It's been a long, long time since we've heard any news regarding the Jason Blum-produced THE AMITYVILLE HORROR: THE LOST TAPES with our last report coming way back in December of last year when the film was given a January 3, 2014 release date. Seeing as how we haven't heard a peep from the production since then it's more than safe to say it won't be arriving in theaters on that date, and now we're hearing word that the project could be stalled indefinitely.
Fangoria has learned from a reliable source that THE AMITYVILLE HORROR: THE LOST TAPES is "dead, for the time being". That's not to say that we'll never see the project come to fruition, but for now it certainly seems the film is not a priority on Blumhouse Productions busy schedule.
The project has been actively in development for two years, with Daniel Farrands and Casey La Scala initially set to script and direct and multiple release dates announced by Dimension. This past summer, Nicolas Tecosky and David Bruckner of V/H/S’s “Amateur Night” were finishing the latest screenplay, and in a recent interview with Diabolique magazine, Bruckner said…
“We’re trying to see if we can take the franchise into a very interesting direction. because there’s such a built-in expectation. It folds into the Amityville narrative, and we had a lot of fun in where that might go in the future. As for [if the film is] found footage, not exactly; not in a traditional way. I’ll say this: you can’t deny the influence of [found footage] on anything that we’re creating now.”
As recently as September, while promoting INSIDIOUS: CHAPTER 2, producer Jason Blum was quoted as saying that the company was still in development on the project, but according to Fango's source the project has stalled indefinitely. The cause of the production’s halt is as yet unspecified and there hasn't been any official word as to the project being put on hold, but considering that there hasn't been a lot of reported movement on the flick in recent months it's almost a certainty that the film is DOA. As of now, Bruckner and Tecosky are setting their sights on their next horror project, INTRUSION, which aims to shoot in early 2014.
We'll keep our ears to the ground on any further news regarding THE AMITYVILLE HORROR: THE LOST TAPES. Even if this particular film doesn't get going I'd still like to see another return to the AMITYVILLE franchise someday.