Movie Review: An American Haunting

An American Haunting 

Allan Zeman Productions, Midsummer Films, Remstar Productions, Media Pro Pictures, After Dark Films, Redbus Pictures, Sweetpea Entertainment, UK, Canada, Romania, USA, 2005. 

Based on the novel "The Bell Witch: An American Haunting" by Brent Monahan and inspired by Bell Witch legend. 

In modern day Jane (Isabelle Almgren-Doré) sees nightmares about a little girl ghost. Her mother finds a letter that tells about the Bell Witch. In Red River, Tennessee 1817 Betsy Bell (Rachel Hurd-Wood) and her family live with their parents John (Donald Sutherland) and Lucy (Sissy Spacek). Witch woman Kate Batts (Gaye Brown) accuses John of stealing her land. John loses the case but Batts is not content and curses the Bell family. 

Jane

John Bell

Lucy Bell

John begins to see hallucinations and the family hears weird noises in the house. Teacher Richard Powell (James D'Arcy) is worried about Betsy. An invisible entity begins to harass Betsy. James Johnston (Matthew Marsh) tries exorcism to banish the evil spirit. It does not work. Teacher Powell tries more scientific approach. Maybe someone is just trying to scare the family. 

Betsy Bell

Kate Batts

The supernatural attacks become more vicious. Teacher Powell loves Betsy and would like to protect her. Some dark family secrets are about to be revealed...

Teacher Richard Powell

Supernatural entity haunt the family

The beginning of the movie is promising. The 1800s setting is atmospheric and feels like a horror version of "Little House on a Prairie." Actors are good and cinematographer knows his business. What is sad again is that after some cliched supernatural events the film tries a clever twist that contradicts everything previously happened. It would be okay to suggest a twist explanation if there were some hints given about it but this movie's internal logic fails and in the end the poor viewer feels cheated. Also the story could have managed without the modern day side story.

Little Ghost House on a Prairie

Rating: Bad

Starring: Donald Sutherland, Sissy Spacek, James D'Arcy, Rachel Hurd-Wood, Matthew Marsh, Thom Fell, Zoe Thorne, Gaye Brown, Sam Alexander, Miquel Brown, Vernon Dobtcheff, Shauna Shim, Madalina Stan, Philip Hurd-Wood, Vlad Cruceru, Alin Rosca, Andrei Serban, Isabelle Almgren-Doré, Susan Almgren, Howard Rosenstein, Lila Bata-Walsh, Courtney Solomon, Pat Fitzhugh 

Director: Courtney Solomon