An American Haunting (U.S. cut)

Note: I reviewed this movie in January 2006, based upon a screening I saw at a film festival. The writer-director-producer of An American Haunting, Courtney Solomon, has recut and revamped the film in anticipation of its wide-release on May 5, 2006. The old version was released in England in April. The changes made are significant and this review reflects that, without spoilers or reference to the previous cut I saw.

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70s horror icons Donald Sutherland (Don't Look Now) and Sissy Spacek (Carrie) star as John and Lucy Bell, a God-fearing couple living in Red River, Tennessee. The year is 1818, and they live comfortably with their children in a prosperous community. Things are going well until John Bell gets into a legal dispute with a neighbor who is widely believed to be a witch — Kate Batts (Gaye Brown) publicly curses the entire Bell family and sure enough, things take a terrible, inexplicable turn. 14-year-old Betsy Bell (Rachel Hurd-Wood) is soon being terrorized by something unseen.

Meanwhile, in present-day Tennessee, a teenaged girl has been exploring in the attic of her home. In it, she finds a broken doll and an old, crumbling diary. The diary, it turns out, is that of Lucy Bell. (According to Brent Monahan's novel, upon which An American Haunting is based, the journal that was discovered in 1998 was written by a local schoolteacher who lived on the Bell property at the height of the hauntings.)

While the Bell family suspects that the violent nightly terrors are caused by a demon sent by Kate Batts, they can't be sure. Too many other strange things are happening, even in the daytime outside the house — a yellow-eyed, vicious wolf stalks John in the forests, and Betsy is befriended by a strange little girl whose face she cannot quite see. Still, John goes to Kate to apologize and beg that she lift the curse. She says there is no curse. Now what?

The scenes depicting the haunting are intense. Legend has it that Betsy was pulled from her bed by her hair, suspended in midair, slapped by unseen hands, and dragged across the hardwood floors. This is shown quite effectively in the film. The entity would lock Betsy inside her room, leaving her terrified family on the other side of the door unable to do anything while they listened to her screams. Sometimes the tormentor would break things in the house, shatter windows, or render people helpless as its bodiless energy shot from room to room as if looking for trouble.

An American Haunting is a well-acted film — Sutherland and Spacek are well-cast of course, but the movie really rests on Hurd-Wood. In less capable hands, Betsy's terror could come off as parody, but she has the budding gravitas to keep her character grounded.

The movie hits the ground running, so we never really learn too much about the Bells' personalities, pre-haunting. As such they are somewhat simplistic characters; but if you listen carefully to the dialogue and read between the lines, the conclusions drawn at the end of the film will be easier to swallow. (A written epilogue to the film does state that there are several theories as to why the two-year ordeal took place, and this is just one of the possible scenarios… it's a controversial one, to be sure.)

An American Haunting is the slickest, best-told cinematic version of the "Bell witch Haunting" story so far; what it lacks in back-story and character development it makes up with atmosphere, action, and an unnerving score. The sound design is exceptional — listen to the whispers, for they contain clues.

The cinematography is surprisingly weak for Adrian Biddle (1952-2005), whose other work includes V for Vendetta and The Mummy among many other visually stunning films, but in general it's competent. The CG in the film is judicious and well-done. One memorable visual scene is the 1800s equivalent of a car chase; mixing CG and practical effects, it shows the mysterious presence forcing Betsy's horse-drawn carriage to greater and greater speeds until it winds up a tangled mess of spinning wheels and broken glass.

The movie is rated PG-13 not to pander to a teenage audience, but because this is not a story that would contain curse words or bloody killings anyway. There are some adult themes, and violence.

I wouldn't go so far to say that An American Haunting is destined to be a classic, but it's a solid supernatural suspenser. If you enjoyed recent horror offerings like The Exorcism of Emily Rose and if you're looking forward to The Omen remake, then An American Haunting is definitely up your dark alley.

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Reviewed by Staci Layne Wilson