Horror Movie Review: Amityville AI (2024)

Honestly, I’m surprised it took this long for someone to think about AI in relation to Amityville, but maybe that’s just because I am beyond disillusioned by this franchise. Can you blame me though!? Look how many films bearing the name ‘Amityville’ I’ve subjected myself to, and it never ends. I can’t keep up and I can only watch a few of these a year as it takes a hefty toll on me. Still, every so often, I get a hankering for some good old Amityville horror action, and then I come across a film like this to remind me that it’s futile to expect anything decent with the Amityville name attached.

Directed by Matt Jaissle (it’s his baby through and through), Amityville AI stars William Childress as Stuart Birdsall, a programmer who has created groundbreaking artificial intelligence known as VIC 3000. A program he hopes will help improve the home experience and make lives generally easier.

Unfortunately moving into a house that is possessed by evil spirits was a bit of a mistake as the AI program is targeted and taken over. AI just got a bit evil and it’s going to cost many people their lives.

That’s Amityville AI in a nutshell and it’s not very good, even if there is a solid idea about technology here. Alas, it’s told in the most tedious of ways, not only taking ages to get going, but when it does, failing to spark anything but mild nods of approval towards some of the gore.

Thank goodness it has a body count. There’s nothing to get excited about here, but at least it adds some entertaining value.

There’s an overall lack of passion to this and nowhere is that more notable than with the performance of William Childress. He’s not terrible, but he delivers everything with the kind of energy of someone who just woke up from a very deep sleep. Groggy and unfocused. There are so many times where I found myself wondering if this take or line read was really the best they could get. He’s not alone in delivering a poor performance either, but he is the most prominent.

A good idea, wasted, Amityville AI isn’t good, but it’s not the worst of the franchise either. As low as the bar is, there’s enough minor positives to ensure this one doesn’t fall to those kinds of lows.