If you have clicked on this article to learn what Amityville: Where The Echo Lives has to do with the horrifying incident that occurred at the iconic 112 Ocean Avenue house, (spoiler alert) I am here to tell you that the use of “Amityville” in the title is nothing short of of clickbaiting. The movie, made by Carlos Ayala, was initially titled The Girl from the Other Side. Since I’ve seen the film’s trailer on the YouTube channel of Lionsgate Movies, I am guessing that they acquired the film, slapped “Amityville” onto the title (because Amityville is a word that is in the public domain which grabs eyeballs), and sold it to us. Congratulations, you have been duped. That said, if you do want to learn about what actually happens in the film when it isn’t padding the runtime by showing its protagonist going about her day doing her chores or procrastinating, then continue reading. Amityville: Where The Echo Lives is centered around self-proclaimed paranormal investigator Heather West, who wants to solve the case of Maryanne. She was killed in 1999 by a guy named Ronny Bushik who died by suicide soon after. Maryanne’s body was never found, and the only proof of her death was the traces of her blood found on Ronny’s clothing. Over the years, the police got reports of a disembodied scream coming from the house where Maryanne was allegedly killed. Rosa, the current owner of the property, informed West about this paranormal occurrence, and she promptly showed up to look into it. Her findings are divided into four sections, so allow me to go through them one by one and then share my thoughts about what the hell this whole ordeal actually meant.
Spoiler Alert
The First Contact Session
As mentioned before, Amityville: Where The Echo Lives spends a massive chunk of its runtime on stuff that’s not remotely related to the plot. For example, we are shown how Heather sits and watches movies about haunted houses. She takes notes, but we never learn how she uses her learnings from those movies in her paranormal investigations. She drinks fruit juice. She sleeps a lot. So, I am going to ignore all that and just focus on the points that are integral to Heather’s investigation into Maryanne’s death. When Heather visits Rosa’s house for the first time, she isn’t impressed, but after setting up some rudimentary video and audio recording equipment, she does sense a presence there. That motivates her to commence her analysis of what’s haunting the place until she has a considerable amount of proof of the existence of something supernatural. Later that night, Heather sees a blurry image of a girl who looks like Maryanne in her dreams, but she chalks it up to her overstimulated mind.
The following day, West returns to Rosa’s house with more of her equipment to record any and all kinds of paranormal activity. However, that attempt turns out to be a dud because nothing of significance happens. The day after this, we learn that Heather decided to become a paranormal investigator after her dad’s passing. Apparently, right before dying, Heather’s dad told her to get a hold of him via the spirit plane. Since then, she has been trying to find proof of whether or not something like the afterlife actually exists. Heather’s close friend, John, tells her about how his friend’s mother claimed to have the ability to talk to the dead. This revelation, and watching an episode of the supernatural reality TV show Hauntings of the South, rejuvenates Heather’s urge to help Rosa with her paranormal issues. As a result of this, while going to sleep that night (at her own house), her consciousness seemingly crosses over to the plane of the dead where she sees Maryanne again. However, a disembodied voice warns her that if she is not careful and hyper focused on what she wants from this realm, then she can lose her soul there.
The Second Contact Session
Heather reports from Rosa’s house that the place has become really cold but there’s nothing really happening there. She says that she did hear something on the EVP (electronic voice phenomena) device. So, instead of flashing her light or trying to record something on her camera, Heather decides to focus on capturing something on her audio recording devices. She states her name and asks if there’s an entity in the building. Based on the cinematography, it seems like something from the alley behind the house enters the attic in which Heather is sitting and looks at her silently. Heather then tells the entity to make a sound so that she can be sure that something supernatural is at play. When her paranormal devices begin glitching, she realizes that things are getting heated. Heather seemingly hears someone invisible talking about a bad night and then the attic goes silent again. Hence, she decides to listen to the audio recording on her devices and she hears a voice telling her to go away. This shocks Heather to the core and she decides to consult some other self-proclaimed paranormal investigators to learn more about what she is getting herself into.
West locates Salli’s house, the one that was featured in the episode of Hauntings of the South, and tries to find some pointers about how to contact the dead. Due to the disjointed nature of the storytelling, there are a lot of confusing things happening in the film, but this part really threw me off. Based on the chronology of the scenes, I think that Heather knows Hector, a paranormal expert, and asks him to attend a seance at Salli’s house. But the way Heather acts around the man who I think is Hector, it seems like she has no idea who he is, or she is annoyed that he is there. The man’s findings at Salli’s house are inconclusive and he leaves the premises a little disappointed, never to show up in the film again. Heather leaves Salli’s house even more disappointed than Hector, because she has hit yet another dead end. Later on, while taking a bath, Heather supposedly gets a visit from the spirit of Maryanne, and this disturbs her deeply because she loses her voice for a hot second. This prompts Heather to go to a tarot card reader named Gigi and learn about the meaning behind her dreams and visions, I guess. Gigi is visibly flustered after reading Heather’s cards and she tells her to leave the premises immediately. It’s probable that Gigi can see that Heather is close to the dead and she doesn’t want to associate herself with the paranormal investigator in case something from the other side latches onto her. Now, even though Heather doesn’t get any help from Gigi, Maryanne’s spirit calls out to her in her dreams and a disembodied voice tells Heather to take her hand. This can only mean one thing: there’s no point in solving the mystery of Maryanne’s murder, her soul just needs to be transported into the afterlife.
The Third And Fourth Contact Sessions
I think this is a good time to address the elephant in the room: the fact that in all the four contact sessions, Heather is wearing the same outfit. I have three explanations for this amazing phenomenon. It’s possible that all the four contact sessions happen over the course of one night and they are separated by all the stuff that’s not really related to the plot. Yes, seeing Heather enter Rosa’s house before the third session can make it seem like she is arriving there on a different day. But maybe Ayala is showing the contact sessions in a nonlinear fashion to keep you guessing about what is actually going on. My second theory is that the red sweater, brown jacket, and blue jeans ensemble is Heather’s official work dress, and when she is serious about a case, that’s the only thing that she wears when she has to commune with the dead. My third theory is that, in order to save up on money, Ayala just shot all four sessions on the same day and hoped that no one’ll notice that Heather is wearing the same costume in all the paranormal sessions.
Anyway, coming back to the film, during the third session, Heather hears the voice of a woman saying that someone is coming, and a man telling Heather to go away. When Heather tries to ascertain who is being talked about, while she is in the attic, something brushes past her ear and scares her. Prior to the fourth session, Heather observes that Maryanne’s spirit is stuck in some sort of a loop and she is destined to help Maryanne out. During the fourth session, Heather is transported to the spirit plane where we see Maryanne living her last moments, being murdered by Ronny, again and again. It’s only after the spirit version of Heather holds on to Maryanne’s hand that the ghost gets to exit the cursed cycle of torment.
What Was The Point Of Heather Saving Maryanne’s Soul?
In Amityville: Where the Echo Lives’s ending, Heather observes that whenever a person is born, they get to see the essence of life in the form of light. When a person dies, they deserve to see that light again. If they die without seeing it, then they hang around the place of their death, living out their worst nightmare on a loop, and waiting to be freed. Heather’s paranormal investigation has helped Maryanne’s spirit see the light that she didn’t get to see when she actually died, and allowed her to leave the realm of the mortals and rest in the afterlife. It’s somewhat unclear why Maryanne called out to Heather to solve her case and help her out. I mean, it’s not like Heather was the next Lorraine Warren. But Heather was stuck in a loop of hurt and sorrow where she kept reliving the death of her father. Hence, not only did Heather help Maryanne with her supernatural problem, but Maryanne also helped Heather with her depression. Therefore, the whole point of the film is that if you are sad, you should become a paranormal investigator and look for ghosts in the hope that a spirit as sad as you is going to give you free therapy. Now, we don’t see Heather getting paid for her “skills,” but if she is busy, then she doesn’t have the time to be sad or care about her financial issues because all she needs is some fruit juice. Problem solved. For all intents and purposes, this is a joke. Amityville: Where the Echo Lives is pointless, so don’t go searching for one in case you decide to watch the film.
Related
This post was originally published on here
