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Overall Rating : 6/10
Directed By : Countney Solomon
Donald Sutherland (American Gun)
Sissy Spacek (Carrie)
James D'Arcy (Exorcist: The Beginning)
Rachel Hurd-Wood (Peter Pan)
Supplied By : Lionsgate Films
Film Reviewed By : Rick L. Blalock
Date Reviewed : Oct. 10, 2006
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| PLOT Based on true events validated by the State of Tennessee of the only case in US History where a spirit or entity caused the death of a man. The Bell Family of Red River, Tennessee was visited by an unknown presence that haunted the family and eventually ended up causing the death of one its members. |
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| THE REVIEW In AN AMERICAN HAUNTING, it begins with a mother who has a Daughter that is seemingly traumatized by a ghost of some sort. Later she stumbles upon a letter written by a young teacher named Richard Powell, In the letter he goes on the explain his account of a family that had been haunted in the the vicinity of the woman's very home, many years ago - They were the Bell Family. Thus this sets up our film was we join the Bell family bask in the day. Basically when John Bell over charges a neighbor on the interest of some land, his church ultimately shuns him, citing he has "broke a law of the church" The Woman whom Bell over charged, Kathryn Batts has always been deemed a witch by the towns people and on that notion, she warns John that evil will come over his land, this frightens John as he knows not to doubt the woman. From then on out, strange things begin to happen in and around the Bell him, starting with the sudden appearance of a vicious black wolf with piercing eyes( we later find out that the spirit takes the form of this wolf on occasion) - and later the spirit seems to take a liking in torturing John's young Daughter Betsy. At night the spirit would enter the young girls room and often times beat her and daggle her in the air, and menacingly drag her across the floor, this leaves everyone stunned, as it is unexplainable, In short, the Bells remain traumatized by the unseen spirit, until it claims the life of John and then unexpectedly vanishes, Well, normally before I write up a review, I do a little research, I go to see what others are saying about the particular film if available. I was really shocked when I went to read on AN AMERICAN HAUNTING, only because I figured it would have been a film better received by viewers - and it was not. So naturally I went in with the mindset that I would really hate this, but surprising enough, I didn't hate it, but rather enjoyed it. As a movie watcher I has always been intrigued by the films based on true stores so I thought i'd check out this screener before a few others I have waiting in the wings. The film starts off as a hip and stylish thriller, a girl is being chased by something and we later find out it's just a dream.... the story doesn't truly begin until the girl's mother begins to read the letter then our plot is shifted to the 1500's era. My first reaction was that I recently reviewed Lucky McKee's THE WOODS(which I loved) and the setting reminded me of that and a cross between THE VILLAGE - and in my opinion, a great setting for a ghost story. Overall, the story is vividly entertaining for the most part, resembling another so-called "true story" THE AMITYVILLE HORROR, especially with Betsy the Daughter being manhandled and slapped like she stole something by the spirit. When it comes down to it, for as much as it is entertaining it is confusing, AN AMERICAN HAUNTING is not without the obvious loose ends and plot-holes, the biggest one being the ending as it is not fully elaborated on and you are left with clouded assumption. Now I know people are slamming the director for this as well as his abundance of special effects, but give the guy a break - I mean this doesn't earn him the right to be called another Uwe Boll. To me, Writer Director Courtney Solomon makes a promising showing - with his only film prior to this being DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS, he is here given new toys to play with he didn't have the last time and yes he may have got a little to carried away but this does not pose as a distraction for me. Along with the special effects, Solomon has also been blessed with a great cast. In my opinion I found the acting to be above average, most prominently from ; Spacek, Sutherland, and Hurd-Wood. I have always admired Sissy Spacek, as she earned my respect as Carrie White in the original Carrie, and it just goes to show here that talent never ages, in this film she plays a Mother who would do anything to save her family and in her trials, we watch as she finds herself in a land of confusion towards film's end. While in-turn Sutherland offers a performance that would complement Spacek - he goes from a proud townsman, to a down on his luck poor soul in a matter of minutes, all the while keeping all believability in tact. Rachel Hurd-Wood really caught my attention also. I think normally in ghost story flicks, directors tend to cast someone with that distinct look of innocence (Poltergeist and Heather O'Rourke come to mind), and she has it. I believe that just someone so sweet looking being treated in a way that proves to be harmful to them, is always one element that almost always grabs the viewer when in comes to Horror films - this being no different. Sure, it does have many flaws and an ending that is puzzling, but In my opinion, with it's great acting, subtle CGI effects and haunting atmosphere, AN AMERICAN HAUNTING is a film that in the end, works, |
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| GORE
METER 1/10 Not much to really document. |
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| MUSICAL
SCORE 6/10 This film had a very good score. The score is loud and overdrawn, it added depth to an already rather fascinating story. |
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| OVERALL
IMPRESSION OF THE FILM After seeing the Unrated cut of this, I am not sure why Courtney Solomon has so many naysayers out there - I found this sophomore effort to be very well crafted, the only thing that bothered me is that the film had virtually no back-story and the ending was rather abrupt and didn't bring the film closure. But then again, the same fans that will complain over this film's plot-holes and ending are fan's that loved SILENT HILL, a film that had an even more implausible ending. I highly recommend AN AMERICAN HAUNTING - just make sure it's Unrated.... This DVD will be available on October 24, 2006 |
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