Amityville: The Haunting 2000

A tense, unsettling drama follows Belle Walker and her family as they move into the infamous house at 112 Ocean Avenue in Amityville, Long Island. Belle, a thoughtful teenager, arrives with her mother Joan, her younger sister Juliet, and James, Belle’s brain-damaged twin who remains on life support after a devastating accident. They are joined by their loyal dog Larry. The family’s hope is to find healing and a safer future, aided by Dr. Ken Milton, a neurologist who believes he can help James regain some quality of life. Yet the house already has a stubborn bite to it, and the past seems to cling to the walls.

From the moment they settle in, the atmosphere grows heavier. Juliet confides to Belle that James has been speaking to her lately, a claim that unsettles Belle and invites a creeping sense of unease. That unease deepens when James unexpectedly flatlines during the first days in the home, only to be revived moments later and to open his eyes as if waking from a long sleep. The sight is jarring and raises questions about what is happening to him—and to the house.

At school, Belle endures taunts from peers who know the house’s infamous history. They remind her that the property was the site of a brutal murder in 1974, a chapter many would rather forget. The lore surrounding the house begins to seep into Belle’s day-to-day life, coloring her every move and the way she sees the people around her. In Belle’s third-floor bedroom, she discovers something hidden beneath the wallpaper: blood stains from the original murder, evidence that the house’s dark past may still be present in the walls.

One evening, in a moment that blends ordinary teen life with the occult dread the house seems to exhale, Belle invites two friends, Terrence and Marissa, to join her for a screening of The Amityville Horror (1979) inside the house. The moment the film begins, the air thickens, and at 3:15 a.m. the power abruptly fails. The trio heads to the basement in search of the fuse box, only to encounter Belle’s mother, Joan, who mistakes them for intruders and acts with a ferocity that suggests more than worry about trespass.

Dr. Milton’s tests on James reveal a troubling possibility: the boy who is physically dependent on life support might still be more cognitively aware than his condition suggests. An EEG shows increased neurological activity, and Milton is shaken by what he witnesses—an apparition of flies surging through the room as if the house itself is alive. He leaves with more questions than answers, his belief in a purely medical explanation shaken by the inexplicable.

Communication becomes possible in a new way when James starts using an AAC computer, allowing him to type letters he looks at on a screen. The family begins to see a disturbing pattern: someone or something is inhabiting James, taking advantage of his sudden revival. Terrence theorizes that the house’s power could be a conduit for possession, and all three peers observe a ring on the ground surrounding the home that seems to mark a lingering protective boundary—an image that only adds to the sense of encroaching danger.

Belle opens up about her painful past, describing how James’s injuries followed a fight in which a boy had leaked nude pictures of Belle online. She confesses to James that she has carried that burden for years, and his reply—delivered in fragments through the AAC screen—appears to confirm an otherworldly presence sharing his body. The devices relay two stark messages from James: a quiet, whispered “Yes” and a desperate “Help.” The moment is chilling, and Belle balefully realizes that someone else might be inhabiting James’s body, driving him toward dangerous actions.

Desperate to protect her sister and herself, Belle begs James for answers, but the conversation only widens the rift between science and the inexplicable. He asks her to end his life-support, and in a decision that will reverberate through the family, Belle complies by cutting off the ventilation. The room falls silent, and for a tense moment it seems James might truly be gone. Then, against the odds, James breathes on his own again, and the house seems to pulse with a renewed, fearsome energy.

The next day brings further revelations. Belle uses a planned distraction—typing “Outside walk” on James’s computer—to draw her mother away and investigate the Red Room in the basement, a space she believes to be the source of James’s power. In the wake of these discoveries, tragedy strikes in another form: Larry the dog is found mauled to death at the lake, a grim reminder that the house’s influence is real and its reach is broad. Joan reveals the deeper motive behind their move: after losing her faith in God following her husband’s death and James’s accident, she sought to harness demonic energy in the home to bring James back to life, clinging to a desperate past hope.

That night, as Belle tries to depart, Joan strikes her unconscious. Belle awakens at 3:15 a.m., just as Aunt Candice arrives, and James rises, drawing energy from the Red Room to revitalize his body. Belle makes her way downstairs, but Candice is suddenly caught in the crossfire when James fires a shotgun. Belle frantically protects Juliet and tries to retreat, but the house traps them, doors sealing in a claustrophobic, suffocating grip.

Joan confronts James in her bedroom, clutching a crucifix and attempting to call on faith to save her. But James is unmoved by holy symbols and implies that the loss of faith has stripped God of His power to intervene. He draws his weapon again, killing Joan, then luring Juliet to the third floor with lethal intent. Belle charges to intervene, and the two siblings tumble from a window. Belle lands on top of James, rendering him unable to move, and in a final, desperate act she frees him from the circle that once bound him by dragging his body away. The demonic possession wanes, and James withers back into his prior paralyzed state, dying with a clipped, almost grateful acknowledgment of Belle’s courage.

In a closing newsreel, Belle finds herself questioned for the murders of her mother, aunt, and brother. Juliet supports Belle’s version of events, insisting that James was the real killer, and the medical mystery of James’s paralysis continues to challenge experts. The report hints at yet another tragedy chillingly tied to the Amityville house, leaving the audience to ponder what truly lies behind the house’s dark legacy and whether the family’s questions will ever be fully answered.