Every ‘Amityville Horror’ Movie, Ranked: How to Watch Them All

DIRECTOR: Richard Fleischer
CAST: Tony Roberts, Tess Harper, Robert Joy
RATING: PG

The rating says it all here: PG. Amityville 3-D is pure cinematic gimmickry designed to capitalize off the popularity of the original film with only the thinnest connection to the story. There’s not even a hint of character development to be found here, though it certainly is entertaining to see turns from very young future stars like Meg Ryan and Lori Loughlin. The primitive graphic design has aged particularly poorly, especially given that it’s in service of an extra dimension you probably won’t be able to perceive at home. This one is for the completists and few others.

Where to stream Amityville 3-D

DIRECTOR: Daniel Farrands
CAST: John Robinson, Chelsea Ricketts, Paul Ben-Victor
RATING: Not Rated

The Amityville Murders takes an entirely separate tack to understanding the horror of the house by ending where most films in the series start. The film functions like a prequel that follows the lead-up to Ronald DeFeo’s murder spree, layering in some elements of the potentially demonic forces that made the event such an object of fascination. But filmmaker Daniel Farrands’ entry point is not the supernatural – it’s the psychological. How effective that is for a man whose mind we cannot really know, at least insofar as cinema has told us, is debatable. This is an Amityville film more for the die-hards who can understand its relation to the other films, but for those looking for something a little more reflexive, this could hit the spot.

Where to stream The Amityville Murders

DIRECTOR: Damiano Damiani
CAST: James Olson, Burt Young, Rutanya Alda
RATING: R

Credit where due: the direct sequel to the original, Amityville II: The Possession does not simply re-create the same journey as the first film. That’s due a lot in part to the change in the director’s chair, as the Italian filmmaker Damiano Damiani brings a giallo flair to proceedings. It does feel like a bit of a miscalibration of what people responded to in The Amityville Horror, admittedly. This sequel heavies up on Cronenbergian-style body horror with blood, gore, and disfiguration and downplays the haunted house component of the story. Nonetheless, the religious elements and bodily possessions that go full Exorcist mode still pack a nasty and scary punch.

Where to stream Amityville II: The Possession

DIRECTOR: Franck Khalfoun
CAST: Jennifer Jason Leigh, Bella Thorne, Cameron Monaghan
RATING: PG-13

The Blumhouse take on the Amityville franchise gets mad meta, so much so that one of the characters quite literally holds up a DVD copy of the original film and forces people to watch it. As it turns out, the newest residents of the haunted house are not there by accident or serendipitous mistake – they are there because the family’s single matriarch wants to tap into the structure’s strange alchemy. Amityville: The Awakening provides a fascinating, self-aware spin on the mythology as the mother of a sick son makes her last-ditch effort to save him by trying to channel the spirits through him. While it ends up falling down some corny and schlocky rabbit holes, the film is way better than it has any business being thanks to performances by Jennifer Jason Leigh, Bella Thorne, and Cameron Monaghan. They’re giving a lot, even when the movie doesn’t give them a ton to work with.

Where to stream Amityville: The Awakening

DIRECTOR: Andrew Douglas
CAST: Ryan Reynolds, Melissa George, Jimmy Bennett
RATING: R

Of any Amityville property, the 2005 remake of the same name does the best job channeling the spirit of the original while still putting its unique stamp on the series. It is very much a movie of its time, borrowing heavily from studio action movie conventions to help give a frenetic quality to the haunted house escape. It’s also really trying to push Ryan Reynolds as a giant movie star, giving him countless unnecessary shirtless scenes and plenty of smug one-liners that feel out of place with the tone of the film. But it’s an effective remake all the same, one that captures what worked while also making necessary adaptations and updates. The blended family with kids from multiple marriages, a stark contrast from the clean-cut nuclear family of the original, adds a distinctly contemporary tension to the proceedings that makes a big difference.

Where to stream The Amityville Horror (2005)

DIRECTOR: Stuart Rosenberg
CAST: James Brolin, Margot Kidder, Rod Steiger
RATING: R

Where to stream The Amityville Horror (1979)

At the end of the day, you can’t beat the best. The Amityville Horror is scrappy, independent genre filmmaking at its finest. It ratchets up the tension masterfully with visual motifs like accumulating flies and through realistic performances from stars James Brolin and Margot Kidder. The introduction of more openly supernatural elements feels like a natural progression from this starting point, making the terror feel both earned and electrifying for fans of the genre.

“Houses don’t have memories,” says George Lutz in a moment of incredulity. That may or may not be true, but we certainly have memories – and won’t soon forget the terror lurking within this cursed property.

PS: As we mentioned above, there are a TON of other Amityville movies, very few (none?) of which are worth your time, but we’ve listed out a handful of them that are currently available to stream below:

• My Amityville Horror (2012)
• Amityville Exorcism (2017)
• An Amityville Poltergeist (2020)
• Amityville In Space (2022)
• Amityville Uprising (2022)
• Amityville: Karen (2022)