🎃 A Month of Halloween: Week of Paranormal
We're about to dive into the wild, nail-biting world of the paranormal! Your ticket to heart-pounding, sleepless nights is here as the newest Exorcist movie is in theaters. Get ready for a rollercoaster ride of demonic possessions and the ultimate battle between good and evil. It's like a Halloween party, but with way more head-spinning and less candy packed. So gather your bravest friends, and brace yourself for a heart-pounding journey into the supernatural.
But before we dive into the latest Exorcist movie, it's essential to acknowledge the historical context that has significantly influenced the horror genre. The first Exorcist film came out in 1973 and roughly six years later in 1979, audiences around the world were introduced to another Paranormal Horror tent pole, The Amityville Horror, a true story of a family haunted by paranormal events, becoming a pivotal moment in horror culture.
In 1974, Ronald DeFeo Jr. tragically took the lives of six family members in their Amityville home. A year later, the Lutz family, George, Kathy, and their three children, moved into the same house but left suddenly after less than a month, attributing their hasty departure to paranormal forces. These events are historical facts, and they have left a lasting imprint on the horror genre, giving birth to numerous adaptations, books, and movies.
In 1977, Jay Anson published the bestselling book The Amityville Horror, which later became a popular movie in 1979, featuring James Brolin and Margot Kidder. This film solidified the franchise's presence in popular culture, with the eerie red-eyed house becoming an iconic symbol of dread. What followed was a series of semi-official sequels produced by different entities, studios, and distributors between 1982 and 1996. In 2005, a remake based on Anson's book starred Ryan Reynolds and Melissa George, reintroducing a new generation to the Amityville legacy.
However, the most intriguing aspect of the Amityville saga is the surge in Amityville-themed movies, released primarily on DVD and video-on-demand (VOD). These films initially began as straightforward haunted-house narratives but evolved to encompass a wide array of microbudget horror themes, including vampires, werewolves, zombies, witches, and aliens.
Indie filmmakers like Thomas J. Churchill, Dustin Ferguson, and Mark Polonia, all of whom have created multiple Amityville movies, recognized that using the name "Amityville" guaranteed extra attention. As a result, these films took increasingly absurd premises and had minimal connections to the actual Amityville events. Yet, they continued to draw audiences who were fascinated by the eerie history of the infamous house.
Here are a few examples of Amityville Horror spinoffs that we have streaming on TheArchive right now:
Amityville Horror: The Evil Escapes
In Amityville Horror: The Evil Escapes, the demonic forces that were lurking in the infamous Amityville house for over 300 years escape to a remote California mansion by inhabiting a lamp. The evil latches onto a little girl living in the home by taking on the form of her dead father. When it completely possesses her, it's up to a young priest to perform an exorcism and attempt to lift the curse from the desperate family.
This 1992 spinoff starts off with widowed father Jake Sterling returns home from a business trip with an antique clock—a gift for his two teenage children. Having been created by a 15th-century French necromancer and belonging to the infamous haunted house in Amityville, sinister incidents begin to transpire around the neighborhood after Jake places the clock on his mantle.
Photographer Keyes Terry is given an old mirror from a homeless person. He gifts the mirror to a friend, but what he doesn't know is that demonic forces project grisly deaths upon the mirror's surface. Soon, these projections begin transpiring in the real world, proving to be portrayals of the real fates of Keyes's loved ones. Amityville: A New Generation features Richard Roundtree from Shaft and Terry O'Quinn who plays John Locke in Lost.
In this film, a dollhouse that is a replica of the infamous Amityville haunted house is given to a little girl. Soon after, all sorts of horrible, unexplained accidents start to happen. The family must work together to fight off the terrifying evil that has inhabited their lives. The house might be miniature, but the evil is full-sized.
It is a testament to the enduring allure of the Amityville story that it can be adapted and transformed into various horror subgenres while still maintaining its magnetic pull on viewers. And now, as we celebrate the premiere of the latest exorcist movie, we can't help but think of the rich tapestry of horror history that has led us to this point. The Amityville story, with its chilling real-life events and the subsequent proliferation of adaptations, serves as a reminder of the enduring power of horror in the world of cinema.
As we settle into our theater seats to watch The Exorcist: Believer, we'll be ready for a new chapter in the ever-evolving, spine-tingling world of horror.
TheArchive channel is dedicated to aficionados and lovers of story, craft, and silver screen fun – streaming rare, retro, and 4K restored films and classic TV. From indies and series, to Oscar winning documentaries, unearthed MOWs, and a killer horror library, TheArchive delivers forgotten, never-before-seen gems for free. Marilyn, Karloff, and Orson Welles stream alongside Reese, Keanu, and Samuel L. Jackson. Find true stories of Queen, Hendrix, and Sinatra, an LGBTQ library, MLK bios, and world history docs. TheArchive has the movies and shows you either saw, should’ve seen, or should be watching now!
Comments
Post a Comment