It seems The Amityville Horror, already re-vamped in 2005 by Andrew Douglas and starring Ryan Reynolds, is up for a fresh remake. Hollywood really is scraping the barrel marked: remake, these days. So what can we expect? The house done up with a fresh coat of blood? Probably. Bloody Disgusting reports the Weinstein Company and their horror wing Dimension Films have acquired the rights. The 2005 version did more than reasonable box office: to the tune of over $100 million. It gave Ryan Reynolds a change of direction, too.
On top of this news, it appears troubled studio MGM also hold further rights to Amityville and are planning their own set of films. This could lead to one of the most unlikeliest cinema rivalries ever.
As ever with horror movies they attract audiences like no other type of film. The myth of the Amityville house has proved an enduring one: a real house of horrors (the scene of a family massacre) has been crafted into cinematic tales of demonic possession and a room full of flies (probably a dead bird stuck in the chimney). It won’t be long before the Saw series is seen as old hat, and a fresh wave of “re-imaginings”, are rattled out. Horror franchises are the gifts that keep on giving, no?