How?The original Jay Anson novel was a fabrication of the Lutze's and their attorney.Fact.The only true Amityville horror was that which resulted in the murder of the DeFeo family by Ronnie Jr,possibly with his sister Dawn.
However I will watch this film as I am a sucker for all of these Amityville films and books!Pure escapism (except Asylum and Haunting which bored me,as the trailer of this film did also!).
All of it is complete fiction but some people simply refuse to believe it's fake simply because they desperately WANT it to be true. Not entirely sure why that is but I guess they don't like living in reality like the rest of us. The same people refuse to believe The Warrens featured in The Conjuring are con artists despite endless evidence their whole shtick has been a hoax.
shareI can only personally speculate.I read the book when I was young,naturally I believed it as the cover told me it was True.I believed that when any media claimed this then it had to be!
Now nothing has changed,shows such as Most Haunted or A Haunting and many others still claim to be True.They are also sold as just "entertainment" shows so that discounts any genuine credibility.
As for the Amityville franchise of films and books,I know they are a crock of *beep* written or films with no artistic merit.I know the Warrens were entertainers preying on people's vulnerabilities,but both subjects entertained me in both forms of media.
As much as I like Dickens,the Brontës,Du Maurier,Straub,King,Maupin and many other literate authors-I always enjoy some badly written trash from Jones or the Warrens!
dude.. Dickens and maupin/king on the same level... trash is king. It's good but it's not literature.
shareOh it's a fact that it's a hoax, huh? So that must mean you were there?
shareTheir attorney was there who admits to creating the hoax with the Lutze's in order to create a new defence for Ronnie DeFeo.Police officer's were never alerted to the house,nor was the priest.Jay Anson's first edition is quite different than later editions,anybody who believes that these events are fact are clearly in denial of the truth.I have experienced the paranormal many times,the Lutze's didn't.
shareYeah that was exactly my thoughts. I think they get away with saying that *beep* because of the back story. Ronald Defeo Jr did kill his entire family one night in 1974 in that house.
Everything else is total bollocks of course. The Lutz family purchased the house for a bargain price in 1975, in my opinion, because they had this great idea of how to make money on it - basically by fabricating a load of events which they could get a book and film deal on.
'The various owners of the house since the Lutz family left in 1976 have reported no problems while living there. James Cromarty, who bought the house in 1977 and lived there with his wife Barbara for ten years, commented: "Nothing weird ever happened, except for people coming by because of the book and the movie."'
-Wikipedia
"I don't reckon I got no reason to kill nobody."
Evidence also implicates Dawn,Ronnie's sister.Now I am not one for conspiracy theories or Ronnie's self indulgent infamy,but it does sound possible.
shareWhile I appreciate it sounds possible, what I think you must appreciate is that Ronald Defeo Jr has come up with about 10 different versions of what happened that night and you're talking about number 9.
In regards to that particular story, Ronald claimed that he accidentally shot her when he was trying to wrestle the gun off her. Yet there was no sign of a struggle and all of his victims were posed the same - lying on their belly.
And before you say, 'Yes but she had powder from the shotgun on her nightie,' they have looked into that and the experts say that that was because he shot her at very close range.
Don't mean to burst your bubble bud, but the most likely explanation is that Ronald Defeo Jr is a psychopath who killed his entire family one night.
"I don't reckon I got no reason to kill nobody."
I stand corrected.De Feo is a psychopath,liar and can be attributed to many other titles.He has changed his story far to many times to have any credibility,however I had believed that Dawn could have been involved and Ronnie killed her in a fit of rage upon discovering that she murdered the children.As I stated,I stand corrected!
You are also obviously knowledgable regarding the true Amityville horror.So what is your opinion on the film and books franchise?
I'm afraid that I contribute to the capitalism of this subject,the films and books are very entertaining trash!
Ronald Defeo Jr is a horrible waste of space, seeing him in interviews he is nothing more than a lying, cheating scumbag who killed his family because he wasn't getting his way. You can see Amityville 2: The Possession which again says it is based on a true story - this time The Defeo's, but it is nowhere near true even Ronald Defeo Jr admitted that. As far as the Amityville stories are concerned it's best to take them all with a pinch of salt. It is widely alleged that George and Cathy Lutz sat down with their lawyer and created this story over several drinks, others claim that they have had experiences of their own. I just look at it as a collection of 'fun' horror movies, cashing in on a name, that aren't based in real life stories - If the people that lived there until recently say they never had an issue I believe them. Also, everything in the 70's & 80's was buried on an ancient Indian burial ground, it's a standing joke. 😊
shareThey are fun,so are the badly written books with Amityville in the title!
If the Clutze's (and one of the sons with his angry documentary) can capitalise on lies then why shouldn't film makers and author's!
I'll wait for the DVD of this new film.
Yes,then DeFeo's lawyer concocted the haunting aspect with the Lutze's.I believe,I may be mistaken,that this was then going to be a defence for DeFeo "the devil made me do it" or some such nonsense.
What DeFeo did was the real Amityville horror,whatever the actual truth may be.
Yes, apparently the new evidence hypothisized that Dawn and Ronnie hated the step father and their mother for allowing him to be so abusive. The theory is that Dawn, who made the meals, drugged the family (no one moved in their beds, which would have been odd because the gun used would have made a terrible noise). However, the theory is that she only agreed to kill the parents and that she said no about their brothers and sisters so Ronnie killed her. Again, it's only theory, but she did have gun residue on her nightgown.
The facts of this story are sad: A family moves into a home, has an abusive parent, and the eldest son has issues, which included substance abuse. LSD was the drug of choice and let me tell you, that drug would let you hear voices for sure.
What I found interesting, which was brought up in later years, was that Ronnie was in fact afraid of the mafia, and alleged his stepfather was part of it. He had said the mafia had threatened to kill their family because of the father not wanting to continue with laundring money through the used car lot he owned.
That hit a point with me: How could this family of seven afford such a house in such a prominent location at that time? (the Defaoes).
From here, it was not long after that the Lutz's went to see the house, but knew they couldn't afford it. they met author Jay Anson in a bar, and when the bar tender (who knew Ronnie as he was also an alcoholic) said that George Lutz looked like Ronnie's twin, they concocted the story in the bar that night. The Lutz's were in debt, needed money and Jay Anson wanted fame and fortune. He didn't care that what he was writing was a lie.
After they story came out, moreso the film, many people started to make inquiries and found the Lutz's story constantly changing, and eventually the fraud came out. Anson was quoted as not caring -that he made his millions. How odd it was that, at 36, he died of a heart attack (writing a book entitled '666' btw).
The Warrens were frauds. This was known in the parapsychology world. They went in and said the house was possessed. Guess what? Not ONE person has had a problem in that house since the Lutz's left.
There are a few really good youtube documentaries I suggest people watch: Journalists who went into the home and found out WHY things happened (the window that slammed shut on the kids hand was related to a floor board that , if stepped on, jammed the window and would then fly open if the floor board had no weight, that the flies were a result of shutting the house up after 6 murders and blood not cleaned out of vents, for which flies were drawn too and trapped in the house...the list goes on)
So, the 'based on a true story' isn't a lie: Ronald Defao murdered his parents and siblings in 1974.
I think they are talking about the murders, not all the paranormal stuff that was happening inside the house. The murders really did happen.
shareit's based on actual events as in this movie has been made a million times already.
shareIt actually says "inspired" by true events. Meaning some true events gave them inspiration for this movie...
Which could be literally anything that happened in the house, or just the general fact that a house that looked similar to that existed, or potentially even some random true event that has nothing to with Amityville at all.
If the writers were inspired to make the film because one of their relatives, who may have lived in Hawaii, had neurological problems they could still say it was inspired by true events.
Hell the writer could have been inspired by once moving to a new house (perfectly normal and not haunted) and still say the movie was inspired by true events.
Its a very wishy washy phrase.