The Amityville Horror

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The house as it really looked.

GET OUT

The Amityville Horror is a 1979 horror film based on a 1977 novel by Jay Ansen. It chronicles the (supposedly true) events that befell the Lutz family, who moved into a house in Amityville, Long Island, only to move out 28 days later, claiming to have been terrorized by paranormal phenomena there.

They discover that the house was the scene of a multiple murder, when the previous owner, Ronald DeFeo, Jr., had shot and killed six members of his family on November 13, 1974. During their stay in the house, the Lutzes start to experience various phenomena that tell them that whatever malevolent force drove DeFeo to such violence might still be there...

It was followed by a series of sequels and a remake:

• Amityville II: The Possession (1982)
• Amityville 3-D (1983)
• Amityville 4: The Evil Escapes (1989)
• The Amityville Curse (1990)
• Amityville: It's About Time (1992)
• Amityville: A New Generation (1993)
• Amityville Dollhouse (1996)
• The Amityville Horror (2005; remake)
• The Amityville Haunting (2012; by The Asylum)

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The following tropes are common to many or all entries in the The Amityville Horror franchise.
For tropes specific to individual installments, visit their respective work pages.

General

• Artifacts of Doom: Following the third movie, the house is no longer actually featured as the main setting. Rather, its evil is passed on through certain objects that wind up in new homes, turning them in ersatz Amityvilles. These objects include a lamp, a clock, and a mirror.
• Based on a Great Big Lie: Well, the DeFeo murders actually happened, and the Lutzes really did live in the house for about a month from December 1975-January 1976, but beyond that... DeFeo's lawyer claimed it was a hoax. The films and books are very different from what the Lutz family claimed happened as well.
• Consummate Liar: If you believe the whole story is a lie, then the Lutzes are this trope. They took a polygraph, and passed (though it must be noted that polygraphs are less reliable than people think).
• Glowing Eyes of Doom: The upper windows in the house are portrayed this way.
• Haunted Headquarters
• Haunted House
• Infant Immortality: Averted and played straight numerous times.
• Lovecraft Country
• New House, New Problems: As noted in the description.
• Numbered Sequels
• Premiseville
• Supernatural-Proof Father

The Novel

• Imaginary Friend: Jodie the pig.

The Movie

• Cat Scare: George Lutz, lost in thought, is playing with one his cigarettes when suddenly a cat pops up in his window and scares the hell out of him.
• Evil Is Deathly Cold: Inverted. George feels cold everywhere, except in the evil basement of doom.
• Get Out!:

House: GEEEEEEET OOOOOOUUUUUUT....

• Glowing Eyes of Doom: Pig!Jodie, complete with Psycho Strings.
• New Jersey Doubling: The filmmakers found a house in Toms River, NJ which could pass for the original house in Amityville with a few cosmetic alterations. They chose to film there instead of the actual house (which was available) to avoid uncomfortable questions which might have arisen had nothing paranormal happened during the filming.

Amityville II: The Possession

• A Birthday, Not a Break: The night Sonny fully succumbs to the demon and kills his family happens on his birthday.
• Abusive Dad: The father often blamed the paranormal activity on his youngest children and beat them, even in front of a priest.
• Asshole Victim: The father after the demonically possessed Sonny kills him.
• Big Screwed-Up Family: The Montelli family was immensely f-ed up, even before they move in.
• Brother-Sister Incest: Sonny Montelli is influenced by the evil in the house to seduce and have sex with his sister.
• Demonic Possession: Sonny Montelli.
• Downer Ending: The movie ends with Father Daminsky being possessed by the demon and it's likely Sonny ends up with a life sentence since he's based off Ronald Defeo Jr.
• Evil Phone: Father Daminsky gets calls from beyond the grave.
• Infant Immortality: Sadly averted as two of the victims are around 6 to 9 years old when they were gunned down by their demonically possessed older brother.
• Lightning Reveal: Flash of lightning reveals Sonny aiming his gun on his little brother.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: When Father Adamsky says to Father Tom, "It was her that night, trying to reach me," his voice has a bit of this in it.
• Slasher Smile: Combine this with demonic contortions on the face made for an extremely terrifying look for Sonny as he kills Patricia. See for yourself.
• Would Hurt A Child: Once under demonic possession, Sonny ends up shooting and killing all his siblings along with his parents. Two of his siblings aren't even ten years old.

Amityville 3-D

• 3D Movie
• Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu: The house is destroyed in the end, but instead spawns the Garage Sale of Doom.
• Flies Equals Evil
• Third Is 3D

Amityville 4: The Evil Escapes

• Hand in the Hole: The garbage disposal scene.
• Light Is Not Good: The evil lamp.

The Amityville Curse

• In Name Only: It only takes place in Amityville, and is set in a completely different haunted house which has nothing to do with the titular home at all.

Amityville: It's About Time

• Everybody Lives: The cursed clock brought from the original house causes a Reset Button Ending to avoid getting destroyed in an explosion, only to be destroyed by the Final Girl, who retained her memories of everything the clock caused before it can do it again.
• I'm Melting: Happens to Lisa's boyfriend, Andy.
• Improbable Weapon User: Rusty winds up killing his sister, Lisa in self-defense after the house possesses her. He sticks a stereo jack in her mouth, then turns the stereo on and electrocutes her.
• Odd Friendship: Rusty and Iris.
• Title by Number: Also known as Amityville 1992.

Amityville: A New Generation

• Magic Mirror: Actually, it's more a cursed mirror.

Amityville Dollhouse

• Creepy Doll
• The Doll Episode

The Remake

• Arc Words: "Katch 'em. Kill 'em."
• Creepy Child: Possible subversion with the ghost of Jodie DeFeo.
• Madness Mantra: "KATCH'EM AND KILL 'EM!"
• Mirror Scare: Admit it, the one in this film was pretty epic.
• Undead Child: Jodie DeFeo.

The Amityville Haunting

• Covers Always Lie: The house doesn't look like the one on the cover. At all.
• Found Footage Films
• Undead Child: John Matthew, the youngest of the Defeo children.

Unsorted

• Animated Adaptation: There was actually an animated "documentary" made of the original Amityville Horror movie.
• Indian Burial Ground: According to the the crazy psychic lady, the Indians dumped their crazy people on this land to die and that the bodies are still there, effectively making it an Indian Burial Ground, even though they didn't bury the bodies.
• Room Full of Crazy: The hidden room under the house is different between films, but unpleasant and crazy anyhow.
• Scare Chord