High Hopes: The Amityville Horror Murders (2014 TV Movie) User Reviews

Unclear claims presented in disorganized manner resulting in a mess

[xrayzerofive-914-897836 · 1/10 · 7 November 2014]

Over the years Ron DeFeo has changed his account of the murders. In 1986 he blamed his mother and Dawn with the fiction of having been married at the time of the murders and living elsewhere; subsequently he blamed his sister Dawn alone; next he allegedly blamed Dawn and several friends and various documents were forged to support such contentions as referenced in the book The Night The DeFeos Died.

This documentary presents various lies from DeFeo as if they were reality. Some of the people are presented lying for him including Geraldine Gates (who he married in 1989 and divorced in 1993) and Mr. Nonnewitz. We are presented the bogus tale of DeFeo being with Geraldine on the night of the murders and being called back to the home to break up a fight between Dawn and their father. Never does the documentary bother to point out that DeFeo didn't even know Geraldine at this time and had spent the entire day at home. Similarly the documentary doesn't bother to mention that Nonnewitz's claim of Dawn asking to take him to Florida to visit Davidge is impossible since Davidge didn't move to Florida until after DeFeo was convicted. The tale of Dawn arguing with her father was entirely made up. The tales of how abusive Ronald DeFeo Sr were also largely made up and yet this was never told to the audience.

Instead of bothering to detail which claims are lies and fabrications and thus informing the audience fully of all relevant details the conclusion simply states DeFeo murdered his parents alone. Many of the misconceptions and lies presented are never cleared up thus it is not explained in detail how such was arrived at.

Worse yet, Katzenbach wants to pretend he found something no one else did so took a claim he admits is a lie- that Bobby Kelske used a revolver to shoot Louise DeFeo and he altered this to Defeo using a revolver to shoot her. He claims his theory is supported by the fact a portion of a top break revolver was recovered in the Canal by a search he commissioned. Too bad he cares more about his ego and falsely making a name for himself instead of the truth.

The truth is that 8 shots were fired, 8 shots hit the victims, 8 35 caliber rifle casings were recovered and all 8 casings had been fired by DeFeo's rifle. All bullets were consistent with being 35 caliber and having been fired by a 35 caliber Marlin rifle.

Katzenbach dishonestly suggests that one of the bullets that Louise was shot with was a 38 special. He announces that the weight and number of lands and grooves is consistent with a 38 special. He ignores that the weight he provided for the fragment (169 grains) is more than a complete 38 special bullet thus can't be a 38 special. How could a fragment of a bullet weigh more than the complete bullet? Worse yet, contrary to his claim that a fragment fired by a gun possessing more than 8 lands and grooves is consistent with a 38 special, it rules out such having been fired by a 38 special. At the time of the murders no 38 special in existence had more than 6 lands and grooves. The fact the murder weapon had more than 8 rules out 38 specials without even looking at anything else.

A further sign of Katzenbach's dishonesty is that he suggests the gun he found was the one he was searching for. The gun he was looking for was a blued snub nose 38 special. He specifically references DeFeo as having been alleged to own such a gun by Bobby Kelske and thus Katzenbach surmised it was used and tossed in the water and it was the gun he sought. The gun recovered was not a snub nose 38 special, it was not even a 38 special of any kind. In fact it was not even a complete gun. Someone stripped all useful parts including grips, the cylinder, barrel (parts that could be sold to someone because they could be used on a different frame) and the receiver that was left was chucked in the water. That is not consistent with his claim of Ron taking the gun and just tossing it in the water. But worse the gun recovered was an old top break revolver that there is no evidence at all to suggest the DeFeos ever owned. Instead of finding the model allegedly owned by Defeo that was being sought his divers found the receiver of an Iver Johnson Safety Hammer Automatic, third model (which stopped being made in 1941). This gun was offered in 3 calibers and since the barrel and cylinder were not present we don't know which of the 3 it was. We know it wasn't available in 38 special so can't have been a 38 special. Each time Katzenbach suggests it was he is lying. The gun he found would not even fit in the holster recovered from the Brooklyn sewer though this holster is another cited for a revolver being involved. The gun recover fired weaker, smaller bullets than a 38 special and had 5 lands and grooves (the 22 caliber version had 6 grooves). Thus there is no way it could have fired the 2nd bullet into Louise as Katzenbach claims. We know for sure it can't have fired it because the fragment was larger than a complete bullet fired by this gun plus the gun that fired the fragment had more than 8 lands and grooves while this gun had either 5 or 6.

Many smaller claims and issues presented in the documentary are also inaccurate and/or not clearly presented. This documentary largely propagates myth instead of dispatching them as it claimed would occur. Reading the book High Hopes is the best way to accurately learn about the Amityville case.

Largely revisionist nonsense

[jp0005 · 1/10 · 13 November 2014]

Sadly virtually all works about the murders that followed the Book "High Hopes" have been revisionist in character. Subsequent to High Hopes being published DeFeo has told a number of different stories but no work has bothered to outline the progression of such claims or to mention some such claims were tested and rejected in a court hearing to vacate his conviction.

Geraldine Gates, the Nonowitzes and various friends of DeFeo told a number of lies over the years and many of them even admitted they lied in affidavits they signed. The producers don't care about that and present these lies (some of them previously retracted) as true.

Lies that Geraldine and DeFeo made up about the family being dysfunctional, abusive and involved in the mafia are presented as fact though Geraldine never met DeFeo until 1985 so she never even met the victims and all her firsthand accounts are thus 100% lies. Even though Billy Davidge graduated from Amityville Memorial High School in 1975 and his family did not move to Florida until after Defeo's conviction, the film presents DeFeo's lie that he moved to Florida and Dawn argued violently with her father because she wanted to move to Florida be with him but her father would not permit it. At various times the Nonowitzes and Davidge lied in support of such false claim including in court in a motion to vacate DeFeo's conviction.

The producers even repeat Geraldine's lie that Ronnie Sr. wrote a song so that his wife would take him back to support their claim there was strife in the family and that they had separated. Geraldine found a song where the molody was attributed to a different Ronnie DeFeo and lied pretending DeFeo's father wrote the song. Despite critics pointing out that the copyright reveals only the musical score was written by such Ronnie DeFeo and that the words were written by Lou Fields that has not stopped the producers from making the bogus claim Ron DeFeo Sr. wrote the words and used such to win Louise back.

The film also presents the false claim DeFeo was called home the night of the murders to break up a fight between Dawn and her father though he never left the house that day. The claim he had been living with Geraldine was false, he didn't know her at the time. DeFeo didn't even go to work that day he stayed home sick so was home all day and evening.

Eventually this all leads up to revisions of how the murders were carried out. The first revisionist claim made is that a handgun was used to shoot Louise. In fact all 8 bullets were fired from DeFeo's Marlin rifle. All 8 casings were recovered and conclusively tied to his rifle, all bullets were consistent being 35 caliber and fired by a Marlin rifle according to the ballistic expert. The film doesn't feature a ballistic expert to contradict any of this instead the producer himself makes the false claim that the bullet was consistent with being 38 caliber though it was too large and had too many lands and grooves to have been fired by a 38 special he just made the claim up.

Since no handgun was involved obviously Katzenbach's claim he found the handgun involved is false. Worse though it was not even the model of gun he was searching for. He announces that he was searching for a gun Bobby Kelske asserted DeFeo owned at the time- a blued snub-nose .38 special. Yet what was found was a portion of a different gun that the DeFeo's never owned according to anyone. Katzenbach apparently didn't care and any gun would do for his farce of pretending he discovered a second gun was involved and even recovered that gun.

The film also asserts that DeFeo Sr was shot in the hall while charging DeFeo Jr. in the hall asserting police lied about no blood being found in the hall. DeFeo Sr was shot in the back not the front and the trajectory of the bullets indicates he was lying down when shot not upright. Apparently the producer is so desperate to pretend he found out something no one else did he just makes things up.

The film also asserts that Dawn had an altercation with DeFeo, was shot while out of bed and then placed in bed by him. As proof of this it claims there is no way unburned gunpowder could have gotten on her shoulder because the blanket would have prevented such so that means she had to have been shot while out of bed. Katzenbach ignores that photos reveal her shoulder was not covered by the blanket. So his claim the blanket would have prevented the deposit is wrong. She had no wounds of any kind other than the gunshot wound so clearly DeFeo's claim he struggled with her and knocked her unconscious is false. Yet again though, the film cares not about reality but rather pretending that things went down different than the official story so the filmmakers can assert they found the truth because they are so great.

Thus instead of being a documentary that accurately describes the events in question and details DeFeo's subsequent lies and games, it presents lies to pretend the official story is false so that the filmmakers can pretend they found out what really happened. If you want to know what really happened this is not the film for you.

Inaccurate and disorganized

[annmaniscalco · 1/10 · 14 November 2014]

Since 1986 murderer Ronald DeFeo has made numerous public claims trying to blame others. No one who has detailed knowledge of the case believed any of these claims and they were rejected as bunk by everyone including the courts until Ric Osuna published a book advancing DeFeo's lies. The producers know most reject these claims in-spite of Osuna's book but didn't want to present the official account and wanted to pretend they found out something new. In an effort to say they disagreed with the official account they apparently decided to try to fool viewers into thinking they supported DeFeo's lies by presenting them as fact instead of saying this is his revised story and then at the end in a gotcha moment it is announced DeFeo committed the murders all alone and his claim others committed the murders with him is rejected.

The film doesn't bother to explain though in detail how they concluded he lied. It skips all the evidence known for years that refutes all the claims made in Osuna's work. Viewers are just supposed to believe the producer's announcement he did it alone and that is the end of it.

As other reviews point out though, the only revisionist claim that is rejected is that others helped DeFeo. Various other bogus claims DeFeo made up are still presented as true including the claim the family was abused by his father and working for the mob. The producers have always relied heavily on Geraldine Gates and still do so suggesting the claim he was with her the night of the murders and called home was actually true. Geraldine Gates was married to someone else in upstate New York though at the time so never met the victims and all her accounts are fictional. The work seems to drag Dawn's name through the mud suggesting she robbed the family to get money to travel to Florida to live with Billy Davidge though he didn't move to Florida until after Ronald DeFeo's conviction. Never does it renounce these assertions.

Not to be outdone the film shifts to its own revisionist account of how the murders went down taking some lies DeFeo told and changing them to suit the claims of the producers so they could pretend they found out something no one else did. Specically pretending a second gun was used by DeFeo and that the father and Dawn were shot while out of bed. All of these lies came from DeFeo the only difference being DeFeo claimed others took part in it with him. The filmmakers dropped others helping but retained these lies. The supposed evidence to prove these claims falls apart under scrutiny as other reviews point out. The ballistic claims made by the producers do not hold up nor do any other forensic claims it is clear everyone was shot in bed. The goal is apparently to aggrandize the filmmakers by pretending they found something out no one else did instead of presenting an accurate rundown of events to educate people of what really transpired. As such no evidence is offerened and we are simply supposed to believe the producer's assertions without question. Not a worthwhile film for someone looking for detailed facts and evidence since the majority is devoted to telling DeFeo's lies and the remainder larely telling revisionist claims made up by the producers.

The Most Accurate Review Of The Occurrences In Amityville To Date

[BillPfeiffer · 10/10 · 14 November 2014]

First, a disclosure. I am the person that organized and led dive operations that discovered the partial firearm that producer Ryan Katzenbach believes may have been part of the Amityville crime scene.

While I have lived on Long Island my entire adult life, including the time of the Amityville murders, I never really had any more interest in the case than any other long island resident, and once all of the hoopla died down I didn't follow the case at all. I considered the Amityville Horror movie to be no more than it actually is, a silly ghost story created for entertainment with no basis in reality. When I was approached by Ryan about his belief that a second firearm might have been involved in the murders I viewed his movie project with a skeptical eye, considering all of the projects that came before it. When Ryan showed me the confidential Suffolk County Police files that clearly showed that there was a big problem with the case as presented to the jury, I decided to assist him with his investigation. While it was very clear that Butch DeFeo was responsible for the deaths of his family members, those confidential police files that Suffolk County inadvertently released to Ryan, and that NO ONE ELSE HAS EVER SEEN, including the folks that criticize Ryan's work, show that there are substantial inconsistencies in the investigation and the evidence presented at DeFeo's trial. To date, no book or movie has as come close to presenting the true facts surrounding Amityville as Ryan's movie has. Through my entire involvement in this project, Ryan has consistently searched for the truth, and made every effort to depict that truth in the final product. I say that with total confidence, using my real identity, unlike anonymous internet "experts" who hide behind the internet and mock Ryan while not possessing a fraction of the real evidence that he has.