Bell Witch Haunting

BELL WITCH HAUNTING (aka THE HAUNT) is an American horror movie supposedly based on real events that took place during the period 1817 to 1821.

This is not to be confused with BELL WITCH: THE MOVIE, a movie starring Betsy Palmer based on the same events. However, I can say that I wish I had seen this other movie instead of the one I saw! I enjoyed Betsy Palmer's chilling performance in Friday THE 13TH. As such, I believe that even on a bad day, she'd pull off a better performance than anyone involved in the travesty known as THE HAUNT.

With regard to my heading, this movie is not painful to watch because the content is disturbing. It is painful to watch because it is just downright boring.

Reading the positive reviews for this movie, I could only identify three possibilities. The first possibility - these authors were involved in the production in some way. The second possibility - the authors whilst not directly involved were paid to write positive reviews after production was completed. The final possibility - none of these authors has seen a sufficient number of horror movies and therefore is inexperienced with the concepts that successful attempts utilise.

The setting for the plot is Robertson County, Tennessee. James Johnston receives a visit from two journalists eager to hear the story of the Bell Witch. The story is told as a series of flashbacks. A series of supernatural events begin happening at the home of John Bell and his family. It soon transpires that a vengeful spirit is behind it all.

On the surface the plot appears to be a standard poltergeist affair, albeit one based on real events.

Where execution of the brilliant concept is concerned however, just about everything that could go wrong does go wrong. And then some!

First, the acting. The acting is almost uniformly terrible right across the board. This factor does the most damage to the production, undermining any possible credibility of belief or interest on the part of the viewer. The voice of the vengeful spirit sounds more like a teenage girl experiencing teenage angst rather than a powerful demonic force expressing malevolent intent. I almost laughed when I heard some of her lines. Unfortunately, this voice began to become very annoying very quickly! I may not have been alive in the 1800s, but I find it incredibly hard to believe that any young woman alive at that time would speak in the way that this "ghost" does!

Second, the direction. The direction is haphazard and very uneven. Some scenes show promise but potential is squandered by the clearly inexperienced director. Nothing is done with the camera, with sound or with lighting to add intensity to the scenes intended to be scary. The atmosphere is equally flat. A vengeful spirit is supposedly behind supernatural occurrences. Yet the effects are so incredibly inept that no one who has seen a proper horror movie would buy into them. I'll give one example. In one scene, the spirit attacks someone. See the scene for yourself. It's almost funny - almost.

Third, the script. Whilst it may be the case that the events shown are faithful to accounts of real occurrences, it cannot be denied that most scenes are incredibly flat and boring. Scenes as short as two minutes feel much longer thanks to the poor dialogue - dialogue that fails to add depth to the characters or story. This movie is far too reliant on conversations to advance the story. Whilst this style was also the case with British movies from the British horror heyday of the 1960s and 1970s, it cannot be denied that the dialogue exchanges were always interesting to watch in these more professional earlier works. Peter Cushing for example could read a telephone directory and still hold attention of the viewers. The same cannot be said of the actors in THE HAUNT.

Finally, the humour. The ill-guided attempts at humour in this movie are excruciating. An obese boy is the butt of many jokes. One particularly awful scene sees the said boy going to the outside toilet. This scene should never have been included - but it is and complete with sound effects in case you fail to understand what he is doing!

The only positive points about the movie are the location and the costumes. The decision to shoot the picture near the original location helped add some authenticity. The costumes were also well chosen.

Overall, THE HAUNT is an appalling movie. It is not even in the "so bad it's good" league. It is instead just boring. I advise everyone to save their money and avoid this movie like the plague. Don't even bother seeing it for free!

I have never seen the other movie about the Bell Witch. But it really couldn't be any worse than THE HAUNT. Could it? I'll give this other movie a chance if I can track it down.

In the meantime, I would advise everyone on here to check out some proper horror movies about ghosts and haunting. THE LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE, THE CHANGELING, RINGU, THE GRUDGE (Japanese original) and ONE MISSED CALL (Japanese original) are good places to start.

I bought a copy of this movie. The cover art looked impressive. When we sat down and watched it I was very disappointed. I have done a lot of research on this story. I have been to the places of where the actual events took place. Adams, Tennessee is not very far from where I live. The character Joshua Gardner in the movie is said to have moved west. He did about 12 miles from my home is where he settled and is buried there also. I know the people who bought and reassembled his cabin and they also said they experienced unusual happenings with it. The movie has to much of an hillbilly atmosphere. The real people being portrayed in this movie were far from being hillbilly's. They were a very well respected and prominent family of what I have learned. I feel that the seriousness of this story was not expressed well enough in it. The actual story was very frightening so frightening some of the older generations of the Bell family tried to keep it from the younger generation. I also noticed scenes that didn't match. Like the length of a candle a person is holding in a scene. One scene it is almost burnt out and the next it is longer. There is one more when someone is wearing a hat and then they are not. When John Bell Sr. is in his death bed one angle he is white faced and one angle he is not. There is to much silly comedy. When I say that I mean it is kind of corny. There is a lot of bad acting. I feel it is lacking in ability to tell the real horrifying story. In the real story Andrew Jackson and his army went to witness the Bell Witch and it scared some of his troops off and he made the statement. "I'd rather face the whole British Army, than face the Bell Witch again." You will find that the comedy kind of puts a damper on the threat of the witch in a way. There is some factual events told. I suggest that a person read the book. It will be more effective.

The filmmaker stayed true to the most accurate account of the story published in 1894 which includes an 1846 manuscript by Richard Williams Bell (son of John and Lucy Bell and younger brother of Betsy Bell) titled "Our Family Trouble." To knowledge this is the only eyewitness account ever penned. The filmmaker should be credited for accuracy but there is little to say about the production and acting quality. The acting was theatrical and the sound and picture quality was extremely poor. It appears that the filmmaker simply shot scenes of the reported events that took place without incorporating or weaving them into a flowing plot or story line. If you must know the story, read about it, its much more gripping and conclusive.

I love ghost stories and I will sit through a movie til it's end, even if I'm not really enjoying it. I rarely feel like I wasted my time... BUT, this adaptation of the Bell Witch story was horrible!

It wasn't scary in the least bit. What is with the comic relief moments? The dialog was tedious. Acting inconsistent The movie was WAY too long and some scenes were unnecessarily drawn out in my open. (Like the birthday party)

The only good think I can think about mentioning is the costumes and props were well done.

I am curious about other adaptation, but until then, I will stick to reading about the story.

I've read the comments of people who rated this movie 0 out of ten and who obviously have a hidden agenda. I've also read the comments of those who gave it a ten. They have an agenda as well. Now I'm going to tell you the truth.

I purchased this movie after seeing An American Haunting because I was interested in learning more. In many ways, this movie is better than American Haunting because it gives much more detail.

If you buy this movie and expect it to be something like a big budget Hollywood film with seasoned actors who earn 5 million per performance, forget it. That's not what it is. This movie is a low budget film by an independent film maker using people that I suspect have acted in local theater and in plays, but have not made movies. In fact, the scenes in which there is dialog smacks of a stage presentation. As any film actor will tell you....if you want to be great in films forget everything you did on the stage. It isn't the same thing.

This film is, so far as I have been able to determine, historically accurate. It is, therefore, educational and very entertaining. True, you can't compare it to American Haunting but then it is not claimed to be comparable to a big budget film with name actors. For what it is, it's darned good. The actors gave honest effort and I can't fault their performances. The writing and directing was likewise honest.

You'll probably never see this film at your local theater, so buy a copy of it. You won't be sorry.