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Amityville: A New Generation (1993) movie poster

Characters & Themes

Amityville: A New Generation (1993) Characters, Setting & Themes Explained

Release, runtime and language
1993 · 92 mins · English
JustWatch #15,855 2
Directed by
John Murlowski
Starring
Karl Johnson, Richard Roundtree, Lin Shaye, Bob Jennings, Ross Partridge, Robert Rusler

Keyes, a successful photographer living on the edge of Skid Row, becomes fascinated by a strange old mirror owned by a homeless man. Though he cannot explain the attraction, he persuades the man to sell it. After acquiring the mirror, Keyes’ behavior grows increasingly erratic and unhinged as a terrifying, self‑reflective horror unfolds.

On this page (8)
  1. 1 Where to watch
  2. 2 Characters explained (8)
  3. 3 Where & when it takes place
  4. 4 Themes & meaning (3)
  5. 5 Character & meaning questions
  6. 6 Movie threads
  7. 7 Movies like Amityville: A New Generation
  8. 8 Every angle

Where to watch

Where to Watch Amityville: A New Generation (1993)

Where can you watch Amityville: A New Generation? Stream, rent or buy it in the US, including on Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime Video Free and Plex: current JustWatch availability with up-to-date prices.

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8 main characters · contains spoilers

Amityville: A New Generation Characters Explained: Who Is Who

The main characters of Amityville: A New Generation (1993), heroes and villains: what drives them, how they change over the course of the story and what each of them reveals about the film's bigger ideas.

  • Keyes Terry (Ross Partridge)

    Keyes is a photographer living in a cramped inner-city boarding house who carries a heavy legacy from his father’s brutal past. He confronts the supernatural threat of the mirror demon, navigating fear, memory, and a stubborn resolve to uncover the truth. His survival hinges on resisting the demon’s attempts to manipulate him into reenacting the family massacre.

    • 🎭 Drama
    • 🔎 Mystery
    • 🧭 Self-discovery
  • Llanie (Lala Sloatman)

    Llanie is Keyes's girlfriend sharing the boarding house life and a fragile, supportive bond with Keyes. She becomes an indirect target of the demon’s plans, drawing danger into their home as the haunting escalates.

    • ❤️ Romance
    • 🏚️ Boarding life
    • 🌀 Vulnerability
  • Suki (Julia Nickson)

    Suki is a painter and fellow boarder whose presence injects creativity into the house. She falls victim to the mirror demon when it borrows her form to kill Dick, revealing the breadth of the haunting’s reach.

    • 🎨 Art
    • 🔍 Mystery
    • 🩸 Tragedy
  • Dick Cutler (David Naughton)

    Dick is the boarding house’s owner who becomes a victim of the mirror demon, illustrating how the haunting tears through the core of the tenants’ daily lives.

    • 💼 Landlord
    • 🔪 Murder
    • 🩸 Horror
  • Janet Cutler (Barbara Howard)

    Janet is Dick's wife who faces danger as the demon’s plan targets the boarding house during the Thanksgiving art show, placing her in harm's way as the haunting intensifies.

    • 🎭 Drama
    • 🎯 Danger
    • 🕯️ Supernatural
  • Franklin Bronner (Jack Orend)

    Franklin is the Bronners’ patriarch whose 1966 killings set the house’s dark history in motion. In the present, his memory is weaponized by the demon to torment Keyes and reveal the true horror of the past.

    • 💔 Family Tragedy
    • 🕳️ Haunted Past
    • 🌀 Mind Games
  • Detective Clark (Terry O'Quinn)

    Detective Clark is a pragmatic investigator who helps pursue the strange killings and eerie happenings. He delivers a wry, skeptical voice, punctuating the metalogical horror with a hint of dry humor as Keyes resists the demon.

    • 🕵️ Detective
    • 🔍 Investigation
    • 👁️ Supernatural
  • Ray (Robert Rusler)

    Ray is Suki’s ex-boyfriend who becomes one of the demon’s victims when the mirror demon assumes Suki’s form to kill him, illustrating the horror’s indiscriminate reach.

    • 💔 Tragedy
    • ⚰️ Murder
    • 🩸 Horror

Last updated: October 04, 2025 at 15:53

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Setting

Where and When Does Amityville: A New Generation Take Place?

The setting of Amityville: A New Generation (1993): the year and time period, the places and locations, and how they shape the characters, the mood and the tension of the story.

Time period

1993

The present-day events unfold in 1993, with Keyes living as a photographer in a crowded urban boarding house. The backstory spans the 1966 massacre and the 1986 discharge, underscoring a long, unresolved trauma that resurfaces through the mirror demon. The era combines early 90s urban sensibilities with a gothic horror framework that anchors the haunting in a tangible, real-world setting.

Location

Amityville, New York, Danamore State Hospital, inner-city boarding house

The primary setting centers on the infamous Amityville house in Amityville, New York, where the Bronner family massacre history fuels the haunting. The plot also moves to the Danamore State Hospital, the site of Franklin Bronner's confinement, and to a cramped inner-city boarding house where Keyes and other tenants live. These locations merge suburban legends with contemporary urban life to heighten the film's supernatural atmosphere.

  • 🏚️ Haunted
  • 🌆 Urban setting
  • 👁️ Supernatural

Last updated: October 04, 2025 at 15:53

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3 major themes

Amityville: A New Generation Meaning: Themes & Message Explained

What is Amityville: A New Generation (1993) really about? The emotional, social and philosophical themes the film keeps returning to, its symbolism and the message beneath the surface.

  • Demon Haunting

    A malevolent mirror acts as a conduit for a demon that manipulates the living, blurring the line between reality and the supernatural. The film explores how a malevolent force feeds on fear, misdirection, and past crimes to torment the living. The haunting expands from a single object to a pervasive threat that crosses generations.

  • Family Legacy

    The story traces a brutal family history—from Franklin Bronner's 1966 massacre to Keyes's present-day struggle—to show how trauma can be inherited and re-enacted. The demon's power feeds on cyclical guilt and secrecy that taints relationships within the boarding house. The past repeatedly surfaces to shape current choices, testing loyalty and courage. Family trauma becomes the catalyst for the horror.

  • Memory vs Reality

    The plot pivots on memories that resurface through the demon's manipulation, forcing Keyes to confront his paternity and the house's dark history. Illusions and transformations (such as the demon taking on others' forms) challenge what is real. Repressed memories drive characters toward dangerous actions, and breaking the mirror becomes a symbolic act of reclaiming agency.

Last updated: October 04, 2025 at 15:53

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Character & theme questions

Amityville: A New Generation Characters & Meaning: Your Questions Answered

The questions people ask about Amityville: A New Generation (1993): who the characters really are, their relationships, what the symbols mean, where it takes place and what the movie is really about. Each answer contains spoilers.

Q1

Where is the movie set?

The film takes place primarily in Amityville, New York, at the infamous house linked to the Bronner family massacre. The story also unfolds in an inner-city boarding house where the protagonist lives, and at Danamore State Hospital, where the original killer was confined.

  • amityville
  • boarding house
  • danamore state hospital
  • setting
  • locations
Q2

What time period does the film take place in?

The present-day events occur in 1993, with Keyes working as a photographer in an urban boarding house. The backstory centers on the 1966 massacre and the killer's 1986 discharge from a mental institution, creating a timeline that spans nearly three decades.

  • 1993
  • 1966
  • time period
  • era
  • backstory
Q3

What is the mirror demon in the film?

The mirror serves as a supernatural conduit for a malevolent demon that manipulates the living, blurring reality and the supernatural. The demon feeds on fear, misdirection, and past crimes, using the mirror to torment victims and cross generations.

  • mirror
  • demon
  • supernatural
  • haunting
  • evil force
Q4

How does family trauma play into the story?

The film explores how trauma can be inherited and reenacted across generations. The demon's power feeds on cyclical guilt and secrecy stemming from Franklin Bronner's 1966 family massacre, with the past repeatedly surfacing to shape current choices and test characters' loyalty and courage.

  • family trauma
  • legacy
  • cyclical guilt
  • inheritance
  • past
Q5

What is the Memory vs Reality theme about?

The demon manipulates memories to force Keyes to confront his paternity and the house's dark history. Through illusions and transformations, where the demon takes on others' forms, the film challenges what characters perceive as real, with repressed memories driving dangerous actions.

  • memory
  • reality
  • illusions
  • repression
  • identity
Q6

Who is Keyes and what is his role?

Keyes is a photographer living in a cramped inner-city boarding house who carries a heavy legacy from his father's brutal past. He becomes the central figure confronting the supernatural threat of the mirror demon, navigating fear, memory, and a stubborn resolve to uncover the truth about his family.

  • keyes
  • photographer
  • protagonist
  • father legacy
Q7

Who is Franklin Bronner?

Franklin Bronner is the Bronner family's patriarch who committed the 1966 killings that set the house's dark history in motion. His memory is weaponized by the demon in the present to torment Keyes and reveal the true horror of the past, connecting the original massacre to the new wave of killings.

  • franklin bronner
  • massacre
  • 1966
  • killer
  • history
Q8

What is the significance of the boarding house?

The inner-city boarding house serves as the primary contemporary setting where Keyes and other tenants live, merging suburban Amityville legends with urban life. This cramped, communal environment becomes the battleground where the supernatural threat tears through daily life, affecting all the residents.

  • boarding house
  • tenants
  • urban setting
  • daily life
Q9

Who is Llanie and what role does she play?

Llanie is Keyes's girlfriend who shares the boarding house life with him, maintaining a fragile but supportive bond. She becomes an indirect target of the demon's plans, drawing danger into their home as the haunting escalates throughout the film.

  • llanie
  • girlfriend
  • supportive relationship
  • boarder
Q10

Who is Detective Clark?

Detective Clark is a pragmatic investigator who pursues the strange killings and eerie happenings in the story. He provides a wry, skeptical voice that punctuates the horror with dry humor, representing the rational world confronting the supernatural events.

  • detective clark
  • investigator
  • police
  • skeptic

Movie threads

More Movies Like Amityville: A New Generation, by Mood & Story

Curated lists built around what makes Amityville: A New Generation tick: the same mood, the same kind of story or the same emotional payoff. Each list explains why these movies belong together.

Movies about haunted objects and family curses like Amityville: A New Generation

Stories where cursed artifacts unleash supernatural terror and reveal dark family secrets. If you liked the cursed mirror and family trauma in Amityville: A New Generation, explore more movies where haunted objects unleash supernatural terror. These films feature cursed artifacts like dolls, paintings, or antiques that bring dark secrets to light, often forcing characters to confront a sinister family legacy.

  • demonic
  • cursed
  • inherited trauma
  • supernatural
  • oppressive
  • unraveling
  • Tone: dark, oppressive
  • Pacing: steady, escalating
Why these movies?

The story pattern: The narrative pattern typically begins with an unsuspecting character finding or inheriting a unique object. As the object's influence grows, it brings chaos and reveals a hidden history—often a family curse or a past tragedy—that the protagonist must uncover and resolve to survive. The climax usually involves a direct confrontation with the supernatural force tied to the object.

Why they belong together: Movies are grouped here for their shared focus on a physical object as the source of horror and the thematic exploration of legacy and inherited evil. They create a specific dread rooted in the idea that evil can be passed down through generations or bound to an artifact, blending supernatural scares with psychological depth.

Psychological supernatural horror movies like Amityville: A New Generation

Character-driven horror where a supernatural force methodically destroys a person's sanity. Fans of the psychological torment in Amityville: A New Generation will find similar movies here. These stories feature characters whose sanity is systematically broken down by a supernatural presence, creating a dark, character-focused horror experience centered on mental unraveling and internal struggle.

  • psychological torment
  • unhinged
  • erratic
  • anxious
  • self-reflective
  • demonic influence
  • Tone: dark, psychologically intense
  • Pacing: steady, methodical
Why these movies?

The story pattern: The journey follows a character, often an artist or someone with a vulnerable psyche, who becomes the target of a supernatural entity. The story unfolds through their perspective, blurring the lines between supernatural assault and mental breakdown. The pacing is typically steady, building dread as the character's behavior becomes more erratic and their grip on reality weakens, leading to a tense climax where they must fight for their mind and soul.

Why they belong together: These films are grouped by their shared emphasis on the internal, psychological horror of possession or influence, rather than just external jump scares. They share a dark tone, heavy emotional weight, and a focus on the terrifying experience of losing one's mind to an unseen force.

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Every angle

Amityville: A New Generation (1993) Explained: Plot, Timeline & Characters

Everything about Amityville: A New Generation in one place: what happens in the plot summary, the timeline in chronological order, the characters and meaning and a spoiler-free summary. What's After the Movie adds the cast, box office and post-credit scenes.

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