After attending a screening of AN American HAUNTING at the Brussels Fantasy Film Festival last night I must say I am a bit disappointed. The other reviews in IMDb made it sound like I was in for something new, something truly frightening, BUT it's neither new or frightening. Sure this film had a couple of moments like THE RING or any of the other somewhat classy chillers, but AN American HAUNTING is quite hokey at times. The historical setting feels like a made for TV period piece. There's no true grit to the atmosphere which you should expect from a period piece. With such an excellent cast I expected a good, powerful script but instead the script is ordinary and the performances were weak considering who they are. And why must every new horror film have to have a weak twist ending. Unfortunately this film relies too much on on quick edits and loud music and not enough on building actual suspense. At times this film feels quite redundant. It goes like this (don't worry, no real spoilers)...the ghost cam swirls around our scared looking stars, weaving around and over them...it sees in black and white, then after that brief scare encounter our leads try to figure out why they are being haunted. At first I thought it was kind of creepy, but by the third round of these same events it becomes quite boring. I do give the film credit for never really letting up on its attempted scares, but a little subtlety could have gone a long way. Also there are a few tiny moments with poor CGI f/x. So many lost opportunities here. This is certainly not half as frightening as THE EXORCIST. If An American Haunting gets a full theatrical release in The States I'd be surprised. An American Haunting is well made and classy for straight to DVD fare. It would certainly make a fine rental but it doesn't make for a worthy outing. I give it 6 stars for its heart being in the right place. If you are looking for superior haunted house fare then certainly check out THE INNOCENTS or THE CHANGELING.
Review of An American Haunting
