The summary and note for this entry were completed with participation from the AFI Academic Network. Summary and note were written by participant Gabe Auyeung, a student at Georgia Institute of Technology, with Diane Jakacki as academic advisor.

The film begins with the following written statement: “November 13, 1974, Amityville, Long Island. A mother, father and four of their children murdered… No apparent motive.” Throughout the film, captions display the number of days the Lutz family lived in the house and the day of the week. At the end of the film, a written epilogue reads: “George and Kathleen Lutz and their family never reclaimed their house or their personal belongings. Today they live in another state.” The following statement appears after the end credits: “This motion picture is based on the book The Amityville Horror. Certain characters and events have been changed to heighten dramatic effect.”
       On 6 Feb 1978, a Var news item announced that American International Pictures (AIP) purchased the film rights to author Jay Anson’s allegedly non-fiction, bestselling account of the Lutz family’s trials, The Amityville Horror (1977). Var noted that Ronald Saland was set to co-produce the picture for Professional Films, Inc. with partner Elliot Geisinger. The Amityville Horror was their first feature film as co-producers. An 8 Mar 1978 DV article reported that the film rights for The Amityville Horror, Anson’s first book, sold to AIP for over $200,000. Anson was introduced to the Lutz family by his friend and Prentice-Hall Books editor Tam Mossman, and, after writing two chapters, Anson secured a contract with Prentice-Hall that gave him theatrical and television rights to the property. Having developed a fifteen-year relationship with Saland and Geisinger as a documentary film writer, Anson sold Professional Films the rights to his book before their deal with AIP. DV noted that it was the first time AIP paid such a high price for literary rights and the film’s budget was set at $5 million. A 16 Mar 1978 HR brief stated director Stuart Rosenberg was signed to the production, which was set to begin late spring 1978, and on 20 Mar 1978, a DV news item reported that Laird Koenig was hired to rewrite Anson’s script. Sandor Stern, however, received sole writing credit in the film.
       A 30 Aug 1978 Var news item announced James Brolin was cast to star and principal photography was slated to begin Oct 1978. Although the exact start date of the production is undetermined, a 16 Nov 1978 HR brief stated that the crew was moving that week from East Coast locations to sets at the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) studios in Culver City, CA, and on 8 Jan 1979, HR reported that filming had completed “a week under schedule.” A 26 Nov 1978 LAT article reported that the film was shot on location in Toms River, NJ, instead of Amityville, NY, because Amityville residents were “reluctant to encourage added publicity” and the house did not have a layout appropriate for filming. The Dutch colonial house in Tom’s River was rented for $12,000 and 38 locals were selected as extras out of 2,000 people who auditioned.
       During production, Prentice-Hall was sued for $1.1 million by the residents of the Lutz’s former Amityville home, the Cromartys, who complained that Anson’s book was “completely untrue” and never fact-checked, according to a 15 Nov 1978 WSJ article. The family, who had been “’harassed’” by crowds of people gathered at their home expecting to witness supernatural phenomena, protested Prentice-Hall’s decision to publish the book with the title The Amityville Horror: A True Story. Although Ronald DeFeo, Jr. killed his parents and siblings at 108 Ocean Avenue (which was changed from 112 Ocean Avenue at the Cromartys’s request to protect their privacy), the Cromartys contended there was no tangible evidence of paranormal activities at the location. Anson told LAT that he agreed to work on the project only “after he corroborated the tale with the family priest” for evidence, but he preferred to leave the decision about its believability to his readers. A 1 Dec 1980 New York article reported that the Cromartys teamed with producer Martin Poll and journalist Steve Dunleavy to create their response to the Lutz’s claims in a film entitled The Amityville Horror Hoax but the picture was never released.
       Saland told LAT that the film attempted to diverge from the book by focusing more on the Amityville community and personal relationships among the characters. Instead of claiming the events depicted in the film actually happened, Geisinger related that they “’may be true or imagined. But this world is a strange place… and we hope people will at least feel this.’” The Lutzes, who negotiated for an equal share with Anson in the book’s profits, had no financial stake in the film, although Anson told LAT that they “received a consultation fee.”
       As reported in a 20 Nov 1978 Box news item, the film marked “record-breaking” foreign distribution deals for AIP, with “the highest territorial guarantees” in their twenty-five year history. Notably, Nippon Herald purchased rights to distribute the film in Japan and Southeast Asia and the New Constantine Co. made a “top deal” for Germany. On the same day, DV reported that Anson, Rosenberg and the films producers were discussing a sequel on the film’s set on Stage 26 at MGM.
       A 29 Jun 1979 NYT news item announced that the film was premiering at a gala event at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, NY, on 24 Jul 1979 to launch a retrospective of 38 AIP films. On 31 Jul 1979, DV reported that the film grossed $7,843,467 in its first three days of distribution in the U.S. and Canada, marking the largest opening to date for an AIP film. The article added that it was also the “biggest opening weekend for any major release this summer” and even out-grossed the blockbuster Superman (1978, see entry) which was released earlier in the year. An AIP representative noted that the film was largely attended by young adults despite its R-rating and there was evidence of “repeat business,” where viewers returned several times. He added that AIP spent $3.3 million on publicity and advertisements. On 15 Aug 1979, Var reported that the film had grossed over $20 million and by 7 Sep 1979, according to HR, profits for The Amityville Horror topped $50 million.
       As noted in a 27 Feb 1980 HR news item, AIP announced its purchase of the film rights to author Hans Holzer’s prequel to the film, Murder in Amityville which was released in 1982 with the title Amityville II: The Possession (see entry). In the same news item, HR reported the Lutz’s intention of selling a script for a sequel to The Amityville Horror entitled Unwanted Company, written by James Betts. The film was never released. As noted in a 12 Jul 1989 Var article, the Lutzes retained rights to any sequels of the story and sued Orion Pictures and producer Dino De Laurentiis for the release of both Amityville II: The Possession and Amityville 3-D (1983, see entry). Although their case was initially dismissed in Los Angeles Superior Court, the ruling was later reversed by a California Appeals Court in Jul 1989 and the Lutzes were given the right to a trial. A 24 Oct 2003 DV news item announced producers Michael Bay, Andrew Form and Brad Fuller were remaking The Amityville Horror with MGM. DV noted that although “the story was widely criticized as being fake,” it “hatched seven sequels.” However, only three were released theatrically, including Bay, Form and Fuller’s The Amityville Horror (2005, see entry).
       In an 18 Apr 2005 People article, George Lutz argued that his story was true despite claims that his family fabricated their account for financial gain. However, DeFeo’s former lawyer, William Weber, told People that he helped the Lutzes “concoct the fantastical details in anticipation of a lucrative book deal.” Weber sued the family when they left him out of the book negotiations. Lutz reported that he was involved in at least fourteen lawsuits since 1976, but he stressed that they were only to uphold his family’s integrity, not to make money. He claimed that the book and film provided the family with only $300,000.
       The 1979 film was released to mixed, but generally negative reviews.