The Little House On The Scary (An American Haunting (DVD))

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Product:	An American Haunting (DVD)
Date:	04/05/06 (194 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: I liked the basic idea and there was a hint of creepiness

Disadvantages: Got boring and repetitive very quickly

In 1800s America, a land owner named John Bell is taken to court by his neighbour, Kate Batts, over a land dispute. It transpires that the business deal was set up against Church law (Bell charged his neighbour far too much interest) and the land is returned to Batts’ care. Bell is saved further punishment by the court, but Batts is less inclined to be so lenient. As Bell and his family leave the courthouse, Batts approaches the man and curses him, and his daughter in retribution for the suffering he has caused her.

Bell is well-prepared for any attacks from either Batts or her slave workers, but more mysterious events soon start to occur in his home. His wife is woken one night by the sound of footsteps in the attic and a strange wailing noise fills the house. Strange wolves appear outside the house but vanish into thin air as quickly as John or his sons can fire bullets at them. But in a cold, lonely bedroom at the top of the house, it is John’s daughter Betsy who suffers the most. Objects in her room move of their own will. Her bed clothes are slowly and silently pulled off and worse still, an invisible entity inflicts a series of violent assaults against her person. It would seem that Batts’ curse was to become far more effective than any of the Bell family could ever have believed….

I always had my doubts about An American Haunting, but something about it compelled me to go and watch it. The trailer seemed very purposeful, collecting together one spooky, violent moment after another as if to suggest that the film was going to be quite terrifying. Whilst the premise seemed to be stealing inspiration from other classics such as The Exorcist, the idea that this was inspired by true events meant that it was something I really wanted to see. I was, however, very disappointed.

The film opens in the present day with a young girl being chased through the wood by something unknown to us. I knew straight away that this was not going to be the film that I thought it was. The whole scene is so ridiculously overblown that I did wonder whether I had stumbled into Scary Movie 4 by mistake. Things quickly shifted back to the past, however, and for a time, I settled into a subtler, more carefully woven tale. The Bell family’s ordeal is quickly introduced. Within minutes of the closing court scene, the action shifts to the night time, and the haunting essentially begins.

The trouble is, this series of events repeats itself over and over again so many times that what starts out as spooky and mysterious eventually becomes tired and boring. We witness endless night time visitations from the entity as it slaps, drags and throws poor Betsy Bell from pillar to post. The family seems to go through endless amounts of window glass and frames as her bedroom window continually shatters under the force of a ghostly wind. She screams. She convulses. The door slams. The door opens. And round we go again. Each visitation seems to bear no relevance to the previous one, with the entity giving no further clues as to its purpose and it all starts to wear very thin. Betsy’s family are endlessly helpless to do anything to save her, so they tend to watch from the bedroom doorway, or stand around the fire as books and objects are thrown around. A priest is brought in and has no effect. A local professor is brought in and can shed no light on things. It just seems to go on and on forever,

That is, until the director decides it’s time to show his hand of cards and in a flurry of action and excitement reveals the true nature of what is going on to an undoubtedly bemused and weary audience. Having endured over an hour of haunting and malevolent visitations, the final denouement is far too much to take in and whilst your interest levels heighten as you realise what’s going on, it doesn’t take long before your brain starts to unravel the various plot strands with which you are being presented. Overall, it makes sense. In detail, it makes no sense whatsoever and an awful lot is left to you to simply accept, assume or deduce for yourself. At once, the modern-day opening scenes hold a new significance and from there it wraps up in a fairly inevitable fashion.

Courtney Solomon’s directing / writing / producing style (he did all three) is very ineffective and turns what could have been quite an engaging, sinister little story into a bit of a chore. The thing is full of clichés and cheap jumps and only those of the most nervous disposition could be frightened by this movie. The haunting is so relentless and equally pointless that any spookiness simply fails to get through after a while. I’m also very dubious about the suggestion that this was based on true events. If it were, the story would probably need to be told through the eyes and words of a single character, but whilst parts of the film are narrated by the school teacher, James Johnston, and yet his character never bears witness to much of what we see. An attempted suicide, a confrontation between Batts and Bell and plenty of other scenes besides don’t fit in with this suggested first party experience and the advent of ghostly wolves and spectral apparitions serves only to confirm that vast amounts of the film are made up. Apparently, the film is based on the first recorded event in US history of a person’s death at the hands of a spirit but I remain unconvinced.

Sadly, the overall boredom and repetitiveness of the piece means that some of the good bits get overlooked. Some fairly stylish camera flashes around the Bell household, as though we are the eyes of the spirit. In one scene, the Bell family tries to dupe the spirit whilst they rescue Betsy and the feverish panic as the entity realises what’s going on makes for an exciting (and well-filmed) chain of events. Even the bits that you just know are going to make you jump would be more memorable in a film that wasn’t quite as forgettable as this one. The cast members do their best with the material too. Donald Sutherland maintains his usual screen presence as the troubled home owner, John Bell and his wife Lucy suffers plenty too, with Sissy Spacek putting in an emotional turn in the part. Brit actor James D’Arcy is convincing enough as teacher Richard Powell, particularly because his features seem particularly well suited to period roles. Betsy herself (Rachel Hurd-Wood) is unmemorable and reminded me of the girl who plays Sophie on Coronation Street.

Having watched An American Haunting, I was quite surprised that the film carried a 15 certificate as most of it seemed very tame to me. I think it’s more the concept of a child being attacked by supernatural forces that bumps up the rating, rather than any gore, violence or genuinely scary moments. If you like films that make you jump a little, but don’t really frighten you, then you may enjoy the overall pace of An American Haunting as it stays fairly consistent throughout. For me, however, it simply wasn’t gritty or serious enough and it all felt far too tame. As scary movies go, there are far better out there and I probably wouldn’t suggest that anyone wastes their time with this one.

Not recommended

Summary: Disappointing Exorcist "wannabe" that doesn't make the grade