Review done by: Michelle Fatale
Starring: Donald Sutherland, Sissy Spacek, Rachel Hurd-Wood, James
D'Arcy, Matthew Marsh, Thom Fell, Sam Alexander, Miquel Brown, Shauna
Shim
Directed by: Courtney Solomon
Story: Based on the true events of the only case in US History where a spirit
caused the death of a man- the ghost was called the Bell Witch after the last
name of the family tormented.
Review:
Courtney Solomon directs AN AMERICAN HAUNTING, making this his
sophomore effort that somehow found it's way to the big screen. I think if I
read this was the same guy who directed DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS I
probably would have gotten a pretty good idea of how much this movie was
going to suck. Sissy Spacek and Donald Sutherland are the only redeeming
qualities of this movie. Both are amazing actors and did well in this picture,
but I think it was beneath both of their abilities. The story begins with a
young girl being terrorized by ghosts or demons or what have you that her
mother chalks up to just bad dreams. The daughter has found an old journal
up in the attic of their house which her mother scolds her for, and takes it
away. While alone in the study of the house, she begins to read the journal
dated back to the 1800's and in queue's the horrible voice over following our
main story. This movie really didn't need to have a present day narration
included. It was completely out of place, and didn't tie into any part of story
later on.
I assume it's purpose was only to show that in real life these hauntings were
discovered to be documented in 1998. Flashback! We're in early 1800
something and Sutherlands character is being tried in court for overcharging
a citizen on some property that is rumored to be the village witch. She
ambiguously places a curse on his family and his young daughter starts to
experience disturbances somewhat reminiscent of that in THE EXORCIST. The
entire movie is filled with cheap scares and nothing really seems to go
anywhere. The family is being terrorized, the family is still being terrorized,
(an hour later) the family continues to be terrorized. Cheap scare. Cheap
scare. There are first person ghost-cam shots throughout the entire movie.
It worked great for THE EVIL DEAD guys, but here it was just a bit
excessive. It seemed as though the editor had never used editing software
before and was playing with the transitions.
The color would shift between black and white and negative images that
seemed completely misplaced. I have a pretty good feeling we're going to
have people trying to adjust the color on their television sets when this
comes out on DVD. If it hasn't been made clear, I didn't really like it all that
much. There's nothing very good or entertaining about this movie at all. I
think even the ending was very watered down possibly because of the PG-13
rating. Many people left the theatre confused because the "twist" wasn't
made very clear. I hear there's a really great low budget version of the story
made years back out there circulating. I would check that out or something
else, anything else, if you're interested in the real life story of the Bell Family
and the supposed hauntings that took place at their house in Tennessee.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Overall: 4/10
D'Arcy, Matthew Marsh, Thom Fell, Sam Alexander, Miquel Brown, Shauna
Shim
Directed by: Courtney Solomon
Story: Based on the true events of the only case in US History where a spirit
caused the death of a man- the ghost was called the Bell Witch after the last
name of the family tormented.
Review:
Courtney Solomon directs AN AMERICAN HAUNTING, making this his
sophomore effort that somehow found it's way to the big screen. I think if I
read this was the same guy who directed DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS I
probably would have gotten a pretty good idea of how much this movie was
going to suck. Sissy Spacek and Donald Sutherland are the only redeeming
qualities of this movie. Both are amazing actors and did well in this picture,
but I think it was beneath both of their abilities. The story begins with a
young girl being terrorized by ghosts or demons or what have you that her
mother chalks up to just bad dreams. The daughter has found an old journal
up in the attic of their house which her mother scolds her for, and takes it
away. While alone in the study of the house, she begins to read the journal
dated back to the 1800's and in queue's the horrible voice over following our
main story. This movie really didn't need to have a present day narration
included. It was completely out of place, and didn't tie into any part of story
later on.
I assume it's purpose was only to show that in real life these hauntings were
discovered to be documented in 1998. Flashback! We're in early 1800
something and Sutherlands character is being tried in court for overcharging
a citizen on some property that is rumored to be the village witch. She
ambiguously places a curse on his family and his young daughter starts to
experience disturbances somewhat reminiscent of that in THE EXORCIST. The
entire movie is filled with cheap scares and nothing really seems to go
anywhere. The family is being terrorized, the family is still being terrorized,
(an hour later) the family continues to be terrorized. Cheap scare. Cheap
scare. There are first person ghost-cam shots throughout the entire movie.
It worked great for THE EVIL DEAD guys, but here it was just a bit
excessive. It seemed as though the editor had never used editing software
before and was playing with the transitions.
The color would shift between black and white and negative images that
seemed completely misplaced. I have a pretty good feeling we're going to
have people trying to adjust the color on their television sets when this
comes out on DVD. If it hasn't been made clear, I didn't really like it all that
much. There's nothing very good or entertaining about this movie at all. I
think even the ending was very watered down possibly because of the PG-13
rating. Many people left the theatre confused because the "twist" wasn't
made very clear. I hear there's a really great low budget version of the story
made years back out there circulating. I would check that out or something
else, anything else, if you're interested in the real life story of the Bell Family
and the supposed hauntings that took place at their house in Tennessee.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Overall: 4/10
Genres: Drama, Horror,
Mystery, Thriller
Rated: PG-13
Country: USA
Year: 2006
Runtime:
Studio:
IMDB Page
Amazon Page
Mystery, Thriller
Rated: PG-13
Country: USA
Year: 2006
Runtime:
Studio:
IMDB Page
Amazon Page
Online since: February 20th, 2006
