American Haunting (Bell Witch, the Movie)

Cafe Society
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Has anybody seen this film? It hasn’t opened in wide release yet I don’t believe but it has played a lot of festivals. Trailer here.

It’s based on the supposedly true story (meaning probably very embellished retellings of weird events) of The Bell Witch, an 1820s poltergeist in Tennessee that preyed on a family and according to legend killed the head of the family (played in the movie by Donald Sutherland) but loved his wife (played by Sissy Spacek). Advance buzz on this movie has been great so I’m surprised I haven’t heard of it before now.

Anyone seen it?

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The Bell Witch is quite probably the only “spook” that’s said to have spoken directly to a future president of the United States. At the time that the Bell Witch was a cause celebre, (then-)General Andrew Jackson visited the Bell home. The witch supposed spoke to him several times during his visit.

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I hadn’t heard of this yet – thanks, Sampiro. Kentucky Educational Television featured the story in its documentary The Haunting Tradition a number of years ago. (It is a staple of Western Kentucky storytellers.) So, I was familiar with the story. I’m very interested to see if they do a good job with the tale.

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By the by, if ever in Adams, TN and you’re tempted to take the tour of Bell Witch Cave, don’t. Booooooring. The guides have no idea how to make a tour interesting or th eleast bit creepy. And we went at Halloween for crying out loud. Instead, hit up your local library for some good reading on the subject. A lot has been written about my state’s most famous spectre.

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I’ve been interested in this legend since I was a very small girl (maybe 8 or 9 years old). I keep hoping the film will play at a theater near me.

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My main concern in the story is the modern day component, which could be really cheesy (and worse- take time away from Sutherland and Spacek). I understand from reviews that they either include or imply that John Bell (Sutherland) has incestuous feelings for his daughter, thus incurring the witch’s wrath; since he was a real person I’m hoping this isn’t really included in the plot as it’s unprovable and could embarass his living descendants.

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Almost started a new thread on this, but did (thankfully) a search, so…

Has anyone seen this movie yet? I just got done watching Ebert & Roper’s review of it (two thumbs down), but I also saw it on its very first showing in my community (opened Friday, May 5; saw the 12:10 pm matinee…four other people in the theatre).

I am not going to claim any expertise in reviewing movies, so don’t consider me to owe you money if we disagree, please.

The movie is a dramatization of the Bell Witch case, with a speculative explanation for the events put into a (fictional) modern context. The concern of Sampiro has been born out: the explanation (which, to be fair, was noted as a speculation) is that the original target of the haunting was subconsciously externalizing the sexual abuse she received from her father, and this “disturbance” was echoed into the current timeframe because the same thing was happening to the “modern” character.
(Compositional mavens may have at me to their hearts’ content.)

I found myself agreeing to an extent with E & R: why in the WORLD did they keep putting Betsy (the main target of the haunting) in her bedroom at night, if that is where she kept getting attacked?

There was a lot of frantic craziness in that bedroom, without enough detail to see what the hell was going on. I’m assuming this was deliberate, in order to make the audience feel disoriented, but when it’s overdone (as this movie was), it’s just nonsensical and impossible to grasp/relate to successfully.

On the other hand, it was satisfyingly atmospheric, with spooky long outdoor shots, as well as very stomach-heaving hypercruises over the landscape as the “spirit” is travelling through the neighborhood.

There are a few “gotcha!” points, which will either quickly leave you jaded over their gimmickness, or leave you defibrilating over their suddenness. That’s a matter of taste, of course.

Donald Sutherland is in this. He is one of my favorite actors, and a creepy looking SOB, no matter what his role. He was a plus to this film.

My final observation: Rachel Hurd-Wood as Betsy Bell, the main victim in the movie, was wonderful. I had never heard of her before this film (although she evidently played “Wendy” in the recent live-action version of “Peter Pan”). Fetching lassie, to put it mildly. The film’s worth seeing for her alone…y’know, if you’re into fetching lassies.

Wow (for Rachel).

Bottom line: Not a classic destined to be remembered for decades, but at least it wasn’t “Pikachu’s Big Movie”. As a fan of hauntings/ghost stories/etc. who doesn’t get to a lot of movies, it was okay.

Mmmm…Rachel…

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Saw this last night. It was a scary movie, not in a gory way but good old fashioned haunted house. Nice atmosphere, scary house, good scares.

Spoilers ahead:

But so very many plot holes. Not the least of which was that they kept letting the girl stay in her room by herself. At least it didn’t take too long for others to start witnessing the weirdness, it wasn’t just the girl.

There was one scene where an unseen force drug the girl upstairs, the men tried to follow but were held back by an unseen force. The mother (Sissy Spacek) was trying to follow her but the other people held her back. Then it switched to a new scene. WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED? Did they just give up and let her get drug upstairs?

The two younger brothers, you only ever saw them in bed at night sleeping. That’s it. Never once at any other time. WTF?

And they did the whole “creepy scene then wake up and it was a dream” thing too many times. I hate that.

It wasn’t really about the Bell Witch that I could tell, it was mostly a poltergeist movie.

The ending and resolution, as hinted at in other posts, was disturbing, unsatisfying, and there only for shock value IMO.

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I heard this spoiled on a TV review on one of the news channels. Irritating- a shame they dont’ have spoiler boxes for TV.

How much of the movie is Sutherland/Spacek/19th century v. modern day?

Spacek is a good choice and I’m surprised she hasn’t done more horror movies. (Perhaps she didn’t want to be stereotyped as a horror star after getting known for playing the ultimate horrifying outcast teen witch victim, Loretta Lynn.)

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I was born and raised in Nashville and I remember us all being gripped with TERROR at the bell witch. there was something about saying her name and spinning or something. I can’t remember exactly but man the bell witch stuff used to scare the crap out of all of us.

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Not to mention Carrie.

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I’m sorry, but the so-called “Bell Witch” is mostly 19th century fiction. There is NO contemporary documentation of it…and nothing to suggest that Andrew Jackson was anywhere near the Bell family. There are plenty of good sites about the story, and almost nothing that supports the legend. Alas, another good ghost story shot to hell. One thin I remember reading: the Bell witch was supposed to return (in 1900)-no proof of that either. :smack:

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Slate Article

Things are not quite what they appear to be.

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I don’t think anyone is saying it really happened, just that it’s an old folk story and somewhat interesting.

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Very little is modern day. I missed the first ~5 min or so (who’d a thunk a movie would actually start within 10-15 minutes of the posted time?)

When we came in a modern-day was reading a diary about what happened, then once or twice during the 19th century the woman narrator breaks in, then at the very end the modern-day woman is back for 3 or 4 min.

95% 19th century.

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I didn’t like it… and I didn’t like the ending. Maybe by trying to be logical they destroyed what could have been a better movie. And I didn’t understand the appearance of the girl ghost at the end.

The way I saw it SPOILERS!!!

The wife killed the husband by feeding him poison… That was a let down…

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RottenTomatoes.com has it at an approval rating of 17% (a concencus of 35 independant mainstream media reviewers).

17% on rottentomatoes usually means it’s pretty awful.

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Sounds like a total renter. Pity, because given the source material it could have been good. And again: the Bells were a real family with descendants still in the area- it irks me they’d make such a damning allegation even if it is about a man who’s been dead 180 years.

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Mmmhmm… The movie is ok/so-so by me, until the last part, where they try to solve the hauntings by saying it was because of the dad’s sexual abuse, and the later implication that the wife killed her husband by poisoning him.