Other movies in this series:
None

The tyranist's thoughts
This is one of the rare ones that Rish and I saw together in the theatre, and I have to say I much prefer his company at a horror film than that of anyone else. Hopefully, there will be many more films we can enjoy like this one.
A man (Donald Sutherland) has done something to violate the laws of the church. He is disfellowshipped and cursed by the woman he wronged. Soon a manifestation occurs at his home and all sorts of nasty things start happening to him and to his daughter. But mostly to his daughter as she's much more pleasant to look at.
I was really into this one until about the last fifteen minutes when they betrayed their own story and came up with an explanation for why the bad things were happening to this particular family. It isn't The Exorcist, which I was expecting a little, but this is a decent ghost story. I love that it relies on a ghost that we never really see. Most times, they sort of chicken out and show us something when having nothing at all there to do those things is much, much scarier.
And the scares were good in this one. Nothing revolutionary, but I jumped more than once and even almost screamed at one point. It's a shame that they felt the need to explain what happened and that they picked an explanation that just left me empty.
I can't complain about the end of the movie enough. I was really enjoying it until they started pontificating. This could have been a classic, but instead the end made it almost instantly forgettable. Often the unexplained is much scarier than the explained. Why did they have to mess with it.
It's worth a watch if you are into ghost stories, but don't get your hopes up.
Posted: May 18, 2006

Rish Outfield's Reviews
This has been a very fruitful year for horror films (looking back at the first half of 2006, that is), and this is the first one tyranist and I have been able to see at the theatre together. Hopefully, there's many more ahead. And better ones at that.
This wasn't a bad film, though. I'm a fan of Donald Sutherland (no stranger to horror films), and Sissy Spacek (ditto) did a fine job. I thought the actress who played the tormented girl (Rachel Hurd-Wood) to be quite good, especially since she was acting with an (American) accent.
I liked the production values of American Haunting, the sets, the wardrobe, and the lack of distracting computer-generated effects. I find the period this film took place in quite interesting, and it's rare to get a horror movie set then (I imagine Sleepy Hollow fits that mold too, though I can't think of any others).
This was quite effective on the big screen, with many startling moments and nice, ominious build-ups to scares. The film didn't do as well as many in its genre this year (its domestic gross barely covered its production cost), so I imagine most people will see it on video. I guess that can be said of every movie nowadays.
The ending of this particular one really soured me on the film, though. I've said it about a dozen times in these pages: a horror film is only as good as its ending. As tyranist also mentioned, this had a weak, disappointing, confusing, trite ending, and it's painted my memory of the film (I saw it a month ago) in a mediocre light. I'd normally recommend a film like this, and I definitely would had they gone in a different direction. Ah well.
Posted: July 3, 2006

Total Skulls: 22

Sequel
Sequel setup
Rips off earlier film
Horror film showing on TV/in theater in movie
Future celebrity appears
Former celebrity appears
Bad title
Bad premise
Bad acting
Bad dialogue
Bad execution
MTV Editing
OTS
Girl unnecessarily gets naked
Wanton sex
Death associated with sex
Unfulfilled promise of nudity
Characters forget about threat
Secluded location
Power is cut
Phone lines are cut
Someone investigates a strange noise
Someone runs up stairs instead of going out front door
Camera is the killer
Victims cower in front of a window/door
Victim locks self in with killer
Victim running from killer inexplicably falls
Toilet stall scene
Shower/bath scene
Car stalls or won't start
Cat jumps out
Fake scare
Laughable scare
Stupid discovery of corpse
Dream sequence
Hallucination/Vision
No one believes only witness
Crazy, drunk, old man knows the truth
Warning goes unheeded
Music detracts from scene
Death in first five minutes
x years before/later
Flashback sequence
Dark and stormy night
Killer doesn't stay dead
Killer wears a mask
Killer is in closet
Killer is in car with victim
Villain is more sympathetic than heroes
Unscary villain/monster
Beheading
Blood fountain
Blood spatters - camera, wall, etc.
Poor death effect
Excessive gore
No one dies at all
Virgin survives
Geek/Nerd survives
Little kid lamely survives
Dog/Pet miraculously survives
Unresolved subplots
"It was all a dream" ending
Unbelievably happy ending
Unbelievably crappy ending
What the hell?