In case you haven’t heard, Dimension Films and Blumhouse Productions are teaming up to reboot the Amityville Horror franchise. Aptly titled Amityville, the film now has a director and two stars in the form of Maniac helmer Franck Khalfoun and actresses Jennifer Jason Leigh and Bella Thorne.
According to Bloody Disgusting, Leigh will be playing a single mom with three children. When the family moves into the infamous Amityville house, they learn of its dark history and from there, the terror ensues. It sounds pretty generic and basically identical to every other film in the franchise, but hopefully the producers can do something fresh with it. Originally, the plan was to go the found footage route. Thankfully, that idea has been scrapped.
As the twelfth film in the Amityville franchise, I can’t say that I’m too excited for this entry. Sure, Khalfoun’s Maniac was quite impressive, and Blumhouse Productions’ involvement is promising, but still, how many of these haunted house movies do we need? James Wan was able to do something fresh and terrifying with The Conjuring, but most films that feature haunted houses turn out stale and recycled. Unfortunately, I fear that this will be the case with Amityville.
For those who don’t know, the franchise is based on the paranormal experiences of the Lutz family while living on Long Island in the winter of 1975. From evil spirits to a mysterious green ooze coming from the walls and everything in between, George and Kathy Lutz, and their three children, claimed to have seen it all.
Amityville will arrive in theatres on January 2nd, 2015. Tell us, are you sick and tired of these haunted house movies, or are you hopeful that this reboot can bring something new to the subgenre?