An American Haunting is supposedly a film based on a “true story” (a term which has been used so liberally the last few years that it really doesn’t mean anything anymore) about a Witch… or Ghost… or Ghost of a Witch… or whatever… that is haunting a friendly little family (who include some heavyweight actors like Donald Sutherland and Sissy Spacek).
The good folks over at Movie Vault give us this synopsis of the film:
Known throughout Tennessee as “Old Kate,” the Bell Witch took up residence with John Bell’s family in 1818. It was a cruel and noisy spirit, given to rapping and gnawing sounds before it found its voices. With these voices and its supernatural acts, the Bell Witch tormented the Bell family. This extraordinary book recounts the only documented case in U.S. history when a spirit actually caused a man’s death.
The local schoolteacher, Richard Powell, witnessed the strange events and recorded them for his daughter. Members of the Bell family have previously provided information on this fascinating case, but this book recounts the tale with novelistic vigor and verve. It is truly chilling.
Chilling? I don’t know about that. The trailer doesn’t make me feel even room temperature. Honestly it seems kinda low budget (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing), but also pretty cookie cutter ghost movie formulaic. Nothing to write home about. But who knows… I’ll give anything with Sutherland a chance.
You an catch the An American Haunting trailer here.
While ghosts may or may not exist, I can vouch that this is, indeed, based on a true local lore. The small town of Adams, Tennessee in the Northern Middle part of the state is the home of the Bell family legend. When I was a reporter in Clarksville, Tennessee, I did a couple stories on this, including interviews with an author who was trying to turn this into a movie. I guess he (or someone else) pulled it off. This was back when the Blair Witch was pretty big so I didn’t know if that would help or hurt development of such a film.
I’m gonna go take a look at the trailer now and see how much liberty they’ve taken with Old Kate.
That does looks intense, some of those scenes are bigger than some of the “possession” or ghost movies we’ve been fed of late, and a great cast. Spacek and Sutherland.