Shattered Hopes: The True Story of the Amityville Murders - Part I

A Total Mess
If you love unsubstantiated conspiracy theories and revisionist fantasy all wrapped up in an amateurish documentary which drags on for way too long, then you'll love this movie.

Ronnie DeFeo confessed to killing his family back in 1974. He confessed to the police and he confessed again in open court during his trial. Pretty much an open and shut case, even though (as with many murders) one can only guess as to the motivation.

In the years since, he has tried desperately to get out of jail, and, like many prisoners, he has blamed his crimes on a multitude of other people, offering the public many different fantasy stories about "what really happened that night."

This documentary is based on one of those wild stories. Nothing wrong with that. Trouble is, however, the audience is force-fed this fantasy as if it were the absolute truth.

What was once pretty much a cut & dry case is now a bizarre entanglement of alleged abusive parents, mob...

Conspiracy theory played as fact
Running just shy of two hours, Shattered Hopes is the only Amityville product to feature NO ghosts and NO murders! With pretensions to be more than just a fan-made look at the story which spawned The Amityville Horror - Part I of this "Three part trilogy" (!) will eventually grow into a 6 hour epic of THE UNTOLD TRUE STORY... of which this disc is just the beginning!

However, it's mostly based on fabrication...

This is conspiracy theory played as fact. Shattered Hopes asks us to swallow the tale that Ronald DeFeo had a secret wife and fathered a secret child BEFORE the crime, and the police, defence, prosecution and Judge all hushed it up..!

Geraldine, the "wife", gets most airtime here -- although introduced as a "controversial figure" she's amazingly given the all-clear far too early, and installed as the main mouth-piece. Quickly followed by the director himself, plus the author of the book - all three speak as if they actually knew the DeFeo's...

I feel a little ripped off..
I have to admit the title clearly states that this is part 1, But the story doesn't finish or show you the murder theory they have been building up to for 118 mins. How many incomplete/to be continued documentaries have you purchased,or watched that the next part isn't already available? This is a first for me..

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