Why were they called The Monticellis?
Why weren't they called the DeFeos?
shareWhen the original The Amityville Horror was released, George and Kathy Lutz held the sequel rights to it. When this movie was being made, they couldn't say it was a sequel (although I think it works better that way), instead calling it a prequel. The DeFeo name was changed to Montelli to further distance the movie from the Lutzes' story and copyright/sequel claims. However, the Lutzes sued over the infringement of their sequel rights to the story. During that time, Amityville 3-D was made, and on the movie posters for that movie, they put on that it was not a sequel to the films The Amityville Horror or Amityville II: The Possession. If I remember right, all that did was add more fuel to the fire.
shareSo when I watch this again, should I think of it as a sequel instead of a prequel? Or it's own stand alone film?
shareI always watch it as a sequel since the family is different, the house is fixed up better from the first movie, and the way the murders happen is different.
share"the house is fixed up better from the first movie"
That's exactly why you should think of it as a prequel. The house looks newer and nicer and not the rundown dump that it was in the first one.
I'm happiest...in the saddle.
[deleted]