In the world of legendary horror movies, there are few out there hold the same iconic status as 1979’s The Amityville Horror. Stuart Rosenberg’s (Cool Hand Luke) on-screen adaptation of the accounts of one family’s dance with a sinister presence still holds a tight grip on modern pop culture with its basis being founded in the so-called “true” accounts of a family taunted and tortured by the ghosts of the past. While the Long Island home was the site of a brutal massacre, the following claims made by new residents – the Lutz family – have always been up for debate. Hoping to bring audiences the real story of what happened, MGM+ has just released a trailer for their upcoming four-part docuseries, Amityville: An Origin Story.

MGM+‘s brief, yet informative teaser, opens on the recognizable windows that greet (or scare away) visitors of what’s come to be known as the Amityville house. From the jump, viewers discover that this series won’t just focus on whether the Lutz family was telling the truth about what they encountered within the home’s walls but it will also tell the before-story about the horrific night when Ronald DeFeo Jr. murdered his parents and four siblings. Switching to the paranormal, the look includes interviews with those who lived in the house following the murders, with two people recounting their experiences of feeling unsettled when inside the home. Truth or hoax, Amityville: An Origin Story is hoping to set the record straight on the events leading up to and following the brutal slayings.

Since the original movie, which was based on Jay Anson’s 1977 book of the same name, haunted its way into cinemas, the story turned into a juggernaut franchise that has spawned a series of films and books, as well as a Ryan Reynolds-led reboot in 2005. And, while MGM+’s Amityville: An Origin Story is promising its prospective audiences that it will sort out the truth from the fiction, it’s certainly not the first title claiming to do so. Last year, Epix released a similar documentary titled The Making of a Haunting: The Amityville Murders, and over ten years ago, Daniel Lutz gave his first-hand account of the events of the mysterious haunting in the documentary My Amityville Horror. Still, while there are plenty of projects promising to shed light on the dark tale, there’s no doubt that followers and fans will tune in for MGM+’s docuseries.

The Story Behind the Amityville Horror

While it’s unclear why he did it, the currently accepted truth is that DeFeo Jr. killed his family in early November 1963. Although he first tried to push the blame onto a mobster, cracks in DeFeo’s story soon began to surface, leading him to make a full confession. Over the years, the reason behind DeFeo’s actions has been blamed on everything from extremely broken family ties to a heroin addiction, and even connections with the mob, but it’s the supernatural twist that led to the creation of the book and film. After the Lutz family moved onto the allegedly haunted property and began to experience bizarre paranormal phenomena, spiritual investigators from around the world, including Ed and Lorraine Warren, descended on the residence to confirm or deny the rumors.

In the end, we may never know what both DeFeo Jr. and the Lutz family experienced inside the walls of 112 Ocean Avenue, but with productions like Amityville: An Origin Story, we can get our fill of speculation. Check out the trailer below and catch the four-parter when it lands on MGM+ on April 23.

via Collider