The Weakness is Still Haunting ME!!!
Written: Aug 19 '06
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Product Rating:
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| Bang For The Buck |
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Pros: Good actors decent set up
Cons: big let down, bad direction and sporadic scenes
The Bottom Line: Don't see this movie, it is horrible. There are much better horror flicks out there!
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| stormwolf17's Full Review: An American Haunting |
Horror Movies
Ok, I like horror movies, sometimes. Though, admittedly, they aren't always my category, I usually prefer action flicks of the martial arts kind. In general, I stick to Jet Li and Wesley Snipes, however, every now and then I like my horror or comedy flick, during my latest venture, my wife, mother-in-law, sister-in-law and I thought we'd try out a horror movie based on a true story...
Background
American Haunting is based upon true events that occurred in the U.S. between 1818-1820. These events were "validated" by the state of Tennessee(source imdb.com). Supposedly, a witch cursed the Bell family, which resulted in a spirit haunting and abusing the members, right up until the point of dealing the death of one of those members.
So, how does the movie stack up?
The movie depicts what's believed to have happened, in an easy to follow manner and I must say, the acting was at least decent(with names as Sissy Spacek and Donald Sutherland). They even had a perfect set-up, as far as creating a creepy atmosphere(dark, candle-lit rooms, drafty house).
They even set up the haunting process rather thoroughly at first(hallucinations of ghosts), as well as that black, aggressive wolf, which stalked the family frequently. So, then, where'd this movie actually go wrong? Let's explore..
Who Shot This?
Well, American Haunting is directed by a Canadian, who's relatively unheared of. In fact, imdb.com has only one other movie credited to him as director and that was the movie Dungeons and Dragons, done in 2000. Now, I'm not suggesting that a person with one other movie to his name, is crappy, just that his track record wasn't really ever previously established...
So, who is this mysterious director? Courtney Solomon, who also served as writer and producer of his latest title "American Haunting(2005). He's the son of Fran Solomon, whose resume lists her as a crew-member of several movie titles, all impressive in their own right.
Well, that's comforting, at least we know he grew up in the movie business!
Direction of This Movie
With what I previously mentioned about the set up of this movie, it went down-hill directly from that point. Our director chose to use sporadic first person views to represent the spirit, as well as a faint hint of breathing, to give the hint of a ghost taking laboured breaths..WTF?
He also, in my opinion, had over-used jerky motions of the camera, to impress upon the viewers the attacks on the daughter. These jerky shots caused the movie to be hard to watch and the scenes in particular, were hard to follow in any significant manner.
Then, with his constantly dark atmosphere, where rooms were usually only highlighted by a candle, or a hint of moonlight through the window, which actually made this movie hard on my eyes! Yes, a good bit of this movie gave me eye-strain. I realize he was trying to make this movie scary, but over-use of darkened rooms? Bleh..
Finally, there was the wind that sounded like voices. I guess this was supposedly a true part of the story, however, I found it cliche... I mean, they made this spirit seem extremely evil and hinted at the spirit being male in nature(male alpha wolf)..etc..etc.. However, when the voice in the wind came, it was very soft and "feminine" so to speak... Not to mention, there was the spirit of the little girl, which was made to seem playful and not at all harmful(scene where the older Bell daughter is at a pool splashing water at spirit) and they were laughing/having fun)..
The direction of this movie left me extremely confused and couldn't keep my interest. In fact, we ended up turning it off before we even finished watching the movie!
Acting
As I said earlier, the acting was definitely not at fault, with the leading role falling to a distinguished actor such as Donald Sutherland, whom played John Bell. The other actors also, for the most part, carried out their roles without error.
I can find no wrong in the actual acting of this movie.
Final
In the end, this movie could of been great. The potential definitely was there, the facts were there... Heck, the story was practically set up for a great horror-movie. However, what was done with this movie and what was there to be done, were two different things in their entirety. I'd have to say, I'm not only very disappointed with this movie, but I don't want to watch it again...
Recommended:
No
Movie Mood: None of the Above
Viewing Method: Other
Film Completeness: Rough cut, missing major effects, music, etc.
Worst Part of this Film: Everything
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stormwolf17
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Name:Ryan. Nickname:Storm Wolf 17. Height-5'8 Weight-Undisclosed.
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