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We are upon the 45 year anniversary of the Amityville murders and in that time more than a half dozen movies depicting the tragic event have been released. The latest one being The Amityville Murders, starring John Robinson and Chelsea Ricketts. I had an opportunity to speak to Chelsea and John.
In case you missed the interview with Chelsea, it’s here. Upon the release of the film, I spoke to John about it. He had a lot of interesting reactions and thoughts. Be sure to listen to the interview to hear what he had to say.
REAL TALK:
John seemed like a pretty chill and forthcoming individual. We both really got into the convo when talking about how the spells were filmed. As I spoke to Chelsea about it, I was super curious if they actually used the real spells, but thankfully they didn’t. Clearly John was not on board with saying the actual words of the spells either.
It’s interesting to hear his perspective on the Butch character and the approach he took to playing him. From how he explained it, John tried to look at the character from multiple perspectives. Acknowledge that he was a scary damaged individual that did a heinous crime, but also try to see what got him to that point and the struggles he had to endure to reach that point.
John makes some really good points when he talks about the reaction to the murders, but the lack of interest anyone has taken in trying to discover and understand the motive and the events leading up to it (which the movie attempts to chronicle).
I can’t imagine this being an easy role for anyone. I could see someone being challenged mentally and emotionally as John and Chelsea seemed to be by playing the DeFeo’s. Reenacting gruesome murder scenes and conducting rituals and spells that have a very eerily aura about them would bring nightmares to most people. Credit to them for being pros and getting through it. This is the kinda movie and roles that have the ability to stay with you after filming is done. Well done by the cast and crew and I appreciated John and Chelsea being open about discussing their honest take and feelings on it.
THE AMITYVILLE MURDERS is out now in Theaters, On Demand and Digital
