An American Haunting is a ghost story with historical roots. I'm not sure how accurate the history is, but the story goes something like this: The Bell family, husband and wife and 2 daughters lived on a farm in Eastern Tennessee. John Bell, the father and husband had made an agreement with a neighbor lady, Kate, to loan some money to her for 20% interest. In exchange John would receive the use of her property, including the harvesting of timber. The film opens with an early American courtroom scene circa 1800. The money that Kate borrowed was not repaid and Mr. Bell had subsequently foreclosed on the property for the unpaid amount. Kate argued that Bell had broken Church law by capitalizing on the useurous interest rate of 20%, and taken timber and the land as well. The court agreed with Kate, that John Bell had committed avarice contrary to biblical teachings and was censured by the community and made to give back Kate's land. Kate was thought of by the community as a witch, since she was a single woman handling her own property and affairs. Kate threatens Bell because she still felt that he was not punished enough, and vows that he will pay for his sins. Thus the haunting begins and strange sounds begin to interrupt the Bells at all hours of the night. The entity has chosen the older daughter, Betsy for punishment and she is heard screaming as the entity moves her around the room. All is not well in the Bell household, even with protestant exorcisms (The Protestant's just don't have the power as the Catholic Rites do) and attempts to cleanse the evil spirit. All fingers point towards Kate, but after awhile Bell's wife starts to think that John may be the cause of the haunting because she suspects that he is molesting his daughter. Things started just as Betsy was entering puberty and had love interests. It's also clear that there is no physical intimacy between husband and wife. The actors, John, played by Donald Sutherland, and wife, by Sissy Spacek were well cast and portrayed. This being a horror film, there was lots of screaming without a lot of special effects. The story was gloomy, as well as the dark shots of the house and woods surrounding. The dual plots of history repeating itself does add good stuff to ponder after. All in all, the film held it's own, but wasn't spectacular considering the big gun actors present. 3/5

This fils is so great. It scary and creepy and the best think is that the story is based on true events. Thats make the film more scary. It has a very good plot and the act is very good. Its a very good ghost story. I have watch it 3 times now and i like it vrey muck. Its a perfect movie. 5/5 for me. Great work!

There is an addition to my review re: historical issues.Traumatic period set drama/horror. The best source of information I was able to track down on the Bell Witch is a website of a historian/author www.bellwitch.org. There he sells his book, but the site does have a lot of information about both this film (An American Haunting) and another The Bell Witch Haunting. I'm glad I bought this movie, because any time I want to be a little creeped out by a movie based on true events (that happened in TN, which is where I live) I take this out and watch it.Good reading!