A New Amityville Horror Movie Is Being Made, And There’s Conjuring Universe Talent Involved

Horror’s most infamous address is getting another set of keys. Amazon MGM Studios is developing a new horror movie set in the Amityville Horror franchise, and the big news is who’s moving in behind the camera, because they have a The Conjuring Universe connection.

The Conjuring Connection Behind The Amityville Reimagining

Per Variety reporting, Annabelle: Creation filmmaker David F. Sandberg has inked a deal to helm a “reimagining” of the original classic, with Ian Goldberg & Richard Naing set to write. The Safran Company’s Peter Safran and John Rickard will produce alongside Sandberg, with Natalia Safran executive producing and Lotta Losten joining as EP.

Sandberg has a proven pipeline with The Safran Company, as Annabelle: Creation was critically well-received and crossed $300 million globally. The Lights Out creator then teamed with the producers on Shazam! Pair that with Goldberg & Naing’s genre résumé — The Nun II, Fear the Walking Dead, and The Autopsy of Jane Doe — and you’ve got a creative brain trust fluent in slow-burn dread and supernatural escalation. That’s exactly the energy you want for a long-running franchise rooted in the psychology of a family under siege by demonic forces.

This update comes on the heels of The Conjuring: Last Rites' opening weekend, which has already scared up more than $200 million worldwide, and the announcement of The Conjuring streaming series.

What We Know About The Reimagining of Amityville

Variety describes the new film as a reimagining of the 1979 feature, itself a book-to-screen adaptation from Jay Anson’s 1977 best-seller and the real-world DeFeo murders that set the legend in motion. Plot specifics are under wraps, which is no surprise this early into preproduction, but the phrasing suggests a return to the core ingredients of the original movie.

For those who don’t know, Amityville Horror began with a real-life tragedy, then spiraled into myth. In 1974, Ronald DeFeo Jr. (who recently died in prison) murdered his family at 112 Ocean Avenue. The Lutzes moved in a year later, fled after 28 days, and, amid financial troubles, embellished the haunting with attorney William Weber, who later called it fabricated.

The 1979 film was a hit, but prestige faded fast: Amityville II (1982) courted controversy, Amityville 3-D (1983) chased gimmicks, and by the ’90s the “curse” jumped to haunted objects (lamp, clock, mirror, dollhouse). When the novel’s plot slipped into the public domain, a flood of microbudget titles followed, with such obvious winners (joke) as:

• The Amityville Haunting
• Amityville Clownhouse
• Amityville in the Hood
• Amityville Vampire
• Amityville Shark House
• Amityville in Space
• Amityville Thanksgiving

All pretty bad, and definitely not among the best horror movies on Tubi, but hey, they’re streaming for free, so you can make up your mind for yourself. I'm sure Amityville Streaming Service was pitched to someone, somewhere.

That’s the state of the franchise that Sandberg and Amazon MGM are stepping into. Another Amityville movie might sound like déjà boo, but this one comes with bona fide haunt handlers attached. With Sandberg directing, Goldberg & Naing scripting, and The Safran Company producing for Amazon MGM Studios, the notorious Dutch Colonial has its most promising caretakers in years.

The original 1979 The Amityville Horror and its 2005 remake, in my estimation, the only ones worth watching, are available to stream with an HBO Max subscription.