Saturday, January 5, 2013

An American Haunting (2005)

Director: Courtney Solomon

Starring: Donald Sutherland, Sissy Spacek, James D'Arcy, Rachel Hurd-Wood, Matthew Marsh, Thom Fell, Zoe Thorne

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Possession Knows No Bounds

Plot: In 1818, the family began to experience disturbances on their property. The spirit began to grow, becoming aggressive and singling out the father, John, and his only daughter Betsy. The family desperately searched for the cause of the spirit in the hope of finding a way of defeating it. It developed voices and began speaking to the family. Then, finally it pronounced a death sentence on John.

 

My rating: 4.5/10

Will I watch it again?  Jesus, no.

This picture looks good.  It's got name actors, a decent score and bleak, cloudy, moody atmosphere.  What it doesn't have is anything to keep my attention.  It's unnecessarily slow and repetitive.  By the time I got to the end where the big 'reveal' is, I had stopped caring an hour earlier.  Seriously, when it felt like it had run its course and the end was near I checked the time and still had 45 minutes to go (half way through the picture).  That's not a good sign.  It's a dimly lit film.  I don't think the sun came out more than twice if that.  There is one thing, however, that takes the cake.  It's the best carriage flip I've EVER seen.  Fuck me sideways, this few seconds is amazing.


I know, right?  WOW!  Too bad the picture that contained it couldn't muster up anything close to that exciting for the 91 minutes that surrounds it.

No comments:

Post a Comment