The Amityville house of horror is about to terrify viewers on the big screen once again. A new horror film based upon the infamous Long Island home entitled simply Amityville is coming from Dimension Films with Disney Channel star Bella Thorne attached to headline. Blumhouse Productions is co-producing the next entry in the multiple decade spanning horror series with director Franck Khalfoun signed on to helm the project.

The new Amityville horror film coming will be Disney Channel star Bella Throne’s first lead role since her hit show Shake It Up!‘s cancellation. Aside from the popular Disney television series, Bella Throne also had a recurring role on the critically acclaimed HBO show Big Love. Amityville has yet state any specific plot details however prior to the announcement, a found-footage Amityville horror film was in pre-production under the title The Amityville Horror: The Lost Tapes. The film was rumored to be about an ambitious television intern that leads a group of journalists, clergymen and paranormal researchers on an investigation of one of the most infamous haunted houses in history. Whether or not this remains to be the plan for Dimension Films Amityville has not be specified.

Along with Disney Channel star Bella Thorne, Jennifer Jason Leigh has also been cast in the new up-coming Amityville horror film. The veteran character actress is rumored to play the mother who lives at the terrible haunted house. The screenplay was co-written by Daniel Farrands and Casey La Scala. The horror film is currently scheduled to be released on January 2nd, 2015.

The director set for Amityville, Franck Khalfoun, is best known for the parking lot slasher flick P2 and the remake of the 1980s cult serial killer film Maniac starring Elijah Wood. Maniac garnered some attention when it was released in 2012 for its unique POV camera work to tell the story of deranged psychopath Frank, played by Wood. Khalfoun’s next film is a thriller that he wrote the screenplay for himself entitled i-Lived. The film stars Sarah Power though little else is known about the movie at this time.

The Amityville Horror franchise began back in 1979. The original film starred James Brolin and Margot Kidder. The haunted house film was nominated for an Academy award for Best Original Score for Lalo Schifrin’s nerve-tingling work. The horror series saw seven additional entries between 1982 and 1996. In 2005, a high profile remake of the original film was produced starring Ryan Reynolds and a very young Chloe Grace Moretz. The film was a moderate success grossing $108 million worldwide off a modest $19 million production budget. Two more direct-to-DVD instalments were released with the latest coming in 2013. Though there have been multiple films, none of the entries in the Amityville Horror franchise are direct sequels to one another and only feature passing references to each other, if any at all.

The new, up-coming Amityville horror film hopes that by adding Disney Channel star Bella Thorne into the mix, audiences may once again be fearful of the infamous haunted house in Long Island.

By Benjamin Murray

Sources:

Coming Soon

The Wrap

Bloody-Disgusting

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