Jacob finds inspiration in an antique clock he purchased in New York, a clock that once sat on the mantle of 112 Ocean Drive (and also in the murder dungeon of a French schoolmaster, but the movie doesn’t waste too much time on that weird offshoot)Īpropos of a trendy developer, Jacob’s home is the epitome of early 90s cheese. The home belongs to widower Jacob Sterling ( Stephen Macht), a housing developer tasked with designing a new concept for his planned community. But director Tony Randel and writers Christopher DeFaria and Antonio Toro have in fact crafted the perfect Amityville film, one that outdoes its peers by every metric and deserves a place in the horror canon.įor me, the best part of the original 1979 Amityville Horror is its tagline, “For God’s Sake, Get Out.” That command captures the fear we all have whenever we move into a new place, that creeping suspicion that the previous owner’s sins have somehow contaminated our new home.Īmityville 1992 twists that idea by taking place, not in a New York two-story with generations of history, but in a tacky modern California tract house. Released directly to DVD with an unwieldy title, Amityville 1992: It’s About Time might sound like a forerunner to the lazy cash-grabs that will come to mark the series. However, one entry stood out above the rest. Last year, I watched and reviewed them all for this article, and found the large majority to be bad to mediocre (including the 1979 original). Some might complain that all these entries dilute the brand, but here’s the thing: the Amityville movies were never very good.
Badly acted found-footage movies about haunted apartments and movie theaters became just as much a part of the Amityville story as the original Long Island house. Later entries have only a passing connection to the original house, seemingly slapping the Amityville title onto largely unrelated stories to get some brand recognition. The first set of sequels brought new families into 112 Ocean Avenue or re-enacted the first murder, before destroying the house and distributing cursed objects to other locales.
Based on Jay Anson’s 1974 novel, The Amityville Horror describes the travails of the Lutz family, who experienced paranormal activity shortly after moving into 112 Ocean Avenue on Long Island, where ghostly forces drove one of the previous residents to murder his entire family. At its core, 1979’s The Amityville Horror is a solid haunted house narrative with a “true story” hook. Halloween ’s up to 13 movies, The Conjuring universe has seven films, and Saw will be up to nine whenever Spiral: From the Book of Saw finally comes out.īut all of those venerable franchises pale in comparison to The Amityville Horror ’s 23 (and counting!) entries. Thanks to recent reboots, the Child’s Play franchise is now seven movies long and The Puppet Master franchise is 14 entries long. The Notebook star will next appear in Terrence Malick's untitled latest project, whose all-star cast also includes boyfriend Michael, Ben Affleck, Javier Bardem and Rachel Weisz.Currently, there are eight Nightmare on Elm Street films, eleven Friday the 13 th movies, and one movie shared between the two series. That project is currently scheduled to start filming in September. She is also signed up to star opposite Philip Seymour Hoffman in terrorism thriller Most Wanted Man, based on the novel by John le Carre and directed by The American's Anton Corbijn. Rachel - who is dating Welsh actor Michael Sheen - most recently appeared in love story The Vow, opposite Channing Tatum. Love Actually's Bill Nighy, Tom Hollander, Margot Robbie, Lydia Wilson and Vanessa Kirby are also set to co-star. New Girl's Zooey Deschanel had previously been in talks for the role. Harry Potter star Domhnall Gleeson, son of actor Brendan Gleeson, has signed up to star and Rachel is in talks to play his leading lady, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Rachel McAdams is in talks to play the lead role in Richard Curtis' new romantic comedy About Time.īritish rom-com pro Curtis - who wrote and directed ensemble film Love Actually and also wrote Four Weddings, Notting Hill and the script for Bridget Jones' Diary - penned and will direct the film about a man who is able to travel back in time, and who eventually meets the woman of his dreams.