Amityville: The Resurgence is a paranormal investigation documentary led by Sean Austin, a veteran of this type of movie. We are given an extensive backstory to the notorious house, including the involvement of the famous Ed and Lorraine Warren. From the backstory, we have talking head interviews with various supposed experts and people with opinions on the events that took place in the house. Sean himself then begins his own investigation, exploring various points around Amityville that may hold some kind of supernatural significance to the events, including the gravesites of members of the DeFeo family. 

The opening of the documentary is a well-produced and composed sequence. Even if it’s a story that’s been told a million times before, the murder of the DeFeo family by their own son Ronald Jr. is a compelling and terrifying story. Director Billy Lewis uses photos and a voice-over to retrace the events of that night, the subsequent investigation into the murders, and the Lutz family’s experiences in the house. It moves at a great pace, building a promising base for what is to come. Unfortunately, the energetic and engrossing opening ends up being the high point of the documentary. 

The investigations of the important sites mostly involves Austin sitting in his car with a “spirit box” asking questions and getting disembodied responses from supposed departed DeFeo family members and demons and whichever ghosts apparently feel compelled to speak to him. While it’s likely that the people who live in the house are probably tired of having paranormal investigators knocking on their door and don’t grant access anymore, the scenes outside of the house aren’t all that interesting to look at. We are treated to static shots out of the windshield of the car as other cars drive by. It doesn’t add anything to the tension and if anything, is distracting from what the filmmakers may be trying to accomplish. There was an opportunity to further employ some of the imagery that was so effective at the start of the movie. Instead, it’s those static shots and the occasional exclamation from Sean when one of the spirits says something that may have a connection to the house. It becomes repetitive and boring after a while. 

Amityville: The Resurgence is very clearly a documentary made with a very specific audience in mind, an audience that probably already devours these types of movies one after another. That same audience may find those scenes compelling and enthralling, but for the rest of us, they don’t amount to very much. Austin’s investigation into the house just confirms what we already knew: some very bad things happened there and people believe there is very bad energy surrounding it. 

Without a fresh perspective or any new information to unveil, Amityville: The Resurgence will only really appeal to members of that hardcore audience. For everyone else, it’s a mostly boring visual exercise with no exciting or scary moments. Maintaining some of the energy and pace and composition of the earlier sections would have greatly benefited the documentary, making it more than a series of shots from the front seat of a car.

3 out of 10 Pretentious