An American Haunting

last updated 8 January 2015

Back in early 19th-century Tennessee, a ghost allegedly began terrorizing the family of John Bell, said Gene Seymour in Newsday. It made strange noises, levitated a young girl, and gave everybody the willies. Eventually, it killed a member of the family. This is the starting point for Courtney Solomon's An American Haunting, which suggests that the haunting stems from a curse put on Bell by a local witch. Unfortunately, the only real mystery here is how major stars Sissy Spacek and Donald Sutherland got roped into starring in it, said Ty Burr in The Boston Globe. 'œThe script is DOA, the performances struggle to reach the level of community theater,' and the score isn't good enough for a daytime soap. Solomon's only other credit is 2000's Dungeons and Dragons, which starred Jeremy Irons. 'œWho does this guy know?' It's not only bad art—it isn't even remotely based on truth, said Grady Hendrix in Slate.com. Nearly everything you see onscreen is a lie. The Bells had nine kids, not four. No one in the U.S. played soccer until after 1850. And the original ghost was more a 'œchatty Cathy' than a menace. There's only one way to deal with a film this evil: 'œBy the power of Jesus Christ, I compel you to leave this multiplex at once!'

Rating: PG-13