An American Haunting (2006)

Director: Courtney Solomon. Screenplay: Courtney Solomon, from Brent Monahan's book. Cast: Donald Sutherland, Sissy Spacek, James D'Arcy, Rachel Hurd-Wood

SCREAM, PRETTY BETSY

Filmed in Canada and Romania (the latter location passing for the mid-19th-century rural American South), Courtney Solomon's disappointing An American Haunting revolves around a series of ghostly apparitions, collectively known as the Bell Witch.

The "witch" in question scares the wits out of the genteel Bell family of Red River, Tennessee, with particular emphasis on the Bells' young daughter.

Initially, small noises are heard around the Bell farm. Those are followed by several mysterious apparitions: a black wolf with yellow eyes, a strange figure that is seen at night, and a silent, dark girl who continually tries to approach the Bells' adolescent daughter, Betsy (Rachel Hurd-Wood).

As time passes, the attacks become louder and more violent — with Betsy being the most abused victim. A schoolteacher, Richard Powell (James D'Arcy), is called to help, but neither his scientific knowledge nor his infatuation with young Betsy can prevent the apparition from returning and causing even more damage. Despite repeated attempts to communicate with the ghostly presence, the Bells are told only that one of them will be killed.

The patriarch, John Bell (Donald Sutherland), believes the ghost is the result of a curse inflicted upon the family by a woman with whom he had had a land dispute. John's submissive wife, Lucy (Sissy Spacek), is particularly concerned for the safety of the family, but there's little she can do.

Eventually, little pieces start falling into place to reveal who is behind the apparitions — and why.

This haunted house — or rather, haunted estate — film offers the usual spooky moments (in large part through loud special sound effects), some competent acting (Sissy Spacek, the only American in the cast due to financing restrictions imposed by the film's British-Canadian backers), eerie cinematography (courtesy of the late Adrian Biddle) and several effective directorial touches by Courtney Solomon, including a masterfully directed and edited (by Richard Comeau) horse-carriage crash.

On the downside, the film is seriously marred by a superfluous (and quite silly) wrap-around modern story that is supposed to mirror the Bells' "curse," and by Solomon's unfocused script (adapted from a novel by Brent Monahan). Although the writer-director strives to add some real drama to the Halloween proceedings, he spends considerably more time copying shocking scenes from The Exorcist than creating real characters with real interpersonal issues.

The final plot revelation comes too late to inject An American Haunting with the sort of psychological undercurrent that propelled to a higher cinematic realm both Jack Clayton's The Innocents and Robert Wise's The Haunting.

By the way, the actual Bell Witch apparitions were recorded between 1817 and 1821. As per the film's production notes, they were "validated by the State of Tennessee as the only case in U.S. history where a spirit or entity caused the death of a human being."

Reviewed at the AFI FEST 2005.

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