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Twice a month Joe Lipsett will dissect a new Amityville Horror film to explore how the “franchise” has evolved in increasingly ludicrous directions. This is “The Amityville IP.”

A bizarre recurring issue with the Amityville “franchise” is that the films tend to be needlessly complicated. Back in the day, the first sequels moved away from the original film’s religious-themed haunted house storyline in favor of streamlined, easily digestible concepts such as “haunted lamp” or “haunted mirror.”

As the budgets plummeted and indie filmmakers capitalized on the brand’s notoriety, it seems the wrong lessons were learned. Runtimes have ballooned past the 90-minute mark and the narratives are often saggy and unfocused.

Both issues are clearly on display in Amityville Karen (2022), a film that starts off rough, but promising, and ends with a confused whimper.

The promise is embodied by the tinge of self-awareness in Julie Anne Prescott (The Amityville Harvest)’s screenplay,...

On November 13, 1974, at 112 Ocean Ave. in Amityville, New York, a young man named Ronald DeFeo woke up in the middle of the night, took up a shotgun, and went from room to room in his home, systematically murdering six members of his family. DeFeo was apprehended by the police. At first, DeFeo claimed the murders were mob-related, but he later confessed to committing the crimes himself. He was sentenced to 25 years to life for his crimes. DeFeo died in prison in 2021. 

DeFeo's murders became notorious with the publication of Jay Anson's nonfiction book "The Amityville Horror" in 1977. After the killings, the Lutz family moved into 112 Ocean Ave., and they claimed to experience a panoply of paranormal phenomena. Flies mobbed the building, and the entire Lutz family reported hearing eerie voices. George Lutz, the family patriarch, claimed to be possessed by a demonic presence that was driving him to kill his family.

This article contains spoilers for "Chucky" season 3, episode 3.

Alien vs. Predator. Freddy vs. Jason. Sadako vs. Kayako. Bobby "Boris" Pickett's "Monster Mash."

Throughout horror genre history, there have been numerous examples of characters crossing over into one another's universes, continuity, and canon. While cinematic universes featuring characters from other genres are all the rage these days (especially with regard to action and comic book superheroes), there remains something special about the horror crossover.

For one thing, horror was the first genre to birth a cinematic universe long before it became a buzzworthy term, thanks to Universal Pictures' "Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man" in 1943. For another, a horror crossover typically isn't like a Marvel Cinematic Universe film, where heroes from their own separate franchises team up to hang out, crack wise, and eventually take on a doomsday villain. Instead, it's all about the thematic weight of not one, but two...

Live or die. The choice is yours. But if you reach ten sequels, shit’s probably going to get weird. This week, the Saw franchise returns with Saw X. Which means people really like to see other people tortured and I’m judging every single one of us. It also means the Saw franchise has done something quite special. Not many horror franchises make it this long. Not even Freddy himself has crossed the tenth movie finish line. Scream. Evil Dead. Child’s Play. Paranormal Activity. The Conjuring. Even when you include the spinoffs, none of them have hit ten films!

But Saw X isn’t the first horror franchise to reach that landmark. So, let’s play a game and take a look at how other franchises have fared in their milestone tenth installments…

Jason X (2001)

Walk into one room and bemoan Jason X and everyone will laugh and agree.

Plot: A four-part docuseries digs into the troubling true stories behind The Amityville Horror.

Review: The Amityville brand has gone completely out of control in recent years. Low budget filmmakers have been taking advantage of the fact that anyone can slap “Amityville” into the title of their movie, flooding the market with titles like Amityville in the Hood, Amityville in Space, Amityville Karen, Amityville Cop, Amityville Vampire, Amityville Shark House, and The Amityville Vibrator. I’m not saying these movies are bad. I haven’t seen them. But it’s clear that the Amityville name has drifted far away from the stories that made us take notice of that name in the first place. So even though we’ve heard the story of George and Kathy Lutz moving into a haunted house and we know the DeFeo family was murdered in that house, it was a smart idea on the part of MGM,...

Shawn C Phillips’ 80s style horror comedy Mistletoe Massacre has launched it’s Indiegogo Campaign. This follows Shawn’s previous films, Amityville Shark House, Amityville Karen, Amityville Bigfoot, and Woods Witch. Youtube sensation, Lauren Francesca joins Shawn C Phillips to director Mistletoe Massacre. They previously co-directed Woods Witch together. Michael Joy (The House In The Pines, Holes [...]

The post Mistletoe Massacre Launches Indiegogo Campaign appeared first on Horror Asylum.

Shawn C Phillips’ 80s style horror comedy Mistletoe Massacre has launched it’s Indiegogo Campaign. This follows Shawn’s previous films, Amityville Shark House, Amityville Karen, Amityville Bigfoot, and Woods Witch. Youtube sensation, Lauren Francesca joins Shawn C Phillips to director Mistletoe Massacre. They previously co-directed Woods Witch together. Michael Joy (The House In The Pines, Holes …

The post Michael Joy joins Shawn C Phillips’ Horror Comedy, Mistletoe Massacre appeared first on Horror News | Hnn.