Amityville: No Escape
Seventeenth film inspired by The Amityville Horror.
Amityville: No Escape is a 2016 American supernatural horror film directed and co-written by Henrique Couto, with Ira Gansler also contributing to the script. It marks the seventeenth movie inspired by Jay Anson's 1977 book *The Amityville Horror*. The film uses a found-footage style and splits its narrative between two time periods: 1997 and 2016, both centered on the infamous haunted house at 112 Ocean Avenue in Amityville, New York.
In April 1997, a woman named Lina moves into the rundown house, which is cluttered with belongings left by previous residents. While fixing up the place, she records a video diary for her husband, who is away serving in the U.S. Army. As strange events escalate, Lina discovers the house was the site of the 1974 familicide committed by Ronald DeFeo Jr., allegedly due to demonic possession. After a few weeks, an unseen force attacks and kills her.
In August 2016, college student George Harris is working on a video project about fear. He persuades his girlfriend Sarah Benning, his sister Elizabeth, and friends Lisa Sheets and Simon to join him on a camping trip in the woods near 112 Ocean Avenue. On the first night, George and Elizabeth meet a woodsman searching for his missing daughter, while Simon spots a little girl dressed in white. The next night, the group finds the woodsman disemboweled after Elizabeth sees the girl again. They try to escape the forest but get lost, despite hiking for hours with a compass. Their cellphones have no signal, and their radio emits only distorted screeching, which traumatizes Lisa. Simon dies looking for the girl, and Lisa vanishes after being lured away by the child, who is invisible to George. Lisa and Elizabeth are killed. George and Sarah become separated; Sarah breaks into the vacant 112 Ocean Avenue at George's urging. George enters the house and calmly shoots himself in the head in front of Sarah, whose greatest fear is being left alone. Sarah's fate is left unclear. The film then cuts back to the 1997 footage, where Lisa—looking identical to her 2016 self and speaking in a distorted child's voice—touches Lina's body and says, "Tag, you're it."
The film premiered on August 5, 2016, at the By-Jo Theatre in Germantown, Ohio, and was released on DVD by Camp Motion Pictures on June 13, 2017.
*Famous Monsters of Filmland* gave a glowing review, calling it "a brisk, traditional terror tale
- release_year
- 2016
- director
- Henrique Couto
- country
- United States
- genre
- Supernatural horror
- format
- Found footage
- based_on
- Jay Anson's 1977 novel The Amityville Horror
Lore & Background
The film premiered at the By-Jo Theatre in Germantown, Ohio on August 5, 2016. It was released on DVD by Camp Motion Pictures on June 13, 2017. The plot involves two timelines: in April 1997, a woman named Lina moves into 112 Ocean Avenue and records a video diary for her absent husband, a U.S. Army soldier. She experiences worsening paranormal phenomena and is eventually killed by an unseen presence. In August 2016, college student George Harris and his friends camp near the house, encountering a woodsman and a little girl in white. The group is killed one by one, and George shoots himself in the house. The film ends with the 1997 footage showing a character resembling Lisa from 2016 touching Lina's body and saying, 'Tag, you're it.'
Reader's Guide
Amityville: No Escape is notable as the seventeenth film in the Amityville franchise, continuing the tradition of found-footage horror. Its reception was mixed: Famous Monsters of Filmland gave a glowingly positive review, praising it as a fresh and innovative found-footage fright flick. In contrast, Tex Hula of Ain't It Cool News ranked it the third worst of twenty-one Amityville films he reviewed, calling the ending 'lame' and the viewing time wasted. Fellow reviewer M. L. Miller offered a more lenient response, noting lulls in the present-day scenes but finding the past footage haunting and praising Julia Gomez's performance. The film's dual timeline structure and ambiguous ending contribute to its place in the franchise's legacy.
Did You Know?
- The film was written and directed by Henrique Couto and co-written by Ira Gansler.
- It is the seventeenth film inspired by Jay Anson's 1977 novel The Amityville Horror.
- The film premiered at the By-Jo Theatre in Germantown, Ohio on August 5, 2016.
- Famous Monsters of Filmland gave the film a glowingly positive review.
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