''Murder In Amityville'' is a book written by

Hans Holzer Hans Holzer (26 January 1920 – 26 April 2009) was an Austrian-American author and parapsychologist. He wrote more than 120 books on supernatural and occult subjects for the popular market as well as several plays, musicals, films, and doc ...

and serves as a prequel to ''

The Amityville Horror ''The Amityville Horror'' is a book by American author Jay Anson, published in September 1977. It is also the basis of a series of films released from 1979 onward. The book is based on the claims of paranormal experiences by the Lutz family, b ...

''. The book has been turned into a film titled '' Amityville II: The Possession''. It has since been re-released under the title ''Amityville: Fact or Fiction?''

Plot summary

The plot tries to explain why

Ronald Defeo Jr. Ronald Joseph DeFeo Jr. (September 26, 1951 – March 12, 2021) was an American mass murderer who was tried and convicted for the 1974 killings of his father, mother, two brothers, and two sisters in Amityville, Long Island, New York. Conde ...

killed his family at 112 Ocean Ave. It revolves around Ronald Jr. as he experiences strange events in the house up until he kills his entire family on November 13, 1974. It goes on to explain that he was possessed and that he did not want to kill his family. It introduces controversial events. It is also based on Defeo's explanation of why he says he killed his family.

Films

The book was the basis for two prequels to 1979's ''

'': 1982's ''Amityville II: The Possession'' and 2018's ''The Amityville Murders''. The name of the family was changed and the family's stay itself was shortened. While the prior is not a faithful prequel, it takes some details from ''Murder in Amityville''. The latter film served as a direct prequel to the 1979 film, ignoring ''Amityville II'' and using the book. The remake of ''The Amityville Horror'' also uses Holzer's theory. DeFeo was possessed, but in the remake DeFeo is possessed by a fictionalized version of John Ketcham. In the remake the house is built on a Native American burial ground. A television special was filmed in 1979 with Holzer narrating and including interviews with DeFeo and medium Ethel Johnson-Meyers, but eventually was scrapped and never made public. The Amityville Horror 1979 American novels American novels adapted into films American horror novels {{1970s-horror-novel-stub