An American Haunting is based on the true events of the only case in US History where a spirit caused the death of a man. If this is true or not, there is no denying that this film falls flat on the ground and hard. This film can make you go insane wondering what the filmmakers were thinking when the production aspect came into play. An American Haunting looks nothing near how one would imagine the 1800's looked and felt like. The sets are unimpressive and the costumes are laughable.
These are not the only things that are laughable in this film. American Haunting is unintentionally laughable throughout because of its ridiculous moments. It tries to scare and frighten the audience, but instead the spirit does certain things that are plain out hilarious. Was this supposed to be a comedy, of course not. However, it sure serves more on the comedy side than what it should have been which is horror. There is not one single moment where I was impressed with this film.
An American Haunting was written and directed by Courtney Solomon who also made the bad video game to film adaptation called Dungeons and Dragons. It amazes me how Solomon could actually make superb actors seem like bad actors. Part of what happens here with this film is the dialogue, which there is hardly any. This film is very quiet and attempts to scare the viewer unexpectedly with loud bangs and removing comforters. With such top notch actors like Donald Sutherland and Sissy Spacek, its sad and ridiculous how the screen play offered nothing for them and instead made them look lost and completely useless.
The screenplay for American Haunting is very flawed and one can highly argue that the truth was stretched. There are no haunting moments in this film and it actually had me yawning at one point. This film is so unscary that it can actually put a viewer to sleep. And with only ninety one minutes in length, An American Haunting never gets anything done nor solves anything. The film is constantly repetitive and there are scenes where you are wondering why the little girl continues to sleep in her bed.
Its a shame for a film like this to have Sutherland and Spacek and neither of them are a saving grace. Director Courtney Solomon is just simply not a good filmmaker nor a good writer. I went in American Haunting thinking I would come out with at least a mediocre experience, but this film is definitely below that range. Many things went wrong here and true or not, this is one experience that will never impress, fascinate or send chills down your spine. This is empty, repetitive and not one bit frightening.
An American Haunting works best as a comedy, its as simple as that. The film is set in the 1800's, but also goes to the present day. Its ridiculous what is witnessed when it goes to the present day and how its completely unrealistic. Even though this is based on true events, the supernatural is something that only certain people believe and calling this a true story doesn't do it justice. I'm indifferent about spirits, however, I think its possible, but not to commit the exaggerated acts. Everyone has their belief, but one thing is for certain and that is An American Haunting is not entertaining, frightening, well written or directed. It simply did almost everything wrong and thats why this is a film to avoid.
