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An American Haunting

Play trailer Poster for An American Haunting PG-13 2006 1h 30m Horror Mystery & Thriller Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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12% Tomatometer 66 Reviews 35% Popcornmeter 50,000+ Ratings
Landowners in 1817 Tennessee, John (Donald Sutherland) and Lucy Bell (Sissy Spacek) experience strange and terrifying events after fellow parishioners find John guilty of loan-sharking and his victim curses the Bell family. The incidents culminate in the daughter's (Rachel Hurd-Wood) apparent possession by demons.
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An American Haunting

An American Haunting

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Critics Consensus

Well, it looks good. But wasn't it supposed to be scary?

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Critics Reviews

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Brian Tallerico UGO 03/24/2007
Takes the most documented ghost story in history and doesn't create one truly scary moment. Go to Full Review
Nigel Floyd Time Out 06/03/2006
This allegedly true tale of demonic possession is weighed down by period detail and ponderous storytelling, which soon get the better of its Exorcist-inspired levitations, flying crucifixes and noisy poltergeist activity. Go to Full Review
Matthew Leyland BBC.com 06/03/2006
2/5
Unoriginal and unrelenting, this gothic ghost story invests too much time in banging doors and billowing drapes and not enough in its characters. Go to Full Review
Alberto Abuín Espinof 02/14/2020
A bad movie, that I assure you is a waste of time. [Full Review in Spanish] Go to Full Review
Debbie Lynn Elias Behind The Lens 11/06/2019
Guaranteed to keep you up at night with every light in the house on, An American Haunting is the best haunt we've had in a long time. Go to Full Review
Cole Smithey ColeSmithey.com 04/19/2009
C-
The frights are few and the moment of horrific revelation is a big letdown in writer/director Courtney Solomon's cinematic treatment of Brent Monahan's novel "The Bell Witch: An American Haunting." Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Paul B Sep 30 Just not a good movie. Could have been great with an amazing cast, but it falls short on so many levels. No explanations, not good storytelling, very limited backstory. Not sure why there was so much "ghost roller coaster" going on. Very gratuitous with the witch POV, and when it happens a second time you think "oh great here we go again". See more Korra N Aug 31 This isn't an inherently bad movie,but for what's supposed to be a horror film, it's barely a chiller. Still, the production is solid and the acting is good, so that's something. See more Blu B Jul 18 It's another generic bad haunted house movie except the gimic is it's set in the 1800's. Besides that...it's literally everything you'd expect almost to a tee from one of these bad films. It starts out alright enought, fairly easy enough to follow but jumpy a bit, you can feel it's barely holding together the longer it goes. Than arounf the halfway mark it completely starts pancaking, getting repetitive, completely incoherent, very weird edits at time, and it's so dark and dull most of the time. Direction can feel obnoxious at times and just a mixed bag in general. and it isn't scary at all because it never lays out ground rules for what the spirit can do and it feels like stuff just happens the longer it goes. It never develops any character and completely wastes Sutherland and Spacek. Than the freakin screaming of the girl constantly gets sooo annoying. The editing and pacing are just terrible here. The cinematography is subpar and everything else is alright I guess. Biggest strike here is this isn't scary at all. It's just random, some jump scares, and sometimes I don't even know. Why it's told in a flashback with the modern time family I truly have no freakin idea and I have no idea why she was running after the car at the end. Skip this. Just another dime a dozen bad haunted house/paranormal movie. See more 03/27/2024 Such bad editing makes the ending so confusing See more Dawn T @Moviefan9 10/09/2023 Not worth your time. Bad concept, not scary or suspenseful, eye-rolling reveal. See more Colin M 07/03/2023 Supernatural tale. Told mainly in the past. But lacked a sufficient ending in the present: instead seeming to end just in the middle of something that needed more. See more Read all reviews
An American Haunting

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An American Haunting

An American Haunting: Official Clip - A Forest of Ghosts and Wolves An American Haunting: Official Clip - A Forest of Ghosts and Wolves 2:54 An American Haunting: Official Clip - I'm So Afraid An American Haunting: Official Clip - I'm So Afraid 1:37 An American Haunting: Official Clip - Ghostly Attack An American Haunting: Official Clip - Ghostly Attack 1:53 An American Haunting: Official Clip - You're Gonna Die An American Haunting: Official Clip - You're Gonna Die 2:28 An American Haunting: Official Clip - Do You Want to Play? An American Haunting: Official Clip - Do You Want to Play? 2:08 An American Haunting: Official Clip - Night Terror An American Haunting: Official Clip - Night Terror 2:37 An American Haunting: Official Clip - Chased Through a Nightmare An American Haunting: Official Clip - Chased Through a Nightmare 1:43 An American Haunting: Official Clip - The First Haunting An American Haunting: Official Clip - The First Haunting 2:19 View more videos
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Movie Info

Synopsis Landowners in 1817 Tennessee, John (Donald Sutherland) and Lucy Bell (Sissy Spacek) experience strange and terrifying events after fellow parishioners find John guilty of loan-sharking and his victim curses the Bell family. The incidents culminate in the daughter's (Rachel Hurd-Wood) apparent possession by demons.
Director
Courtney Solomon
Producer
Courtney Solomon, Christopher Milburn, Andre Rouleau
Screenwriter
Courtney Solomon
Distributor
Freestyle Releasing
Production Co
Media Pro Pictures, Midsummer Films, After Dark Films, Christopher Milburn Production, Remstar Productions
Rating
PG-13 (Thematic Material|Intense Terror Sequences)
Genre
Horror, Mystery & Thriller, Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
May 5, 2006, Wide
Release Date (Streaming)
Nov 1, 2011
Box Office (Gross USA)
$16.3M
Runtime
1h 30m
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