Powerful

Good start, but then it gets ruined

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

A divorced mother is living in the woods with her daughter suffering from nightmares. She finds a letter from 1848 by the previous occupant recounting the tale of the Bell Witch. It's 1817 Red River, Tennessee. The church finds John Bell (Donald Sutherland) of usury for charging 20% interest against rumored witch Kate Batts. However Batts doesn't get her expected reciprocity and vows revenge on him and his beloved daughter Betsy (Rachel Hurd-Wood).It looks good but there are few scares. The jump scares come with regularity which only makes it less scary. It's a lot of loud surprise noises and horror soundtrack. Sutherland and Sissy Spacek seem to be slumming it here in this one. This could work with Rachel Hurd-Wood front and center. Instead the movie starts with another girl in a different time period. It takes awhile to get to her and the movie keeps going back to the veterans. The reveal is problematic and a little bit confusing. This is a fair ghost story but it isn't scary.

I don't know why, because I'm a pretty harsh critic, especially when it comes to horror movies. I feel like the majority of "scary" movies rely too much on the "boo" factor and are somewhat predictable or have some silly monster that is just not believable. A lot of them, too, seem to borrow from others and just try too hard. I knew nothing of this movie going into it and started to roll my eyes after the first scene. However, when the real story in the 1800's got going, things started to get pretty chilling and I was pleasantly surprised. I was also surprised at some of the cast being some big names(Sissy Spacek & Donald Sutherland)I didn't think the plot was predictable which kept me on the edge of my seat. Unexpected elements such as the black wolf are necessary to keep a movie original and unpredictable. I wasn't a huge fan of the twist and how the hauntings were explained...In fact, that seems to be the downfall of a lot of horror...when they try to neatly tie everything up and explain the happenings.

I was never much in a hurry to watch "An American Haunting". It's a ghost movie supposedly based on true events and I don't have any particularly fond memories of similar movies in this sub genre, like for instance "The Amityville Horror" or "The Haunting in Connecticut". On the other hand, the film does put forward a few appealing elements, like a moody 19th Century Tennessee setting and a respectable cast including Donald Sutherland and Sissy Spacek. Regarding the story, I never heard about the Bell-Witch Haunting in Adams, Tennessee, even though it allegedly is the only recorded and most documented case in America's sinister history. You can read quite a lot about the case, for example that Andrew Jackson (the 7th President of the US) personally mingled into the events, but also that the whole thing is just one giant hoax invented by novelist Martin Van Buren Ingram. Regardless of the true/phony discussion, fact remains that "An American Haunting" is an average – at best – thriller with far too many dull sequences and disappointingly weak horror aspects. Following a completely redundant present day opening sequence, the action is promptly replaced to 1817 where we are introduced to wealthy landowner John Bell and his family. During a local church trial, Bell is judged for charging the ridiculously high interest rate of 20% to his neighbor Kathe Betts. She's believed to be a witch and places a curse on the Bell family; the enchanting 15-year old daughter Betsy in particular. It's a good thing she never lived in this day and age of economic recession, or she would be cursing bankers left and right! Soon after the incident, poor little Betsy begins to get stalked by a supernatural entity that rudely drags her out of bed, bangs her head against walls and appears next to her on the swing in broad daylight! John Bell and his wife desperately seek help for their little girl, for example from her school teacher Richard Powell who not-so secretly fancies Betsy. Apparently it wasn't yet considered perverse for a teacher to crave a 15-year old girl in 1817. Since the actual plot is very thin, and since the film is intended for wide PG13 audiences, "An American Haunting" isn't at all exciting or unsettling. There's an overload of annoying false scares and director Courtney Solomon (what's in a name) plays with sound effects and rudimentary CGI instead of focusing on real terror. Admittedly the denouement (undocumented and 100% fictional) isn't predictable, but that doesn't mean it is any good. In fact, the ending raises far more questions than it answers. Overall, a lousy and non-horrific horror flick that wastes our time as well as the talent of many people involved. The director went on to found the production company "After Dark Films", which was a much more useful occupation for him.

Its a rare and thing to see amazing actors with a great story having scare after scare and seeing reviewers bash it like it was a horrible B horror flick. Sometimes reading reviews on IMDb it shies you away from a movie. Well i am here to tell you that this is an amazing movie with award winning performances. There are to many bad horror flicks out there and to take this masterpiece and bad mouth it is just what seems to be biased unjust reviews. So if you haven't seen this movie and wondering if you should. Watch it and you'll be in for the shock of your life. Donald Sutherland and every other actor in this movie is top notch.