Reel Opinions


Saturday, May 06, 2006

An American Haunting

Did anyone really think writer-director Courtney Solomon deserved a second chance after bringing us 2000's laughable fantasy flick, Dungeons & Dragons? And did anyone really think he was the right person to helm a horror movie? Whoever was behind this "bright" idea will have to live with the shame of An American Haunting for the rest of their lives. This "based on a true story" recounting of the infamous Bell Witch legend that happened in the early 1800s is a repetitive, monotonous, completely ridiculous film that would be hilarious if it didn't take itself so seriously. It's a movie that hits the exact same notes over and over again until the audience just plain gets sick of seeing the ghost doing literally the same thing literally ever 50-70 seconds. Eventually, the movie just stops trying to make any form of sense whatsoever, and turns into a poorly edited parade of flashbacks, dream sequences, nightmares, and other such supernatural schlock. In a year already full of bad horror films, An American Haunting stands head and shoulders above the rest, and is easily one of the worst films of the year.

Set mainly in the year 1818 (except for an extremely pointless bookend sequence set in the present day that opens and closes the story), the film follows the Bell family as they are suddenly attacked by vicious night hauntings, most of them surrounding their teenage daughter Betsy (Rachel Hurd-Wood from 2003's live action Peter Pan film) who is awakened in the middle of the night by violent visits by an unseen assailant. The head of the family, John Bell (Donald Sutherland), thinks it has to do with a curse that was supposedly placed on him by a local witch whom he cheated in a land deal. His loving wife Lucy (Sissy Spacek) is not sure what to think, and only wishes for the safety of her family. Priests and scholars are called to try to make sense out of the madness, but the paranormal attacks only grow stronger, driving John to the point of near-insanity, and Lucy to ultimately discover the terrifying truth behind the ghostly visits.

Even with a running time that barely stretches past 80 minutes, An American Haunting is one of the most padded and pointless excuses for a horror movie I have ever seen in my life. It's almost as if writer-director Solomon had no idea what he wanted to do with his movie about this supposedly true ghost story, so he simply decided to throw one "ghost attack" scene after another. After a shallow 10 minutes or so of set up, the movie sets into a pattern from which it never escapes. Eerie creaking or moaning or whisperings are heard from somewhere in the house, the adults tip toe about, trying to find the source of the sound, and then suddenly all chaos breaks loose, and teenage daughter Betsy is attacked in her sleep. She's either grabbed by her hair, lifted up into the air, and slapped repeatedly across the face by an unseen presence, or she's literally dragged around the house, up the stairs and even up the walls in sequences that end up resembling less moments of horror and more like slapstick parodies of scenes from The Exorcist. As soon as one ghost attack scene is over, another is ready to start less than a minute later, and that's not an exaggeration. I once decided to check my watch, and counted a good 20 or 30 seconds between the evil ghost's exit and its next appearance. The movie keeps on hitting the same notes and doing the same thing that we just want the movie to be over with before the film hits the 40 minute mark.

The film only becomes worse as it wobbles on to its shaky conclusion, as it completely stops even trying to make the least bit of sense. There is no sense of time, the movie jumping from one scene to another without any rhyme or reason. The entire production looks like it was edited with a chainsaw wielded by a drunk man wearing a blindfold. The movie keeps on throwing ghostly attacks, mysterious wolves that attack in the woods for no reason whatsoever, and filling the soundtrack with ominous music and "creepy" sound effects that sound like they were swiped from a local carnival Spook House. This makes the film's final twist not only completely and absolutely baffling, but also just plain awkward. Things simply happen with no explanation, so there is just no sense in trying to make sense of this jumbled mess of a plot the filmmakers have given us. The movie isn't even interesting to look at in a visual sense. The settings are constantly dark, murky, foggy, or muddied. It's kind of like trying to watch a movie through a dirty window. I can understand that the filmmakers were trying to go for a "drab" look to give the film an ominous tone, but here it backfires and simply makes the movie look ugly. There is not one single moment that works in the entire movie, and not one solitary instance that can convince me anyone involved in this production knew what they were doing.

The real mystery of An American Haunting is just how did a schlocky piece of straight to video-quality horror junk attract such a talented cast? Were their loved ones held at gunpoint? Was blackmail involved? I kept on trying to rationalize Donald Sutherland's presence in this movie. It looks like he's just miserable being in this movie, as does the rest of the cast. Everyone's so down and depressed, even when they're supposed to be celebrating Christmas. Sutherland and Spacek both look lost, as they're given absolutely nothing to do but creep around in the dark, and look in horror as their teenage daughter is beat up by an invisible attacker. The script gives us no insight into the Bell family, so we feel nothing when John starts to feel defeated as the haunting wears on. All I can say is I hope the paycheck was good, because no one involved with this movie is going to be able to live this one down for a long time.


It simply boggles my mind that one single horror movie can find a way to go wrong in so many ways, and yet, An American Haunting continued to surprise me with each passing scene in its total ineptness. I have no real knowledge about the actual Bell Witch legend, so I don't know if it could have been made into a decent movie. All I know is that just about anyone else who tried to tackle this project could have come up with a better final result than this. The fact that this film actually managed to score a full-scale release and is stinking up your local cineplex is all the more terrifying. An American Haunting is junky, pointless, repetitive, and holds absolutely no entertainment value whatsoever. It takes a special kind of bad movie to make me hate it this much. An American Haunting is a very, very special movie indeed in this regard.

See the movie times in your area or buy the DVD at Amazon.com!

1 comments

1 Comments:

  • I just watched this and am TOTALLY LOST.. WHAT THE HECK JUST HAPPENED!!! What did she discover in the end? Man I dont understand this movie one bit..I really wanted to know what happened... Im really dissapointed I watched it :(

    By Blogger Bearuh, at 7:09 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home

09/01/2005 - 10/01/2005
10/01/2005 - 11/01/2005
11/01/2005 - 12/01/2005
12/01/2005 - 01/01/2006
01/01/2006 - 02/01/2006
02/01/2006 - 03/01/2006
03/01/2006 - 04/01/2006
04/01/2006 - 05/01/2006
05/01/2006 - 06/01/2006
06/01/2006 - 07/01/2006
07/01/2006 - 08/01/2006
08/01/2006 - 09/01/2006
09/01/2006 - 10/01/2006
10/01/2006 - 11/01/2006
11/01/2006 - 12/01/2006
12/01/2006 - 01/01/2007
01/01/2007 - 02/01/2007
02/01/2007 - 03/01/2007
03/01/2007 - 04/01/2007
04/01/2007 - 05/01/2007
05/01/2007 - 06/01/2007
06/01/2007 - 07/01/2007
07/01/2007 - 08/01/2007
08/01/2007 - 09/01/2007
09/01/2007 - 10/01/2007
10/01/2007 - 11/01/2007
11/01/2007 - 12/01/2007
12/01/2007 - 01/01/2008
01/01/2008 - 02/01/2008
02/01/2008 - 03/01/2008
03/01/2008 - 04/01/2008
04/01/2008 - 05/01/2008
05/01/2008 - 06/01/2008
06/01/2008 - 07/01/2008
07/01/2008 - 08/01/2008
08/01/2008 - 09/01/2008
09/01/2008 - 10/01/2008
10/01/2008 - 11/01/2008
11/01/2008 - 12/01/2008
12/01/2008 - 01/01/2009
01/01/2009 - 02/01/2009
02/01/2009 - 03/01/2009
03/01/2009 - 04/01/2009
04/01/2009 - 05/01/2009
05/01/2009 - 06/01/2009
06/01/2009 - 07/01/2009
07/01/2009 - 08/01/2009
08/01/2009 - 09/01/2009
09/01/2009 - 10/01/2009
10/01/2009 - 11/01/2009
11/01/2009 - 12/01/2009
12/01/2009 - 01/01/2010
01/01/2010 - 02/01/2010
02/01/2010 - 03/01/2010
03/01/2010 - 04/01/2010
04/01/2010 - 05/01/2010
05/01/2010 - 06/01/2010
06/01/2010 - 07/01/2010
07/01/2010 - 08/01/2010
08/01/2010 - 09/01/2010
09/01/2010 - 10/01/2010
10/01/2010 - 11/01/2010
11/01/2010 - 12/01/2010
12/01/2010 - 01/01/2011
01/01/2011 - 02/01/2011
02/01/2011 - 03/01/2011
03/01/2011 - 04/01/2011
04/01/2011 - 05/01/2011
05/01/2011 - 06/01/2011
06/01/2011 - 07/01/2011
07/01/2011 - 08/01/2011
08/01/2011 - 09/01/2011
09/01/2011 - 10/01/2011
10/01/2011 - 11/01/2011
11/01/2011 - 12/01/2011
12/01/2011 - 01/01/2012
01/01/2012 - 02/01/2012
02/01/2012 - 03/01/2012
03/01/2012 - 04/01/2012
04/01/2012 - 05/01/2012
05/01/2012 - 06/01/2012
06/01/2012 - 07/01/2012
07/01/2012 - 08/01/2012
08/01/2012 - 09/01/2012
09/01/2012 - 10/01/2012
10/01/2012 - 11/01/2012
11/01/2012 - 12/01/2012
12/01/2012 - 01/01/2013
01/01/2013 - 02/01/2013
02/01/2013 - 03/01/2013
03/01/2013 - 04/01/2013
04/01/2013 - 05/01/2013
05/01/2013 - 06/01/2013
06/01/2013 - 07/01/2013
07/01/2013 - 08/01/2013
08/01/2013 - 09/01/2013
09/01/2013 - 10/01/2013
10/01/2013 - 11/01/2013
11/01/2013 - 12/01/2013
12/01/2013 - 01/01/2014
01/01/2014 - 02/01/2014
02/01/2014 - 03/01/2014
03/01/2014 - 04/01/2014
04/01/2014 - 05/01/2014
05/01/2014 - 06/01/2014
06/01/2014 - 07/01/2014
07/01/2014 - 08/01/2014
08/01/2014 - 09/01/2014
09/01/2014 - 10/01/2014
10/01/2014 - 11/01/2014
11/01/2014 - 12/01/2014
12/01/2014 - 01/01/2015
01/01/2015 - 02/01/2015
02/01/2015 - 03/01/2015
03/01/2015 - 04/01/2015
04/01/2015 - 05/01/2015
05/01/2015 - 06/01/2015
06/01/2015 - 07/01/2015
07/01/2015 - 08/01/2015
08/01/2015 - 09/01/2015
09/01/2015 - 10/01/2015
10/01/2015 - 11/01/2015
11/01/2015 - 12/01/2015
12/01/2015 - 01/01/2016
01/01/2016 - 02/01/2016
02/01/2016 - 03/01/2016
03/01/2016 - 04/01/2016
04/01/2016 - 05/01/2016
05/01/2016 - 06/01/2016
06/01/2016 - 07/01/2016
07/01/2016 - 08/01/2016
08/01/2016 - 09/01/2016
09/01/2016 - 10/01/2016
10/01/2016 - 11/01/2016
11/01/2016 - 12/01/2016
12/01/2016 - 01/01/2017
01/01/2017 - 02/01/2017
02/01/2017 - 03/01/2017
03/01/2017 - 04/01/2017
04/01/2017 - 05/01/2017
05/01/2017 - 06/01/2017
06/01/2017 - 07/01/2017
07/01/2017 - 08/01/2017
08/01/2017 - 09/01/2017
09/01/2017 - 10/01/2017
10/01/2017 - 11/01/2017
11/01/2017 - 12/01/2017
12/01/2017 - 01/01/2018
01/01/2018 - 02/01/2018
02/01/2018 - 03/01/2018
03/01/2018 - 04/01/2018
04/01/2018 - 05/01/2018
05/01/2018 - 06/01/2018
06/01/2018 - 07/01/2018
07/01/2018 - 08/01/2018
08/01/2018 - 09/01/2018
09/01/2018 - 10/01/2018
10/01/2018 - 11/01/2018
11/01/2018 - 12/01/2018
12/01/2018 - 01/01/2019
01/01/2019 - 02/01/2019
02/01/2019 - 03/01/2019
03/01/2019 - 04/01/2019
04/01/2019 - 05/01/2019
05/01/2019 - 06/01/2019
06/01/2019 - 07/01/2019
07/01/2019 - 08/01/2019
08/01/2019 - 09/01/2019
09/01/2019 - 10/01/2019
10/01/2019 - 11/01/2019
11/01/2019 - 12/01/2019
12/01/2019 - 01/01/2020
01/01/2020 - 02/01/2020
02/01/2020 - 03/01/2020
03/01/2020 - 04/01/2020
04/01/2020 - 05/01/2020
05/01/2020 - 06/01/2020
06/01/2020 - 07/01/2020
07/01/2020 - 08/01/2020
08/01/2020 - 09/01/2020
09/01/2020 - 10/01/2020
10/01/2020 - 11/01/2020
11/01/2020 - 12/01/2020
12/01/2020 - 01/01/2021
02/01/2021 - 03/01/2021
03/01/2021 - 04/01/2021
04/01/2021 - 05/01/2021
05/01/2021 - 06/01/2021
06/01/2021 - 07/01/2021
07/01/2021 - 08/01/2021
08/01/2021 - 09/01/2021
09/01/2021 - 10/01/2021
10/01/2021 - 11/01/2021
11/01/2021 - 12/01/2021
12/01/2021 - 01/01/2022
01/01/2022 - 02/01/2022
02/01/2022 - 03/01/2022
03/01/2022 - 04/01/2022
04/01/2022 - 05/01/2022
05/01/2022 - 06/01/2022
06/01/2022 - 07/01/2022
07/01/2022 - 08/01/2022
08/01/2022 - 09/01/2022
09/01/2022 - 10/01/2022
10/01/2022 - 11/01/2022
11/01/2022 - 12/01/2022
12/01/2022 - 01/01/2023
01/01/2023 - 02/01/2023
02/01/2023 - 03/01/2023
03/01/2023 - 04/01/2023
04/01/2023 - 05/01/2023
05/01/2023 - 06/01/2023

Powered by Blogger