London Calling: An American Haunting

By Evrim Ersoy Jan 25, 2006, 16:15 GMT

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. Based on the ...more

For a little while now I have been hearing and reading very good reviews of 'An American Haunting'. People have been admiring its' low key performances, its' high tension set scenes and its' general overall class. It has even been compared to Robert Wise's 'The Haunting' in both mood and story.

So you can almost understand my excitement as I walked in into the cinema. I was at the time with Miss N, who although not a big fan of horror films m, bravely decided to face the whole affair. I read the press notes, settled back and prepared myself for an evening of absolute wonder and delight.

Now you might think me harsh and you might think me rude but WHO THE HELL ALLOWED THIS TERRIBLE PIECE OF CRAP?

Let me expand.

An American Haunting is probably one of the most vile, offensive, stupid and badly directed horror that I ever had the misfortune of seeing. Its incompetent script is carried by the horrible cast and poor, poor Donald Sutherland And Sissy Spacek. The dialogue was clunky, amateurish and was probably written by someone straight out of film school. The director used every cliché in the book including spirit-o-vision where we flow through the scenery as if being one with the spirits.

However the cherry on the cake was the coda of the film and the wraparound story. The reason beyond the haunting: enough to say that it makes me feel repulsed and completely and utterly offended. My companion agreed. I would not want to ruin the movie for you by spoiling the ending...even though there is nothing to actually spoil. So let me just warn you: it is a very bad ending.

I wish there was more I could say. I wish there was more to explain. But there isn't. It's horrid.

My advice: Avoid this film like a bad case of the claps.

On the other hand, there is a film out this week that you really should see: A Bittersweet Life. I have talked about before, telling forth its' wonderful points. But please, please let me remind you: it is a wonderful film, a cleverly constructed piece of neo-noir that comes truly alive at the very end. Give it a chance. It might change your attitude towards the rich Korean cinema.

Until next time.

Voorheves

Contact Evrim on - evrim dot voorheves at monstersandcritics dot com