DVD of the Day #190 - An American Haunting
Back when I did Nyogtha columns, I often recieved requests to watch An American Haunting and compare it to the reality of the Bell Witch legend. For those of you unaware, the Bell Witch incident is the only federally recognized authentic case of haunting with even President Andrew Jackson encountering the spirit and swearing to its authenticity. Of course, there was so much gossip that what is real and what is rumour and innuendo has been lost to time. What is known is that a creature/ghost/spirit of some sort harassed the bell family until members died horribly.
You would think with Donald Sutherland and Sissy Spacek, that the cast would do a decent job on this film. They don’t. Everyone churns in a horrible performance. I don’t know if it was a case of famous actors phoning it in, but not a single actor gave a believable performance. At times I wanted to laugh at how wooden and unemotive the actors were.
Even worse, the story of the Bell Witch that was filmed has nothing in common with any of the actual legends. It’s just a tale of a stupid unstoppable omnipotent creature that exists to torment this family until Sutherland dies. The end. God, this was 80 minutes of boredom and drivel. The legend of the Bell Witch really deserved better treatment than this. Hell, I’m sure A&E’s “A Haunting” has covered this and if so, they probably did a better job with that hour long show.
Seriously, aside from the period costume quality, there’s nothing redeemable or enjoyabel about this film. This was grueling as hell, and I thank Cthulhu I didn’t watch this in the theatres or one of my columns would be have been a giant rant filled with profanity. Don’t see this movie if you haven’t already.
Is It Worth Watching? No.
Rating: 2.5/10
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