An American Haunting

Acting. Thats the most noticeable thing you will find in this movie. All the characters have performed well and acted according to the period of the story. I haven't watched Bell Witch Haunting (2004) but I have read a lot about the original legend. Instead of retelling the actual event, this movie revolves around it, giving us an entirely different interpretation of the haunting. Also, it tells nothing about General Andrew Jackson who visited Bell's family during that time and later became the American President. Its worthy to note that he was once quoted as saying - "I'd rather face the whole British Army, than face the Bell Witch again".

Around 1818, a farming family living in Tennessee is haunted by a spirit, the most affected ones being the daughter Betsy and the father John Bell. While the father's health deteriorates, the daughter gets all poltergeistic treatment. Slowly, they suspect the woman (also witch?) Kate Batts who previously has some legal issues with John and curses him that he and his daughter will suffer for his deeds. The haunting gets worse and the family members try to fight back the ghost in their own ways. By the end, when they seem to have abandoned their faith, the spirit itself reveals the reason for its existence.

The scary scenes are predictable but good. The notable ones are the first major attack on Betsy, the swing encounter, Richard's questions, John's visions, the cave and the best of all is the chariot ride. Excellent cinematography. A few good things in this movie keep us on the edge and makes us wait for the best part. But that best part never comes.

The fictional ending, though unexpected and slightly shocking, is not conceived properly. The movie begins with a Night-Shyamalan-like atmosphere. Most of it feels like as if you are watching The Village. Later it goes on to remind us of The Poltergeist, The Exorcist, Child's Play and several others, even The Omen. The ending is tried in a Lynchian manner - just tried. Sadly, it doesn't register in us at all.

Overall, this movie has good acting, good cinematography, few honestly scaring scenes and a different interpretation to the original Bell Witch Haunting. Nevertheless, it has a confused screenplay, half-baked script and an overhasty direction. The slow scenes are empty and the fast scenes are packed. So the balance is knocked out and what results is boredom. Watch it for the good aspects but make sure to take lots of popcorn inside the theatre. You'll need them to stay awake.

Out of sheer curiosity I was offered to attend a screening of the world premier of 'American Haunting" -- so I went assuming it was going to be just another kind of scary -- kind of twisted -- kind of blasphemous -- kind of whatever -- kind of films -- WoW I was completely wrong in more ways than I can possible say! WOW! That is the best I can muster! This film kicked my butt up down and sideways. From the moment it starts up until the very last breath it toys with you, teases you, and never prepares you for something so intelligent at the climax that its hard to guess why someone hasn't done this kind of film before. My guess, is they don't have the talent or the guts that the filmmaker had -- not to mention the cast; or the composer for that matter. My god it rocked me and I'm betting it will definitely rock a hell of a lot of people who dare go see it. WoW! Count the days til this comes out -- you wont regret it -- seriously. Its one of a kind on all fronts. I decided to write this because I cant stop telling every single person I know how freaking scary the damn thing was. WOW!

I really don't have any major complaints about the film except it was more of a visual-audio experience than a memorable story. That makes me wonder how times I would watch this, since I already own a lot of great visual movies. Cinematography-wise, this film reminded me a bit of Sleepy Hollow, but not quite as dramatically filmed as that. There also is excellent 5.1surround sound in here. Being a ghost story, and one that is trying to scare the viewer here and there, sudden jolts of sound is important and utilized well here.

I also appreciated this was done without almost any profanity and with famous actors like Donald Sutherland and Sissy Spacek. I expected some Bible-bashing since that's normally the case in these ghost or witch stories, but it wasn't bad here. However, the "surprise" almost political-correctness ending didn't really surprise me, considering how films are these days.

A decent movie but 50-50 whether I would watch it again.

A decent movie with good performances by the always wonderful Sissy Spacek and Donald Sutherland, but one person that stuck out was Rachel Hurd-Wood. I was a little nervous because of the director (Courtney Solomon) last movie which was the terrible Dungeons and Dragons,and I was right... he was not fit for the role of Director. The thing is at some parts made me squeamish and you could actually feel the hair on the back ofyour neck in some parts(SOME IS THE KEY WORD). The cinematography by master Adrian Biddle and the score by Caine Davidson are first rate.The movie is a really clichéd, though and some of the camera angles gave me a headache.

There are countless scenes of poor Betsy being held up and pimp-slapped around by an invisible force. Perhaps it speaks to my own maturity, but it just kept getting funnier every time it happened.

That aside, this is overall a dull story. The framing device of a modern-day single mother moving into an old house and reading a letter is clunky, and the fact that the present day scenes only exist as bookends just makes them feel disconnected. Perhaps if the film had jumped back and forth between past and present it would have worked better? As it was, by the time it gets back to the present, I'd all but forgotten that I wasn't watching a period piece.

With the period piece, which makes up most of the run time, it feels like they didn't know quite where the story was going, and it drags on and on. The twist ending is pretty obvious, but the director chose to include a sequence of flashbacks to all the times it was foreshadowed, which frankly feels a bit insulting - "See, it's been happening all along under your nose, aren't I sneaky?"

I admit to being scared easily, but this film isn't scary. There's no tension built, nor really any scares throughout, it never seems to get going, and as I mentioned before, the dramatic scenes came across as comical. The soundtrack is melodramatic and the intricate sweeping camera work and shifts between colour and black and white don't serve any purpose.

All in all, this feels like a good idea that needed a lot of refinement and a better director. I will probably watch poor Betsy get smacked up again though, if only to cackle at it.