An American Haunting

Oh God, is this ever awful. Supposedly based on a true story where a spirit killed a man 200 years ago, it’s a confusing mess that calls upon every horror trick in the book to spook its audience yet fails to get one legitimate scare. A young girl in modern times hears and sees some strange stuff, her mom starts reading some letters found in the attic, and we flash back to 1818, where another young girl (Rachel Hurd-Wood) is hearing some strange stuff in the attic. A ghost supposedly starts kicking her around, making her dad (Donald Sutherland) all sad and mopey. A big, lame Twin Peaks-type twist strives to make the film “deep” but fails miserably. The normally reliable Sutherland and Sissy Spacek flounder in this one, as does everybody else in the cast. Not worth your time, theatrical or rental. Stay away. You’ve been warned.