Category: Horror - Horror / Sci-Fi / Fantasy - Movie
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DVD An American Haunting (Unrated Edition)
With its brisk 83-minute running time, An American Haunting is compact enough to be recommended as an occasionally spooky sampling of historical horror. Based on Brent Monahan's novel The Bell Witch: An American Haunting, which in turn was inspired by the only known case (from 1818-20) in which the U.S. government officially acknowledged a death by supernatural forces, writer-director Courtney Solomon's film is a well-crafted 19th-century case study involving Tennessee land-owner John Bell (Donald Sutherland), his worried wife Lucy (Sissy Spacek), and the terrifying abuse of their daughter Betsy (Rachel Hurd-Wood) by a malicious poltergeist. Intensified by excessive sound effects and a nerve-jangling score, these nightly hauntings won't scare anyone who's seen The Exorcist, and they grow increasingly repetitious even as Spacek and Sutherland make the most of their underwritten roles. Solomon (who previously brought Dungeons and Dragons to the big screen) seems more interested in visceral terror than fleshing out the details of this interesting story of dark secrets and child abuse, and his over-used bag of tricks includes time-lapse footage, flashes of negative images, black-and-white (to signal an imminent haunting), and a variety of physical effects designed to keep your adrenaline flowing. It works, to a point (although the present-day framing scenes are completely unnecessary), and An American Haunting makes a good double-feature with The Exorcism of Emily Rose, a far better film with similar subject matter. This good-looking, bleakly moody fright-fest is also noteworthy as the next-to-last screen credit for Adrian Biddle, the esteemed cinematographer of such high-profile hits as Aliens, Thelma & Louise, The Mummy, and V for Vendetta, the latter completed just prior to Biddle's fatal heart attack in December 2005.--Jeff Shannon
Review(s): DVD An American Haunting (Unrated Edition)
An American Hunting was okay but hardly scary.
I experienced performers in the form of Sissy Spacek and Donald Sutherland, but neither of these found this movie to be less than what I had hoped for. The story was good, and even included an ending that I would never have guessed. An American Haunting features two are able to lift it out of the ordinary. I'm not sure if it's just the part she's playing or what, but Spacek looks bored for most of the film; and while Sutherland has never been the liveliest actor, he doesn't look particularly enthused with his part either.
The nineteenth century style of the film is the best thing about it, and director Courtney Solomon does succeed in giving the film an old style look and feel. I was disappointed in how they attempted to frighten you, mostly by having a window shatter at an unexpected moment, or some other loud noise pop out during a quiet scene. I honestly wanted to be frightened by it, but many of the scenes of possession came out quite comically. I nearly laughed out loud during a scene in which a girl was being slapped by an unseen entity. The way it was presented made it funny, not the actual content.
I was angered slightly by one particular phenomena; the director seemed to be using a technique that I've only ever seen in TV series'. A ghostly incident occurred and caused one young girl much suffering, and then later on in the film, the exact same footage was reused, I suppose in an effort to convey how the hauntings happened often and eventually became a nightly affair. I found it to be a cheap move, and distracted me greatly from the mood of the film.
Otherwise, I was slightly pleased with the film. As I said before, the story is solid and intriguing. The acting is up to par, and the general idea of each 'haunting' or 'possession' could have been frightening if experienced in real life, but on the screen it came off as half-baked and a bit comical. My suggestion is to borrow this movie from a friend and save most of your money on a movie rental.
sad!
I love scary movies!! I've seen everyone in the book!! and I had to see this especially because I live in Tennessee( it's based on a story in TN) and I saw it and it was ok The man was gross and it was confusing at first but then I was like whatever! it's ok I wouldn't give it 5 stars though!
Pris!
Never finished
I was really excited about this film, but when I finally got to see this movie, I was deeply disappointed.
Its an incredibly short film considering its subject matter, but that is definately a blessing for those of you whom do make it through. Why you may ask? Because those 83 minutes are the longest 83 you will ever sit through. I nearly fell asleep watching this film in the middle of the day, I turned it off halfway through and felt no need to turn it back on.
I may try to finish it sometime later, I generally do. I do not recommend this movie to anyone, except those with considerable patience.
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