Featured Audience Ratings

• John M

  
  Creepy well done flick.

• Bruce B

  
  For some reason I expected so much more from ths film, I was told that I had to see it, Now I wonder Why. But its a good rainny night oh hell I am alone film. Its in my collection, only cause I brought it before seeing it, Buy it used, not new. 3 Stars

• Lee ?

  
  Movie adaption of the Bell Witch haunting/possession that occurred back in the 1800s. Not too bad actually, it never scared the pants off me but it does have some chilling moments and is nicely paced with the haunting scenes flowing frequently. What lets it down is the lack of… More
  Movie adaption of the Bell Witch haunting/possession that occurred back in the 1800s. Not too bad actually, it never scared the pants off me but it does have some chilling moments and is nicely paced with the haunting scenes flowing frequently. What lets it down is the lack of atmosphere which is killed due to the flashy way it's been shot and the unscary moments of CGI ghosts. The shoddy ending is also a let-down and really is quite offensive to the actual people involved in the incidents.

• Megan S

  
  *Spoiler Alert* Boring. And why market a film as a true story of the only documented case where a spirit killed a man, and then not have the man killed by the spirit. Instead they created an explanation for why the "spirit" was haunting them which was not at all the case in… More
  *Spoiler Alert* Boring. And why market a film as a true story of the only documented case where a spirit killed a man, and then not have the man killed by the spirit. Instead they created an explanation for why the "spirit" was haunting them which was not at all the case in the true story/legend.

• J P

  
  This movie wasn't scary as much as it was creepy. The plot had a lot of depth to it. It wasn't a shallow plot like a bunch of teenagers getting chased by a mad killer. It kept you thinking "is this a demon attacking the girl, or something else?". I thought I knew… More
  This movie wasn't scary as much as it was creepy. The plot had a lot of depth to it. It wasn't a shallow plot like a bunch of teenagers getting chased by a mad killer. It kept you thinking "is this a demon attacking the girl, or something else?". I thought I knew what it was, until the twist came at the end. Good twist by the way. The characters I admit were a bit underdeveloped; I don't think any of them had much personality. They seemed to act exactly the same- all of them. They had no unique characteristics that separated them from one another except for maybe the teacher, but even that is a stretch. There were also many unnecessary characters in the film that had absolutely no personality whatsoever. They also didn't add anything to the story, so it was completely useless to have them in the film at all. Some parts really didn't make any sense. The demon dog or wolf or whatever kind of confused me. Not sure what the symbolism was there, but I didn't catch on. Why a black dog/wolf? What was its purpose exactly? Also, why did the witch have John & Betsy's stuff? *SPOILER* The witch had no part in the strange events taking place at the Bell's house, so I'm not sure why she would have those things. The film never explains it. The movie clears up some plot holes like the relationship of Betsy and her teacher, and the little girl ghost that Betsy saw.....but that's pretty much it. It was a kind of a confusing story. There was good depth in the plot, and I thought the story line was okay (just needed some clarity), but the characters really needed to be developed more. When the characters don't seem to care about what's going on, how can the audience?

• Kylie B

  
  As an adaptation of the Bell Witch haunting legend, it begins well but decides to end in speculative fiction. As a film in its own right, it self-destructs by patching on an ending that doesn't fit the earlier tone of the film. As much as I disliked the ending on historical… More
  As an adaptation of the Bell Witch haunting legend, it begins well but decides to end in speculative fiction. As a film in its own right, it self-destructs by patching on an ending that doesn't fit the earlier tone of the film. As much as I disliked the ending on historical grounds, it could easily have worked better if they had presented the haunting as a poltergeist triggered by the supposed events - but that means no see-through 'ghost' figures, and apparently that was too subtle for them. That pretty much sums up my issues with the film as a film divorced from the inspiration; it tries too hard to be flashy. I especially disliked the voice of the Bell Witch spirit, which seemed to be an amalgamation of cast voices and primarily a little girl whispering. Well, I suppose that fits with the ending but it's not all that creepy. If they'd made it more concrete and less ethereal then it could've been genuinely unnerving AND we would've been able to make out what the hell it was saying. I would love to see a decent period horror film, for me this sadly isn't one.

• Lady D

  
  A well acted film of this genre, perhaps because of it?s claim that it is based on true events. I particularly liked the ending which I felt turned the whole film around from just being watchable to pretty entertaining and of course realising it?s authenticity.

• Luke B

  
  A tedious 90 minutes where the only impresses by how little it has to offer. Ghosts and "shocks" that just aren't scary. Plot twists that fail to elevate an eyebrow. American Haunting isn't truly bad, it just has such little effect on the viewer that you watch it… More
  A tedious 90 minutes where the only impresses by how little it has to offer. Ghosts and "shocks" that just aren't scary. Plot twists that fail to elevate an eyebrow. American Haunting isn't truly bad, it just has such little effect on the viewer that you watch it through a haze of other thoughts. The performances are good, but why put in so much effort when I care more about my next drink than I do about the characters. The feeble tie-in to modern day was also forced and disappointing. This is more like one of those reconstructions for supernatural documentaries, than a film on it's own.

• E.J. B

  
  A complete mess. Scenes go nowhere, the film is not scary, and while the ending tries to resolve everything, it just ends up confusing you even more.

• Craig S

  
  <b><u>Directed by:</u> Courtney Solomon.</b> <b><u>Starring:</u> Donald Sutherland, Sissy Spacek, Rachel Hurd-Wood.</b> I can't believe $8 was wasted on this, I remember over a year ago I had heard a few pre-screener reviews for… More
  <b><u>Directed by:</u> Courtney Solomon.</b> <b><u>Starring:</u> Donald Sutherland, Sissy Spacek, Rachel Hurd-Wood.</b> I can't believe $8 was wasted on this, I remember over a year ago I had heard a few pre-screener reviews for this film and they said it was pretty good (must of been paid by the studio to say bullshit, either that or they were 13 year old girls) and then after it was released, I never followed any reviews and then saw this DVD on shelves this week in the video store....and I truly regret even touching the DVD case. The film pretty much sums up 'cliche' and mashes it all into one atrocious film. I have briefly heard of this story before, it is an interesting concept and could be great if done well, instead it is taken and raped. The film could win an award for the most overuse of cliche I have ever seen, building no visible tension at all and using extremely pathetic loud noises to produce scares (hollywood for you, anything to make a buck from 13 year old girls). As well as being badly paced, the dialogue is also very laughable and bland and overall made the film extremely boring and I struggled to even get through it. Aside from the very bad CGI, the only reason I gave this half a star was because the cinematography was pretty impressive. Not recommended.

• A.D. V

  
  After a somewhat creepy beginning the film bogs down halfway through and never recovers made only worse by a ridiculous explanation of the haunting and a cliched wrap-around ending.

• Drew S

  
  Incomparably awful.

• Dr Blood  

  
  Donald Sutherland mumbles, the rest of the acting is wooden, reactions to events are stilted, the sound is bad, the story is boring and the ghost attacks are all the same. It isn't scary in any way. In fact the scariest thing about it is that it got a theatrical release at all!

• Shauna R

  
  The reason I wasted my time watching this is because it's supposedly based on a true story and I'm quite the supernatural believer. But this film is so terribly awful, I mean I was literally in stitches of laughter when the 'unseen entity' was dragging her around… More
  The reason I wasted my time watching this is because it's supposedly based on a true story and I'm quite the supernatural believer. But this film is so terribly awful, I mean I was literally in stitches of laughter when the 'unseen entity' was dragging her around the room by the hair. It' such an unrealistic and degrading film, believe me there is a billion better horror movies out there.

• Steve B

  
  Had potential, and even with the lame-ass "explanation" behind the haunting, might well have succeeded, but was let down in the end by the plain stupidity of the main characters. The girl is continually assaulted by a "ghost" in her bedroom, night after night,… More
  Had potential, and even with the lame-ass "explanation" behind the haunting, might well have succeeded, but was let down in the end by the plain stupidity of the main characters. The girl is continually assaulted by a "ghost" in her bedroom, night after night, right? Wouldn't you think her parents would move her to another room? At the very least take the door off its hinges to keep from being locked out... again and again and again!

• Morgan S

  
  think i saw somin like this on the history chanel

• Rico Z

  
  A great cast but a weak movie. It really had potential to become the next Exorcism of Emily Rose-- which is exactly why it came and went. It tried too hard to capitalize on something novel that had made money one year prior. Too bad. Sissy Spacek and Donal Sutherland must have been… More
  A great cast but a weak movie. It really had potential to become the next Exorcism of Emily Rose-- which is exactly why it came and went. It tried too hard to capitalize on something novel that had made money one year prior. Too bad. Sissy Spacek and Donal Sutherland must have been desperate for work or they had horrible editors on this film. Sometimes actors think they're taking part in something great until they see the final product and the way it was put together by the editing team. But regardless of that, this movie tried too hard to be scary and tried too hard to deliver a social commentary at its ending. A valiant effort though. It's hard to make a truly scary period piece.

• Nate Z

  
  [center][color=darkred][font=Arial][img]http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/7195/photo050yk.jpg[/img][/font][/color][/center] [color=darkred][/color] [color=darkred][font=Arial]Courtney Solomon made one of the worst movies I have ever seen, 2000’s abomination [i][font=Arial]Dungeons… More
  [center][color=darkred][font=Arial][img]http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/7195/photo050yk.jpg[/img][/font][/color][/center] [color=darkred][/color] [color=darkred][font=Arial]Courtney Solomon made one of the worst movies I have ever seen, 2000’s abomination [i][font=Arial]Dungeons and Dragons[/font][/i]. It is bad on a rarely seen cataclysmic scale. The shot selections were awkward, the handling of the actors was cringe-worthy, the story lightweight but ridiculously stupid, and the special effects were like something a third grade diorama contest could best. [i][font=Arial]Dungeons and Dragons[/font][/i] holds my record, in all the many films I’ve seen, as having the worst line readings of all time. Fortunately, the film is one of those so-bad-it’s-hilarious entries to stop it from being an absolute wash. Now six years later Solomon is back with [i][font=Arial]An American Haunting[/font][/i]. Normally his name alone attached to a movie would guarantee my avoidance, but I checked this out for you, dear readers. Let’s just say Solomon has a [i][font=Arial]looooooong[/font][/i] way to go before he even reaches the competence of Uwe Boll.[/font][/color] [color=darkred][/color] [color=darkred][/color][color=darkred][font=Arial]In 1818 [/font][font=Arial]Tennessee[/font][font=Arial], the [/font][/color][font=Arial][color=darkred]Bell[/color][/font][font=Arial][color=darkred] family moves into a new residence. John Bell (Donald Sutherland) has cheated an outcast woman on her land loan. This woman, branded a “witch,” curses the [/color][/font][font=Arial][color=darkred]Bell[/color][/font][font=Arial][color=darkred] family. Things are fine for a while, but then young Betsy Bell (Rachel Hurd-Wood) is being attacked by an invisible spirit night after night. Her father and mother, Lucy Bell (Sissy Spacek), are powerless to stop the haunting. Before you can ask, “Why don’t they let their daughter sleep in a different room?” they’ve reached out to a preacher and schoolteacher (James D’Arcy) romantically curious with Betsy. No one can stop this haunting and John Bell searches to gain atonement for his sins to spare his family.[/color][/font] [color=darkred][font=Arial]So, let’s get this whole thing straight, spoilers be damned. [i][font=Arial]An American Haunting[/font][/i] is marketing itself as a film based on the only medically credited murder to a ghost. Never mind how you verify that, just go with it for a second. This couldn’t be any more wrong. We learn at the end (“learn” wouldn’t be the right word since the film requires voice over to explain itself) that Betsy had been raped by her father. But wait, it gets better. Betsy had subconsciously developed a protector spirit to guard off further molestation and to punish her father. So right there the ghost in [i][font=Arial]An American Haunting[/font][/i] isn’t even a ghost, just the angry manifestation of an abused girl. There is one death accredited to the ghost, that of John Bell. However, the movie presents his wife poisoning him, not the ghost. So then the murderous ghost is neither. Plus, one has to wonder how shocking John’s loss is if he was willing to kill himself to lift the curse from his family. How believable is a “true account” of a medically documented haunting death when people were blaming demons for things for ages? I mean, there must be written accords from medical professionals of the day attributing the Black Plague to man’s sins. Just because an official said so centuries in the past does not make it medically sound today. If that were true no one would last through puberty without flogging themselves to death (and I did NOT mean it like that). [i][font=Arial]An American Haunting[/font][/i] is not true, is not about a ghost, and isn’t about a ghost committing murder.[/font][/color] [color=darkred][/color] [color=darkred][/color][color=darkred][font=Arial]Writer/director Solomon has made some strides in his filmmaking, but the results are still laughably the same. He’s gotten a better feel for actors and ... that’s about it as far as improvement goes. [i][font=Arial]An American Haunting[/font][/i] is a creaky old timey ghost story that couldn’t scare a soul. It feels more attune to a 1970s made-for-TV flick. You could rent a cabin for a weekend with your friends and film something scarier. Solomon cribs all his scare tactics from Spook 101, which means lots of stagy jumps and creaky noises. The most annoying decision Solomon makes is that when he wants to convey the point of view of our ghost, he quickly swoops the camera down and up, spinning around the room like a paper airplane. I’m surprised more ghosts don’t get motion sickness if this is how they roll. You’ll either grab your stomach from the camerawork or the story.[/font][/color] [color=darkred][/color] [color=darkred][/color][color=darkred][font=Arial]Solomon’s story is just painfully uninteresting. Some good actors do their best to liven up a pretty run-of-the-mill haunting tale. [i][font=Arial]An American Haunting[/font][/i] is insufferably boring and lame. The first half is also exceedingly repetitive, as we watch the spirit creep into Betsy’s room and beat the daylights out of her. I don’t know how many times Solomon expects us to still be entertained, let alone scared, by just repeating this scene verbatim. Apparently, if a ghost keeps smacking you it won’t wake up the people sleeping right beside you. I always did wonder. [i][font=Arial]An American Haunting[/font][/i] is lackluster and boring, but it’s the arbitrary current day scenes that open and close the film that makes it truly, repellently awful. A modern-day mommy discovers Richard’s diary of the haunting and sits herself down for a good read. Then once she gets to the end she sends her little daughter off to spend time with her ex-husband/daughter’s father. And then Betsy’s protector spirit pops up in the car, looking very sad as she’s driven away. [i][font=Arial]An American Haunting[/font][/i] is trying to make us connect that the modern-day woman’s husband is molesting her daughter, but the movie expects you to make a lot of jumps to get there. I don’t think “spirit pointing” will hold up in the court of law. And truly, if the Betsy protector spirit was really trying to be helpful, shouldn’t it be less vague and just spell it out? These modern segments feel tacked on and needless if the whole of the film is spent on the 19th century ghost story. [i][font=Arial]An American Haunting[/font][/i] requires gobs of text at its conclusion to explain that it was, technically, a ghost story by its new and expanded definition.[/font][/color] [color=darkred][/color] [color=darkred][/color][color=darkred][font=Arial]The only nod I can give Solomon and his tale is that they cover my number one complaint of all haunted house movies: why the hell don’t the people just leave? Your house is haunted with the spirits of the damned, so you’re just going to wait it out? MOVE people. Find another place to live! [i][font=Arial]An American Haunting[/font][/i] features a spirit that can travel outside the bounds of its house and attack carriages, no less.[/font][/color] [color=darkred][/color] [color=darkred][/color][color=darkred][i][font=Arial]An American Haunting[/font][/i][font=Arial] is marketed as a true-life ghost story, the only in our nation’s history where a murder was credited to a spirit. However, this movie doesn’t have the foggiest idea how to scare an audience beyond stagy high school theatrics. It’s not a ghost story, unless you swallow whole the film’s flimsy recanting of what a ghost is, it doesn’t feature a murder by haunting, and it isn’t even true, unless you can additionally swallow ye olde folksy, biased medical accounts. I’m sorry, but I don’t buy this. This movie isn’t so bad that it’s funny; it’s just terrible and boring. People as a whole should steer clear from this lamebrain, dull, amateurish fright flick. The only screams you’ll hear during [i][font=Arial]An American Haunting[/font][/i] are unintentional laughter.[/font][/color] [color=darkred][/color] [color=darkred][/color][font=Arial][color=darkred]Nate's Grade: D[/color][/font]

• Frisby 2

  
  It LOOKED good from the commercials, but was it good? NO!! Was it scary? Not even as a joke. The dialogue is irritating, cliche, & uninspired. The plot...wait there wasn't one, sorry. It had no scares. The actors were doing alright, but they were dull & lifeless. And… More
  It LOOKED good from the commercials, but was it good? NO!! Was it scary? Not even as a joke. The dialogue is irritating, cliche, & uninspired. The plot...wait there wasn't one, sorry. It had no scares. The actors were doing alright, but they were dull & lifeless. And to finish it off, the movie itself made no sense. I was wondering if it really was a horror movie. How many times have we seen the story of a girl who sees a ghost, no ones believes her, & later discovers it was a family member was the cause of it all? Many times in my occasion. "Oh no I made my own ghost because I wouldn't say my own dad was fucking & molesting me in bed" oh c'mon! Were young girls back then so stupid? This movie barely made ANY sense! Hell even "The Messengers" (with Kristen Stewart) was better, scarier, & made more sense than this horrible movie. This movie permanently lands on #2 of my list of the top 6 WORST horror movies I have ever seen.

• Walter M

  
  [font=Century Gothic]In "An American Haunting," it is Tennessee in 1817 where landowner John Bell(Donald Sutherland) is found guilty of usury by the church court, charging 20% interest on a loan to a neighbor, Kathe Betts(Gaye Brown). She is allowed to stay on her land but… More
  [font=Century Gothic]In "An American Haunting," it is Tennessee in 1817 where landowner John Bell(Donald Sutherland) is found guilty of usury by the church court, charging 20% interest on a loan to a neighbor, Kathe Betts(Gaye Brown). She is allowed to stay on her land but Bell is allowed to retain the profit of the timber from that land. After the trial is over, Betts, a suspected witch, confronts Bell and warns him and his daughter, Betsy(Rachel Hurd-Wood).[/font] [font=Century Gothic]Months later, things go bump in the night at the Bell household...[/font] [font=Century Gothic]"An American Haunting" is an atmospheric but disjointed movie that has more on its mind than being a simple ghost story. That and a fine resolution to the plot redeem it in the end, even if there is a lot that may seem obvious.[/font]

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