An American Haunting





I'm a little disappointed.

It could have been one of the better horror movies in some time, but instead, it became repetitive, boring, and had an awful twist at the end. Great performances all around, though, and the film itself has some great cinematography, most of the time.

C+

A Pretty piss-poor horror thats rifts on Emily Rose but is completely ruined by having to stay in PG-13 territory as potentially good set-ups come to nothing due to the rating cutting it's nuts off so to speak . Scenes where the Ghost moves around the room are shot like something you'd see in an student arthhouse movie all swooping camera and whispers. There are way to many attempts at false jumps that when it actual tries reals ones you couldn't care less. And the icing on the cake is the truly stupid ending that is just abruptly dumped on you. Very Poor Movie

D-

Boring, nice horror scenes though.

4/10 (D+)

When did you guys see this?

I downloaded it

Was released in the British Isles 3 weeks ago. thats when i saw it.

Based on the famous true story of the Bell Witch, An American Haunting had all of the ingredients that go into the making of a good horror film. It had good source material, a fine cast with two Academy-Award winners and an interesting take on a ghost story that audiences have seldom seen on film before. Sure, it had potential. But what appears onscreen is not like this at all. Good performances are not present. The direction is awful. The screenplay utilizes every cliche in the book. And to top it all off, the ending is a complete mess that makes no sense whatsoever. This all comes together to create one of the single worst horror films in recent memory.

The film begins in Red River, Tennessee during present day. A teenage girl has been snooping around her attic and discovers a strange doll and a mysterious journal amidst the debris. Her mother takes the journal away and begins to read it, and we are transported to the same place in 1818. John (Donald Sutherland) and Lucy Bell (Sissy Spacek) are a happy couple who live with their family in the small yet comfortable town. But things change when John gets into a legal dispute with a neighbor, largely believed to be a witch. When the court rules in his favor, the woman publicly curses him and his daughter Betsy (Rachel Hurd-Wood), a promiscuous 14-year-old. Soon after, the entire family can feel an outworldly presence in their home. Betsy is being tortured by the spirit in her sleep, and John begins to fall ill. With the help of local schoolteacher Richard Powell (James D'Arcy), the family must discover the truth behind the supposed haunting while also attempting to save Betsy from the spirit's vicious grasp.

This disaster is directed by Courtney Solomon, who brought the megabomb Dungeons & Dragons to screens back in 2000. His work here is absolutely awful as well. Everything in the film feels incredibly cheap despite the decent-sized budget. The camerawork is often so dark that you can't tell what is going on, and he often resorts to cheap horror movie tricks to get a jolt out of the viewer. Possibly the worst decision he makes is the choice to transition from black-and-white to color at random points throughout. It really serves no purpose and is just a major annoyance. The colors change onscreen as the supposed "scary" moments occur as well, with everything turning an ugly shade as lights flash. Even the way he shoots the scenery is unspectacular, for after a while many shots seem to be used over and over again.

Another one of the major flaws is the fact that the film isn't scary. Horror films that garner PG-13 ratings can still be very scary and effective, as exhibited by titles such as The Ring and The Exorcism Of Emily Rose. What An American Haunting chooses to do is feature a multitude of doors slamming, lots of loud screaming and many flashing lights. It does nothing for the senses and will leave you groaning instead of cringing.

The performances here are, frankly, atrocious. There wasn't a single one that I found noteworthy or memorable in any way. Donald Sutherland, who delivered great work in a period piece with last year's Pride & Prejudice, is completely slumming here. Most of his lines are delivered with a dull murmur and his character never feels real or believable. Sissy Spacek is fairly annoying here as the worried mother, and her character is completely idiotic. She runs around crying and complaining instead of actually acting on anything. James D'Arcy is boring and one-note as the professor. And lastly, Rachel Hurd-Wood, who is garnering a fair amount of praise for this performance, is awful. When her American accent isn't faltering, she is completely boring to watch and really does nothing but scream and look disturbed. She was much better in her debut film Peter Pan and I hope she chooses better projects in the future. The supporting characters are completely forgettable, and most deliver dialogue in terribly phony Southern accents. I truly didn't care at all about any of these people.

Overall, this film is a complete disaster from the very first frame. It feels like a made-for-television movie for the most part, and a bad one at that. The actors all deliver one-note performances and the direction is an atrocity. The film never succeeds at scaring the audience, instead boring them to tears with lame tricks that we've all seen before. And it all concludes with a ridiculous and confusing ending sure to leave you scratching your head. Stay far away, for this is easily the worst film of the year so far.

3/10 (D-)

Despite being based on one of the most famous ghost stories in American history and including a solid cast, this 'horror' film is anything but scary, dramatic, or even interesting. Instead, the flick is largely boring, confusing, and poorly executed. Even though it clocks in at a running time of just 90 minutes or so, the film drags throughout most of the non-horror scenes, and even through some of the so-called 'scary' moments. All of it leads up to a conclusion that is baffling, illogical, and very stupid. The twist is one of the least sensible of its kind in recent memory, as there is nothing in the film, up to that point, to warrant such a move. Pretty much a terrible film.

Though the cast looks solid on paper, the acting here is quite bad. Everyone looks like they're just picking up a paycheck, from Sutherland, who looks bored, to Spacek, who's never been more shrill, to Rachel Hurd-Word, who attempts to do her best Linda Blair impression but ends up just screaming and staring around wide-eyed most of the time. The direction is absolutely abysmal, as all scenes with the spirit look incredibly amateurish with the swooping camera, and, for some reason, are shot in black and white. Although it's clear this was done with some foolish artistic idea in mind, it ends up standing out terribly and erases any small amount of suspense or tension that might have been built up. Most of the suspense, though, is destroyed by the absolutely atrocious editing, which is, at once, frustrating, annoying, and pointless. It all adds up to a lame excuse for a horror film.

The only thing that saves this from being a complete waste is that there are some cool visuals, and occasionally some decent cinematography. Other than that, though, this is an abomination of film, with terrible acting, dreadful directing, and awful editing. A complete waste of time.

C-


Well, I agree with what trixster said. One would expect that there's potential at a better film given that the ghost story is very famous. This one was just a run-off-the-mill ghost story with only a few suspenseful moments and a truly laughable twist at the end. Donald Sutherland must be embarassed. Spaceck is underused and no one else is worth saying anything about.