Early American Haunting

AN AMERICAN HAUNTING-2005-A teenage girl has recurring nightmares. Her mom reads a letter written by her ancestor in 1817. It tells the story of John Bell (Donald Sutherland) who is admonished by his church in a land dispute with a woman said to be a witch. Believing she has been treated unfairly she puts a curse on John and his family. Later his daughter Betsey (Rachel Hurd-Wood) is terrorized by an unseen force. She's thrown around, suspended in mid-air and slapped. She gets very mean and aggressive and seems possessed. A disbelieving school teacher (James D'Arcy, also in EXORCIST: THE BEGINNING around the same time) tries to help and soon is a believer.

This was the second feature made by director Courtney Solomon. He later served as producer on movies like the execrable CAPTIVITY and the forgettable UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: REGENERATION. But unlike most horror movies these days, he uses a minimum of gory effects relying more on lighting, mood, fast paced scenes, competent acting and a non-supernatural ending.

Though AN AMERICAN HAUNTING is based on a novel by Brent Monahan, there is also an incident purported to have happened in the 19^th century and chronicled in a book called “An Authentic History of The Bell Witch” published in 1891 by someone named Martin Van Buren Ingram. However historians today believe it is more legend than fact.

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