Amityville: No Escape

In April 1997, Lina moves into the dilapidated house at 112 Ocean Avenue and begins cleaning and repairs while recording a video diary for her absent soldier husband. The strange clutter and creaking walls set a tense, unsettled mood that foreshadows the hauntings to come.

While settling in, Lina learns that the residence was the site of a possession‑induced familicide carried out by Ronald DeFeo Jr. in 1974. The revelation deepens the sense of malevolence surrounding the house and motivates her to keep filming.

Worsening phenomena—unexplained sounds, cold drafts, and unseen presences—turn Lina’s cleaning into a fragile ritual of self-preservation. Her video diary becomes a chronicle of the house’s lingering menace.

After weeks of torment, an unseen presence attacks Lina, killing her and leaving the house with another chilling secret. The tragedy reinforces the idea that the house preserves the violence that happened there.

Fast forward to August 2016, college student George Harris begins a video thesis on fear and recruits his girlfriend, Sarah Benning, his sister Elizabeth Wells, and friends Lisa Sheets and Simon Tressler to help document the phenomena. They travel to the woods near the same infamous address to capture material for their project.

On the first night in the forest, the group encounters a woodsman claiming to be searching for his missing daughter and catches a glimpse of a little girl dressed in white seen by Simon. These signs hint at an ancient, malevolent presence stalking them.

On the following night, the woodsman is found disemboweled shortly after Elizabeth notices the little girl again. The violent development confirms the danger lurking in the woods and deepens the fear within the group.

The group’s attempt to flee fails as they become hopelessly lost, with no cellphone service and a radio that emits only distorted screeching. They realize they are cut off from help as the forest closes in around them.

Simon dies while searching for the elusive child, and Elizabeth and Lisa are killed after being lured away by the same presence. The remaining survivors, George and Sarah, are left to confront an escalating horror.

With Elizabeth and Lisa dead, George and Sarah become separated as they approach the abandoned house, where Sarah stands at the threshold while George urges entry. The house’s silence and secrets threaten to swallow them.

Inside the eerie house, George calmly shoots himself, an act witnessed by Sarah who is left to grapple with the horror of being left alone. The act seals the haunting’s tragic cycle and memory.

The film returns to the 1997 footage as Lisa—now appearing as she did in 2016 and speaking in a distorted child’s voice—reaches out to Lina’s body and taunts, “Tag, you’re it.” The crossover confirms the house’s memory across eras.

The confrontation between past and present leaves a haunting sense of fate and memory, cementing the house as a place that remembers everything. The narrative closes on the unsettling image of an endless loop between the living and the dead.