| Above
• 112 Ocean Avenue caught in the glare of
flashbulbs on the night the DeFeo bodies were discovered.
Katco is recreating this entire end of the house
for its documentary, Shattered Hopes. |
| Above
• 112 Ocean Avenue as it appears today. |
|
|
| 'Shattered'
progress to resume after winter hiatus |
| Above
• Ryan Katzenbach holds the freshly finished wood frame
of one of the infamous quarter-moon eyelike windows of 112 Ocean
Avenue. |
|
Los Angeles, CA
- After a long winter storage, the exterior facade pieces
of Katco's very own 112 Ocean Avenue will soon see the light
of day.
In the
late summer of 2006 construction began on a life-sized facade
of the infamous 112. The real house, a rambling 3-story
Dutch Colonial was the scene of a horrific mass-murder on
Long Island's south shore in November 1974. The DeFeo slaughter,
wherein a mother, father, and four of their children were
shot to death in their home still holds the record as the
worse multiple homicide in LI history.
|
| Above
• The DeFeo house as rendered by Katco's Ryan Katzenbach |
| Above
• Two stacked lumber frameworks represent the entire
side of the DeFeo house. |
| Above
• The sunporch of the DeFeo's house takes shape. The
sunporch measures 12' x 21' and stands nearly 11' tall. |
| Above
• One of the completed quartermoon windows is fit into
its socket as the subwall and shingles are laid down. |
|
When inclement weather set
in during the fall of 2006 in central California where the
set is being constructed, the entire project had to be shelved
until better weather prevailed. "The project is so
large in its scale that it's really best to be able to work
on it outdoors in open space. Also, with the attention to
detail, we didn't really anticipate that it would take as
long to complete," says Katco publisher and documentary
producer Ryan Katzenbach
Originally,
the exterior facade sequence was slated for filming in mid-November-----almost
around the time of the DeFeo murders anniversary: November
13. However, the project had to be set aside due to weather
as well as other production commitments made by Katco. "We
ran out of year, time, and weather," says Katzenbach.
Katco is currently looking at resuming construction during
February, with subsequent filming taking place between March
and April 2007. The documentary is, at present, over 50%
complete with several large portions presently in post.
|
| The
exterior side of the DeFeo facade will stand over 32 feet
tall to the top of the chimney when completed, and just
under 30' wide. The exterior shoot is scheduled to take
place in central California.
Shattered
Hopes is Katco's first documentary project. It focuses
upon research conducted by Las Vegas author Ric Osuna who
authored the 2002 book The Night The DeFeos Died: Reinvestigating
the Amityville Murders. SH examines forensic
evidence and testimony surrounding the now infamous DeFeo
murders to conclude that Ronald DeFeo, the family's oldest
son, did not act alone in the commission of the crime. DeFeo
remains in prison to date, serving his six consecutive life
terms.
|
|
