An American Haunting

[prydain]

I've been looking forward to this movie ever since I've heard about it, it looks fantastic, I think.

Here's the summary, from Wikipedia (http://www.wikipedia.com):

The film is based on true events from the legend of The Bell Witch that have been validated by the State of Tennessee and President Andrew Jackson as the only case in United States history where a spirit or entity caused the death of a man.

Between the years 1818 and 1820, the Bell Family of Red River, Tennessee was visited by an unknown presence that haunted the family and would eventually end up causing the death of one it's members. Starting with sounds around the house at night, and the sighting of strange animals around the farm, the 'sounds' eventually escalated into full brutal contact with certain family members which caused severe psychological and physical torment. The attacks grew in strength, with the spirit slapping, clawing, dragging and beating the Bell's youngest daughter, Betsy. The spirit, who everyone eventually referred to as 'Kate', seemed to reserve her most hateful attacks for John Bell Sr. The Bells searched for rational explanations and ways to rid their house of this entity, but to no avail. The spirit began to communicate with them through sounds at first, then later by actually speaking in a powerful voice. Once when the spirit was questioned about where it came from and why, it referred to itself as, " Kate Batts' witch", and claimed the only mission it had was to eventually kill John Bell. The spirit could seemingly predict the future, reveal secrets of those present, quote any Scripture flawlessly, and foresee events happening great distances away, reporting the events later perfectly. The haunting ended later with the poisoning death of John Bell. The spirit claimed that when he was asleep, she gave him a dose of some strange liquid that was later found in the room. When this mystery 'medicine' was tested on a cat, the animal went into seizures and died. It is said that at his funeral, the witch laughed, screamed and sang songs happily while others mourned. Soon after, the witch departed, promising to return in seven years.

If you have Quicktime or Windows Media Player you can view the trailer HERE (http://www.anamericanhauntingonline.com/pages/trailer.html).

Thoughts?

[goldenboy]

Well, I love ghost stories, though this doesn't seem to be a typical haunting kind of deal. And I love period pieces generally. I like that it looks suspenseful and not necessarily gory. I think Sutherland and Spacek are wonderful.

The director and writers don't have many listed credits on IMDb. And one of them is Dungeons and Dragons....umm....

I dunno. Sounds cool. Hope it's great.

[prydain]

Well from the trailer, it looks like it's pretty well made. It looks like it's very well put together, from what I can see from the trailer. And it looks like more care was put into it than a lot of other horror movies. This is probably more "traditionally" creepy than using all the body horror which I'm quickly tiring of.

[goldenboy]

Sometimes, a no-name writer or director will come completely out of left-field with something that blows you away. Sometimes, it's something they're really passionate about, excited to do it...like a pet project.

[goldenboy]

Huh. This is actually really bizarre. I like.

Eventually the spirit began trying to speak, first whispering faintly, then later gaining power, enabling this entity to speak directly to anyone in the room. Often she would converse, sing, shriek, curse, and physically interact with the Bell family and other witnesses - most times with a high degree of physical violence. 'Kate', as everyone eventually called her, did not hesitate to slap, pinch, or claw those whom she considered deserving of her wrath. Once, during the haunting, an entire 'family' of spirits, who called themselves a 'witch family', appeared to arrive and began speaking with those in the house. These spirits called themselves 'Black Dog, Jerusalem, Mathmatics, and Cypocraphy.'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bell_Witch

[goldenboy]

I'm seeing mixed reviews for this at rottentomatoes. Here's one of the more positive ones.

Translating a legendary ghost story to the screen, writer-director Courtney Solomon crafts a quality horror piece from strong performances and effects. The chief disappointment of "An American Haunting" is that it doesn't exploit more opportunities for the sublime subtlety of performances by Sissy Spacek and, especially, Donald Sutherland as parents whose home is besieged by a sadistic poltergeist. Favoring genre thrills, the film gives the psychological aspect of the tale shorter shrift than it deserves. Still, pedigreed casting will entice audiences not usually drawn to horror, who will find something of substance shoring up the shocks.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/reviews/review_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001477155

[prydain]

Hmm okay, I just saw this.

First off, I'm mainly pissed because the theater was full of obnoxious retards. Everyone was talking through the movie like it was a party. This guy in front of us gave a running commentary (to no one in particular; he was alone). I swear I was PRAYING he would fall down the steps and break something.

Anyway, on to the movie. Take away the ending and it was pretty good. I mean, I'm a fan of traditional American ghost stories, and this was that kind of story. Nothing new, or groundbreaking. It was what I expected and I enjoyed it. It wasn't terrifying but definitely freaky, it actually made my heart beat faster, which is something.

The ending was a bit confusing. I mean, I understood the "twist", but it made a few other things in the movie confusing. It would've been better if they had stayed simple and gone with a more traditional ending. These new Hollywood endings suck - something always goes terribly wrong, they try to shock, do this whole big twist. It's more predictable than anything because I am thinking about the possible twists and usually guess.

But anyway, a decent movie, I might have to see it a second time before I can give a purely accurate account of what I think. Those people in the theater distracted me.

[Angels baby101]

I really wanna see this movie but eh i'm broke lol so i'll have to wait till it comes out on video but i really really wanna see it lol