belle Walker

Cameron Monaghan

James Walker

Jennifer Jason Leigh

Joan Walker

Thomas Mann

Jennifer Morrison

Kurtwood Smith

Mckenna Grace

Juliet Walker

Taylor Spreitler

Brian Breiter

Full Cast & Crew

• Discussions 3

Featured Review

A review by reno, written by reno on february 4, 2018.

They're trying to bring back the series!

So the Amityville series continues. What this is like overall a tenth film. The last one was a decade ago. I'm okay with their idea of bringing it up. But there's nothing new in it. Only it was a different cast and timeline. So basically, you probably have seen this story in other flicks.

A family of a single mother with one child with a serious medical condition moves into the most popular haunted house, the Amityville. The other one, a teen girl discovers the rumours from her new schoolmates. But the mother won't heed to it, till unusual even... read the rest.

Read All Reviews

• Most Popular

Status Released

Original Language English

Budget $12,000,000.00

Revenue $8,500,000.00

• haunted house

Content Score 

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Amityville: The Awakening Parent Guide

Can home really cure all ills.

Release date October 27, 2017

Belle (Bella Thorne) becomes suspicious about her new home when her younger brother, who has serious health problems, is healed by living in their new house in the town of Amityville. And she believes her mother (Jennifer Jason Leigh) may know the secret behind the miracle.

Run Time: 85 minutes

News About "Amityville: The Awakening"

A series of books and movies have been written about this house in Amityville, New York, where the DeFoe family was murdered on January 14, 1976 . Thanks to the events recounted by George and Kathy Lutz, who later bought the property but lived there only 28 days, there has also been lots of speculation about the possible haunting of subsequent residents.

While it is impossible to find the unbiased truth about either the initial murders or the subsequent claims of paranormal activity, there are several sources that try to shed more light on the dark subject. Check out some of the following: Amityville Horror True Story - Real Amityville House, Lutz Family The Truth About The Amityville Horror – Just the facts The Real Amityville Horror - Biography.com

From the Studio: Belle, her little sister, and her comatose twin brother move into a new house with their single mother Joan in order to save money to help pay for her brother's expensive healthcare. But when strange phenomena begin to occur in the house including the miraculous recovery of her brother, Belle begins to suspect her Mother isn't telling her everything and soon realizes they just moved into the infamous Amityville house. Written by The Weinstein Company

Cast and Crew

Amityville: The Awakening is directed by Franck Khalfoun and stars Bella Thorne, Cameron Monaghan, Jennifer Jason Leigh.

The most recent home video release of Amityville: The Awakening movie is November 14, 2017. Here are some details…

Amityville: The Awakening releases to home video on November 14, 2017.

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Amityville: the awakening.

2017 Directed by Franck Khalfoun

Every house has a history. This one has a legend.

Belle, her little sister, and her comatose twin brother move into a new house with their single mother Joan in order to save money to help pay for her brother's expensive healthcare. But when strange phenomena begin to occur in the house including the miraculous recovery of her brother, Belle begins to suspect her Mother isn't telling her everything and soon realizes they just moved into the infamous Amityville house.

Bella Thorne Cameron Monaghan Jennifer Jason Leigh Thomas Mann Jennifer Morrison Kurtwood Smith Mckenna Grace Taylor Spreitler Brian Breiter

Director Director

Franck Khalfoun

Producers Producers

Jason Blum Daniel Farrands Casey La Scala Phillip Dawe

Writer Writer

Casting casting.

Terri Taylor

Editor Editor

Patrick McMahon

Cinematography Cinematography

Steven Poster

Executive Producers Exec. Producers

Harvey Weinstein Ted Fox Jeanette Volturno Keith Levine Steve B. Harris Jeff Rice Mark Moran Matthew Signer Paul Mason George Furla Steve Whitney Matthew Stein Couper Samuelson David Glasser Randall Emmett Bob Weinstein Alix Taylor Avi Lerner

Camera Operator Camera Operator

Scott Andrew Ressler

Production Design Production Design

David Lazan

Art Direction Art Direction

Chris Dileo

Set Decoration Set Decoration

Regina O'Brien

Stunts Stunts

Jessica Harbeck Cassandra McCormick Bevin Kaye

Composer Composer

Robin Coudert

Costume Design Costume Design

Mairi Chisholm

Blumhouse Productions Miramax Dimension Films

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20 jul 2017, 30 jun 2017, 28 jul 2017, 24 aug 2017, 21 sep 2017, 22 sep 2017, 28 sep 2017, 18 oct 2017, 02 feb 2018, 19 apr 2018, 15 dec 2017, 30 apr 2021, 14 nov 2017, releases by country.

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Review by cinéfila... 🕯️ ★½ 2

we as a society really fucked up when we let bella thorne have a career

Review by Mike ½ 4

I’m still not convinced that this is a real movie

Review by Tony the Terror ★★½ 7

So, I’ve said it before but I’ll happily say it again: I really love haunted house horror movies , mmkay? So, when it comes to that sub-genre of horror, my opinion is probably sometimes a bit biased. Still, I was expecting this movie to be a complete and total train wreck and, shockingly, it wasn’t. It also wasn’t great but I found it to be passably entertaining.

The story is decent: Belle and her family, including her comatose brother, move into the infamous house in Amityville. Strange things begin happening as Belle’s brother begins to miraculously recover but she soon learns something much more sinister is going on. I thought it was an original way to put people back in the…

Review by Willow Maclay ★ 1

K I L L M E

P L E A S E

Review by Ian West ★★★ 12

I’m a sucker for Amityville movies (I spent a lot of time in Long Island as a kid and went past the house many times) and I’ve been fascinated with it ever since. Probably my fourth favorite Amityville movie? It’s solid, put together well with some ok scares and better than average performances, and nowhere near as terrible as I had ben led to believe. I liked the approach the director (whose  Maniac is one of my favorite movies of the decade) went for... kind of reminded me of 2014’s The Town that Dreaded Sundown in that way—meta, but it’s low key, subtle, and never came off as super obnoxious. Surprisingly solid cast in this as well, really happy to see…

Review by Tony the Terror ★★½ 4

Upon a rewatch, I realize the biggest mistake this movie made was keeping Cameron Monaghan in his boxers during the climatic scenes.

Maybe one day you’ll learn to give us equal male nudity, Hollywood. And I’ll be here to say “told ya so, losers.”

Review by Elric Kane ★ 1

So. Many. Dream. Scenes.  So. Many. Cheap. Jump. Scares.  So. Many. Reasons. To. Turn. Off.

Review by 🦇 GORY B MOVIE 🦇 ★★★ 2

Get your tomatoes ready because I'm going to say the unthinkable: I liked this movie.

Now hear me out. I'm not saying it's a perfect film and maybe my low expectations going into this helped, but I was invested from beginning to end.

Much of this I credit to the performances. Everyone did a fantastic job and I connected to these characters. Also, when the effects worked, they worked well. I also appreciated the very original take on the franchise.

There were elements of the movie that reminded me of Pet Semetary as well as Insidious. Honestly, I think I enjoyed this more than Insidious but there are a number of similarities in the scares department.

Where it doesn't work is the lame CGI and an overreliance on dream sequences.

Still overall, a decent film and one I'm glad I saw. Give it a chance. Who knows? Maybe it will surprise you too.

Review by rachey ★½ 1

When Cameron Monaghan said K I L L  M E  P L E A S E   I felt that

Review by aisha ★½ 1

at least cameron was in it

Review by Eli Hayes ★ 2

I'm absolutely baffled as to how a film directed by Franck Khalfoun, shot by Steven Poster, edited by Patrick McMahon & composed by Robin Coudert could have gone so astray. Yes, Bella Thorne is not a good actress but the supporting cast is relatively strong and, regardless, the acting herein is the least of the picture's problems. Coudert has composed two of my favorites original scores of the century, and then... this? Khalfoun probably just shouldn't write his own scripts. The difference in quality between Amityville: The Awakening and Maniac (2012) -- one of the very few horror films, since the turn of the century, to which I've awarded a perfect score -- is genuinely mind-boggling.

Review by {Todd} ½

"Are you sure you want me to do this?" - Belle,

I have heard of Bella Thorne but this is the first time I have ever seen her in anything other than a few clips on Disney. I am shocked by how bad of an actress she is and that Amityville: The Awakening is such a monumental failure. I mean this is painful and if it had been given a wider release I would say it was probably the worst real movie that I have ever seen. I hope that Jennifer Jason Leigh, a fucking treasure, was paid well.

P.S. I want set design people to please stop putting pixies T-shirts and posters on the walls of douchey teen bedrooms! That band is fucking awesome and doesn't deserve it!

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Amityville: The Awakening (2017)

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‘Amityville: The Awakening’ (2017) wastes its meta premise

“Amityville: The Awakening” (2017) has a hook, at least when I say it out loud. The story is set in the “real world,” where the DeFeo murders and Lutz hauntings happened, and all the books and movies and documentaries exist. Amityville High student Terrence (Thomas Mann) pulls out a DVD of “The Amityville Horror” (1979), and later a paperback of Jay Anson’s “The Amityville Horror: A True Story” (1977).

He is providing research material for new student Belle (Bella Thorne), whose family has moved into the haunted house 40 years after the real-world events. Some viewers will scoff and say “How does Belle not know she’s moving into an infamous house? This is the age of the internet.” But remember that teens are self-centered, and while knowledge is at their fingertips, they are more likely to be scrolling through social media.

This setup by writer-director Franck Khalfoun is sturdy, and it’s nice that we don’t have to try to figure out the “Amityville” continuity (if there even is such a thing). Granted, Terrence throws us off by perpetuating the myth that “Amityville II: The Possession” is a prequel. (It was marketed as a prequel, but the narrative itself is a sequel.) But the bottom line: “Awakening” doesn’t have continuity baggage.

“Amityville: The Awakening” (2017)

Director: Franck Khalfoun

Writer: Franck Khalfoun

Stars: Jennifer Jason Leigh, Bella Thorne, Mckenna Grace

On Tuesdays this summer, RFMC is looking back at selected films in the “Amityville” series.

An unimaginative re-imagining

Unfortunately, Khalfoun – a competent director, as seen in the hidden Christmas horror gem “P2” – gives us a re-imagining that’s not imaginative.

The characters are modernized: Belle and her friends (or “friends” – she’s not all that tight with Terrence or Taylor Spreightler’s Marissa) are savvy, above-it-all 2010s teens. But the story is shopworn. In a similar situation to the superior “The Haunting in Connecticut,” sickly son James (Cameron Monaghan) is subject to being possessed by a demon.

“Awakening” gives us minor twists of character motivation, and it for some reason has a stellar cast. Jennifer Jason Leigh is the mom who frets over James’ bedside, Mckenna Grace is the kid sister, and Jennifer Morrison and Kurtwood Smith are doctors. Thorne is easy on the eyes. Monaghan, so good as the proto-Joker on “Gotham,” is mildly compelling despite playing “vegetative state” for much of the runtime.

At 87 minutes, “Awakening” gets in, bores us, and gets out. The meta concept suggests a commentary on what the “Amityville” films have done to the residents. The answer is that no one cares about the hauntings (which granted, does fit with reality, but the film doesn’t get any humor out of this angle). Alpha-teens know Belle lives in the house, and they briefly use that to harass her (because kids are a**h***s), but that’s it.

“Awakening” has a modern gloss but it has more in common with old-school horror sequels that rehash the original. Actually, that’s unfair to those films, which often have an engaging trash-cinema vibe. “Amityville: The Awakening” is well-made but coma-inducing.

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The ‘Amityville’ Horrors Keep Coming

The famed “Amityville Horror” film has spawned at least 45 sequels. A look at why the Amityville name has endured in the horror genre.

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By Erik Piepenburg

Erik Piepenburg writes about horror for The Times.

When it comes to large film franchises, a few titans emerge: Godzilla, James Bond, Spider-Man.

But there’s one movie with so many offspring, it’s giving those big boys a run for their money: “The Amityville Horror.”

There are at least 45 sequels to Stuart Rosenberg’s 1979 horror drama about a family under siege by supernatural forces inside their home in suburban Amityville, Long Island. That’s more than the “Star Wars,” “Fast and Furious” and “X-Men” franchises combined.

So many Amityville movies are being cranked out — at least four this year — that the horror magazine Fangoria added Best Amityville Film as a category in its annual awards last year.

“There’s a built-in marketplace for the Amityville franchise,” said the director Shawn C. Phillips, whose films include “Amityville Karen” and the new “Amityville Bigfoot” with Eric Roberts. “There are people out there that will literally watch every single Amityville film they make. It’s kind of gotten to the point where filmmakers are trying to top one another.”

To be fair, “sequel” and “franchise” are being used generously. Fewer than 10 films make up the legit “Amityville Horror” canon, and even that number is up for debate. Like the word “Paranormal,” “Amityville” has become more of a low-effort synecdoche for generic possessions of things (“Amityville Vibrator”), holidays ( “Amityville Christmas Vacation” ) or locations ( “Amityville in Space” ). The films are mostly comedic, have micro budgets and have little continuity with the original.

As for quality, they aren’t just eh, they’re mostly ugh , ranging from satisfyingly entertaining to soul-suckingly terrible. But they keep being made.

“A bunch are unwatchable, although some people may say that about my films,” said the director Thomas J. Churchill, whose Amityville trilogy is streaming on Starz . “My films are designed to help you forget two hours of life and be entertained.”

Mike Stone, a YouTube horror movie critic , reviewed 42 Amityville films before calling it quits. He said that in some die-hard corners of horror fandom, watching anything Amityville — there are probably 54, by his count — confers bragging rights.

“It requires commitment to seeing how much this is going to hurt,” he said — a kind of “cinematic masochism.”

Joe Lipsett, who is reviewing many of the new films for the horror website Bloody Disgusting, said that a big driver behind them is money.

“Being able to sell it and get a viewership even if it’s not super lucrative is probably enough so that people are going to pay attention to it, as opposed to some other schlocky title,” he said.

Unlike Hollywood franchises, Amityville — the word and setting — are free to use without litigious repercussions as long as the film doesn’t too closely mirror the original. A similar grab is happening with Winnie the Pooh, already the subject of two slasher films now that the copyright to A.A. Milne’s 1926 book “Winnie-the-Pooh” has expired .

The public domain is a gift for low-budget horror filmmakers who may never make a “Saw” film but who still want to toy with a recognizable horror brand, the better to attract eyeballs on catchall streaming platforms like Tubi.

“If you can’t afford an I.P., Amityville is a name you can get for free,” said Jacob Oller, the movies editor at Paste magazine who has written about the “Amityville” universe. “Slap anything on the end of it — just grab a theme out of the ether — and someone will stream it.”

“The Amityville Horror” was a box office hit and became a touchstone of modern house-possessed horror movies, inspiring the “Conjuring” and other franchises. (The original is streaming on Max .) It was based on a real tragedy from 1974, when Ronald DeFeo Jr. murdered his family — his parents, Ronald and Louise, and his four siblings, Dawn, Allison, Mark and John Matthew — at his family’s home on Ocean Avenue in Amityville, on Long Island’s South Shore.

DeFeo claimed he heard voices telling him to kill, but he eventually confessed to the murders, and was convicted in 1975 on six counts of second-degree murder. He died in 2021 while serving 25 years to life in prison.

A year after the murders, the Lutz family — George, Kathy and their three kids — moved into the house and claimed to experience sinister supernatural forces, fleeing less than a month later. Their ordeal — or hoax , to skeptics — inspired a 1977 best-selling book and the first film, which starred James Brolin and Margot Kidder.

According to a spokesperson for the United States Patent and Trademark Office, in 2002 the trademark “The Amityville Horror” was federally registered by George Lutz for a series of nonfiction books about the paranormal, but the registration was canceled in 2008. In 2023, the trademark “The Amityville Horror” was federally registered for a series of horror films and TV shows, as well as horror film production and distribution, by MGM, and remains active.

Since the first film, the Amityville house has been renovated and its address changed. It’s currently occupied and still attracts curious visitors, but its Street View image on Google Maps is blurred out . A spokesperson for Google Maps declined to provide details about why or who requested it, citing privacy concerns.

Not everyone is thrilled with the expanding Amityville galaxy. In response to an email saying this story was happening, and seeking comment, Dennis M. Siry, the Amityville mayor, wrote: “Please don’t.”

The film historian Bryan Thomas Norton is no fan of the new movies.

“Amityville is basically worth bupkis as far as credible horror movie currency goes,” said Norton, whose book “For God’s Sake, Get Out!,” about the canonical Amityville films, comes out this fall.

Paula M. Uruburu, a professor emeritus in literature and film at Hofstra University, grew up near the Amityville house, and as a teenager was friends with Dawn DeFeo. A fan of the original film, she hopes the seemingly unquenchable thirst for “Amityville” movies doesn’t overshadow the tragedy behind it.

“The real horror was the murder of the family and going to the funeral and seeing six coffins at the church,” she said.

Like it or not, she added, a lovely Long Island village may forever be an indelible shorthand.

“Amityville,” she said, “means horror.”

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