An American Haunting (Unrated Edition)
© Lionsgate
Show Grade: B-
Disc Grade: C+
Reviewed Format: DVD
Rated: Not Rated (PG edition also available)
Cast: Donald Sutherland, Sissy Spacek, Rachel Hurd-Wood, James D'Arcy, Thom Fell, Matthew Marsh
Writers: Brent Monahan, Courtney Solomon
Director: Courtney Solomon
Distributor: Lionsgate
Original Year of Release: 2005
Extras: 16x9 enhanced widescreen 2.35:1; English DD 5.1 Surround EX & 2.0; English & Spanish subtitles; CC; video commentary track; interview; trailers
Suggested Retail: $28.98
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"An American Haunting"
By: Brian ThomasReview Date: Thursday, November 09, 2006
I had trouble determining exactly what bothered me about An American Haunting. Sure, it has some obvious flaws in the narrative, but it also has good acting, a solid sense of place and time, and many effective sequences. Fortunately, director Courtney Solomon (Dungeons & Dragons) helped me pinpoint the problem with this DVD.
The film is based on the Bell Witch legend, a famous case of supernatural disturbance which took place in Robertson County, Tennessee from 1817 to roughly 1824, with many reporting related phenomena into modern times. John Bell (Donald Sutherland) is a hardy pioneer who is prosperous and well liked in the community. One day while deer hunting with his son, he takes a shot at a savage wolf-like animal, but can find no trace of it afterward. That night, the family hears strange sounds just outside the house, and adolescent daughter Betsy (Rachel Hurd-Wood of Peter Pan) is attacked in her bedroom by an invisible invader. Everyone has trouble convincing themselves that the trespass is of supernatural origin. But as the attacks continue, and more and more people witness the voices, flying objects, physical attacks and appearances by that strange animal, all are forced to concede there’s deviltry at work. Even rational schoolteacher Richard Powell (James D’Arcy of Exorcist: The Beginning), who has more than a professional interest in young Betsy, is quickly convinced that there can be no “rational explanation” for what is going on. Neighbor Kathryn Batts (Gaye Brown), who earlier had a legal disagreement with Bell, is suspected of putting a curse on the family, but she denies all such implications. As the attacks continue through months and years, the health of the family suffers greatly, especially for John and Betsy, the main focus of the attacks. John Bell, whose cancer-like affliction is blamed on the entity, finally succumbs, but the curse on the Bell’s is seemingly only lifted when wife Lucy Bell (Sissy Spacek) receives a startling revelation.
The Bell story is a fascinating one well deserving film adaptation, and the filmmakers here get quite a bit of the legend right, while ignoring quite a bit of history in favor of offering their own easy “explanation”. Early on in the main narrative, it seems as though the picture is striving for too much class in its presentation to a achieve any level of fright. Sutherland and Spacek are no strangers to horror movies, but it’s a bit unusual to find them taking such large roles in an independent feature, and their legendary stature raises the level of quality a few notches. With viewers lulled by their presence and the authentic portrayal of pioneer living, the ferocity of the supernatural attacks is especially upsetting. The phenomena is filmed and edited for peak excitement, and one sequence – in which the entity pursues Betsy’s coach as she and Powell attempt to escape the neighborhood – is especially thrilling.
But what makes the Bell Witch story so frightening is that it’s so beyond all explanation, and many aspects of the legend are ignored in favor of Solomon’s own trite pet theory. Along with Batts, many rumors targeted Powell as the source of the curse. The Bell family had nine children, all of whom suffered at the entity’s unseen hands, but in the movie there are only four, and only Betsy is haunted. Over the years, the entity actually was quite friendly and helpful to Lucy Bell, while constantly vindictive toward John. Strangest of all omissions is a visit made to the Bell property by Andrew Jackson and a platoon of soldiers, during which the future President of the United States conversed at length with the troublesome spirit. Worst of all, Solomon tacks on a groan-inducing modern day wraparound story, in which a writer researching the legend finds the entity now targeting her own daughter.
Still, a project with so much promise awakes the curiosity of the viewer, and one is naturally drawn to the DVD extras seeking more information. However, writer/director Solomon dashes all expectations with peculiar “video commentary” feature. We see Solomon enter the recording studio to begin his commentrak, but within a few minutes he declares that all DVD commentaries are boring and that he intends to take viewers out of the studio for a better picture of the project. This piqued my interest. Of course, he’s wrong – while many commentraks are full of folks trying to kill time by telling us how cold the weather as on a particular day of shooting, many of these talks are very informative and entertaining. On the Cabin Fever DVD, director Eli Roth participated in five commentraks, and each one is interesting. But Solomon feels he can’t speak to viewers in an entertaining fashion throughout the course of his feature. Solomon could have brought in someone else from the cast or crew to speak, but instead he tries to shake things up by taking a camera outside the studio, taking us away from the feature altogether. I’m all in favor of trying new things in DVD extras, but its perplexing that Solomon feels the viewer would rather listen to him talk while watching him ride around in a car than while watching his movie. Puzzlement turns to aggravation as it becomes clear that Solomon has no intention of even talking about the movie at all. Instead, he indulges in several rants related (he thinks) to how the picture was distributed.
Early in his spiel he attacks critics, which he says are all failed filmmakers who only rag on artists out of jealousy. Oh come now, not only is this argument old hat, it’s never made the slightest logical sense. Some respected filmmakers, including Dario Argento, Joe Dante and Francois Truffaut were film critics before becoming directors. Are we to ignore everyone’s opinions on film until they make one of their own? Are we to ignore Solomon’s opinions on film because, as a director, he’s never supported himself as a film critic? He goes on to explain how American Haunting received a great deal of praise at a press screening only because they were fed first. He then goes on to complain that studios don’t know how to promote their films because they don’t use the internet to hype them like he did his. Yes, I guess there’s no promotion for upcoming films to be found on the internet. Solomon continues with this sort of dull diatribe, slouching about in a car and on a studio couch while hiding behind dark glasses, for about a half hour before he runs out of steam and gives up the commentrak altogether. It’s recommended that you skip it completely, as it may sour you on any entertainment you’ve received from the main feature.
I moved on from there to an interview with Spacek, hoping for a little insight. And I received it, as here again we see Solomon talking to his star. Or rather, he talks all over his star as she graciously responds whenever she can get a word in. It’s here that it became all too plain exactly what is wrong with American Haunting. Solomon certainly has the skills to provide screen thrills, but he seems even more intent on drawing attention to those skills than to serving his story, overusing floating Steadicam and CGI effects to add distracting flash. The Bell Witch legend deserves a good movie, and while An American Haunting provides some worthwhile diversion, ultimately it just isn’t concerned enough with its subject to deliver the goods.
Copyright © 2006 Brian Thomas, author of the massive book VideoHound's Dragon: Asian Action & Cult Flicks.
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also all four of the extended endings seemed to imply that there might have been problems with the script or editing or directing with THAT many different (or variant) endings, they seemed to recycle a ton of actual footage that WAS used in the movie...as well as the deleated scenes (I watched the Unrated DVD) some were featured in the movie version also in the deleated scenes... I never saw this flick in theaters so I'm assuming the deleated scenes were added for the DVD release?
its a decent movie, but dont expect any sort of Bell Witch history lesson from the commontary track.
also theres absolutely no mention of the Bell Cave AT ALL where strange things and apparitions happen to this day!