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Customer Reviews of An American Haunting (Unrated Edition)

Saga of the Bell Witch
I had heard of the "Bell Witch" story but knew little of the details that entailed. This movie is "based on true events" which surround that story, and although the label "based on true events" can mean it is closely related or has about 1% authenticity, we the viewers are left to make up our own minds. <
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>That being said, you don't have to believe in ghosts to be somewhat entertained by this film. The film has present day "bookends" of a family that lives in a home in rural Tennessee. In the beginning, a woman is reading the journal that was kept by a man in the early 18th century who witnessed, along with the Bell family, ghostly and demonic spirits that seemed to torment a man and his daughter. As she begins to read the journal, the viewer is taken back to the same place nearly 200 years earlier. <
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>Donald Sutherland plays John Bell. John has a dispute in court with a woman over some loan/land/slave/barter deal that ends up being decided in somewhat of a draw. As they leave the courtroom, the woman makes threatening comments to John that is directed at both him and his daughter. Nothing much is thought of them except for the fact the woman is supposedly a witch. Soon Betsy (played by Rachel Hurd-Wood) is tormented beyond belief, having what others believe are nightmares but soon it is witnessed by many that there are other forces abounding. Visions of snarling, mad dogs, wolves, and a little ghost of a girl who rarely shows her face accompany Betsy on this awful journey. <
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>The movie has a pretty tight script but seems to still leave a lot of questions unanswered. The premise is shown that John Bell is not the father his family thinks he is, and we are shown even more of this hint on the ending scenes when it flashes back to the family in the house during the present period. <
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>Sissy Spacek plays John's wife and with her screen presence alone the movie attains a quaint quality it otherwise might have lost. It has been speculated by many that this film does not follow the actual events that entailed in Tennessee all that time ago. All we can assume is that something strange did happen to this family and the viewer can learn a little something perhaps about a long lost ghost story. <
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>The movie is not necessarily scary with its "bump in the night" cinematic approach, but instead tries to build up more of a mystery with it. The landscape is done fairly well although I always dislike it when everyone looks so clean: This is Tennessee in the year 1817, so hot showers and lipstick put more Hollywood in and take more authenticity of this time period out.

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Very Good Movie
I actually viewed this movie on a pay per view basis. When the movie started I thought, "Great, another western type movie that tries to be scary." I got so much more from this movie. <
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>The acting in it was nicely done and the story plot was great.Donald Sutherland did a superb job in it. I am seriously considering purchasing this movie. It was one of the better supernatural stories I have watched in quite some time.

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A Textbook Lesson In How To Ruin A Sure-Fire Great Horror Story
This movie was mostly just a waste of a viewer's time. It had little to do with what is known concerning the actual Bell Witch events, it employed clichéd horror film elements to insultingly poor effect, and worst of all, it might well have slandered members of the Bell family, who though long dead, of course, don't deserve to have such harsh accusations made about their conduct and character by makers of a movie that touts itself "based on true facts." This film's one saving grace was its use of its sets and setting. It looked much like Tennessee of that period surely did, even if the unmistakably modern actors often did not. An American Haunting could have been a classic but as presented it is a waste of time.