American Haunting

After finding a long-lost letter, a family finds that their ancestors living in the house where once the targets of a supposed haunting unleashed by a vengeful neighbor over land-rights issues and tried to find a way of stopping the haunting from continuing to strike the family.

There wasn't a whole lot here that works, but what does is of big importance. The main thing that this one does do well is force the viewer into accepting the distorted reality presented here, making it think that this is actually going on rather than being a simple curse. It starts as a series of inconsequential importance, from hallucinations written off as being tired or creaks and moans in the night before becoming full-blown supernatural plagues, all building up to the next encounter to make this more creepy and unexpected. This also makes the pacing seem incredibly quick and rapid, as this never once loses steam once the activity starts to affect them with the ghost visiting her in the bedroom or the school encounter on the swing, leaving it all the more enjoyable. That carries over into the later half where this is able to include some really spectacular set- pieces as the second bedroom encounter is a long, drawn-out and protracted torture sequence all done in a straightforward style that leaves all the dragging around and slapping thrown in. the vertical suspension gag works wonderfully and that it takes place in front of helpless witnesses makes this the greatest moment in the film. The later scenes are also quite fun, including a spectacular scene with all the characters in a central room as the presence circling about and a later scene where the various candles in the room immediately melt down to the wicks in an impressive visual, making this a quite impressive overall type of scene. The flash jumps with the little child are cliché but effective in the context of the film, and there's plenty to enjoy about it as well. This one isn't all that bad. This here doesn't have a whole lot of flaws, but they are pretty big ones. The most obvious one is the film's incredibly illogical and quite infuriating ending. This here was built up incredibly well as a supernatural entity being loosened upon the family, and instead of the majority of the time discovering who would be responsible for doing so the end thrusts this quite senseless storyline into view which is wrong on several levels. First, the nature of what the twist implies isn't even close to what happened historically, which is what the story concerns itself to be, and second is that the implication of this isn't handled all that well. There are several instances where what the twist shifts the story into contradicts what has happened to a degree that doesn't make sense since so many of those events feature the participant as a witness to the scene and couldn't have had it transpired through the motion the twist makes it out to be. The other big flaw is that this here tried to keep itself way too tame for no reason, alleviating the possibility of really tapping into the storyline because it's forced to keep it all vague and tame due to its rating despite the subject matter. These are the film's main drawbacks.

Rated PG-13: Mild Language, Mild Violence, Rape and strong themes of incest.

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.

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.

Whatever possesses the demon in "An American Haunting" to ruin the lives of the Bell family is never made clear. Nor are we ever sure that it was the curse put upon the family by a woman who felt cheated by the father in a land dispute. And why all the attention is put on the girl (RACHEL HURD-WOOD) instead of the father (DONALD SUTHERLAND) is another factor never really explained. He's the one the entity really wanted to destroy but he's not the first target. He's excellent in a rather underwritten role that makes him an ambiguous figure.

With all of these reservations aside, the film is beautifully filmed and despite being shot on location in Rumania has an American Gothic look that is appropriate for the story. The acting is uniformly good. SISSY SPACEK excels as the worried mother who sees how tormented her daughter is by the demon. JAMES D'ARCY is interesting as the teacher who has a hard time realizing there is a real haunting going on, his disbelief being another factor hard to rationalize. THOM FELL is fine as the stalwart son anxious to protect his sister.

And for a story about things that go bump in the night, it has plenty of chilling moments for lovers of films of this genre. And yet, despite all of the good elements--the settings, the photography, the fine performances--it never manages to be completely convincing, especially as it tries to explain things toward the end. The book-ending that frames the story with an opening and closing in present time seems an unnecessary touch.

At times, it's so overdone that it's hard to believe it's based on a true story. I'm sure there's some truth at the core, but surely the writers embellished the tale with a lot of manufactured dream elements reminiscent of the "Nightmare on Elm Street" variety, letting their imaginations run wild with menacing wolves and the howling wind.

A project that could have been so much better if it just concentrated on the real ghost story at the center of the tale.

Where are my series of emojis? I need "eh", "sigh" and finally, snooze.

Look, poltergeist/haunting/possession movies are old hat in my opinion. You'd have to be extremely creative to make something from that genre be fresh, new and compelling. "An American Haunting" was not.

The setting is Tennessee year 1817 and a teenage girl is being harassed by an entity. The family cannot rid themselves of this specter no matter what measures they take. The movie plays out as you would expect with slow build up and a plethora of jump scares (that were anything but--jump annoyances is more accurate).

I patiently suffered through this movie to await the big reveal. Yes, the movie had something of a twist in store but not the least bit satisfying. I will be haunted by this movie and the decision I made to watch it.