Bell Witch Haunting

I bought a copy of this movie. The cover art looked impressive. When we sat down and watched it I was very disappointed. I have done a lot of research on this story. I have been to the places of where the actual events took place. Adams, Tennessee is not very far from where I live. The character Joshua Gardner in the movie is said to have moved west. He did about 12 miles from my home is where he settled and is buried there also. I know the people who bought and reassembled his cabin and they also said they experienced unusual happenings with it. The movie has to much of an hillbilly atmosphere. The real people being portrayed in this movie were far from being hillbilly's. They were a very well respected and prominent family of what I have learned. I feel that the seriousness of this story was not expressed well enough in it. The actual story was very frightening so frightening some of the older generations of the Bell family tried to keep it from the younger generation. I also noticed scenes that didn't match. Like the length of a candle a person is holding in a scene. One scene it is almost burnt out and the next it is longer. There is one more when someone is wearing a hat and then they are not. When John Bell Sr. is in his death bed one angle he is white faced and one angle he is not. There is to much silly comedy. When I say that I mean it is kind of corny. There is a lot of bad acting. I feel it is lacking in ability to tell the real horrifying story. In the real story Andrew Jackson and his army went to witness the Bell Witch and it scared some of his troops off and he made the statement. "I'd rather face the whole British Army, than face the Bell Witch again." You will find that the comedy kind of puts a damper on the threat of the witch in a way. There is some factual events told. I suggest that a person read the book. It will be more effective.

The filmmaker stayed true to the most accurate account of the story published in 1894 which includes an 1846 manuscript by Richard Williams Bell (son of John and Lucy Bell and younger brother of Betsy Bell) titled "Our Family Trouble." To knowledge this is the only eyewitness account ever penned. The filmmaker should be credited for accuracy but there is little to say about the production and acting quality. The acting was theatrical and the sound and picture quality was extremely poor. It appears that the filmmaker simply shot scenes of the reported events that took place without incorporating or weaving them into a flowing plot or story line. If you must know the story, read about it, its much more gripping and conclusive.

I love ghost stories and I will sit through a movie til it's end, even if I'm not really enjoying it. I rarely feel like I wasted my time... BUT, this adaptation of the Bell Witch story was horrible!

It wasn't scary in the least bit. What is with the comic relief moments? The dialog was tedious. Acting inconsistent The movie was WAY too long and some scenes were unnecessarily drawn out in my open. (Like the birthday party)

The only good think I can think about mentioning is the costumes and props were well done.

I am curious about other adaptation, but until then, I will stick to reading about the story.

Being from TN I was excited to see this movie. It started off like every other low budget hand-held camera movie. It got more boring and dumber as the minutes went on. There was nothing that even remotely go into the legend of the Bell Witch. If it would have told more about the legend of the Bell Witch then it might have been interesting, but this movie was no where close to what it should have been

Its just a family who moved into a house that was build on the "sacred ground" and things begin to happen. I would actually say Paranormal Entity was better than this movie. And we all know how much of a rip that was.

In addition to the fact that this is just an abysmally made film (imagine giving a camcorder to the average high school drama club) the people who think that there is anything "real" about this legend need to grow up. This is the 21st century. Guess what: ghosts don't exist. Most people learn that from their mother when they're about 5 years old. You guys seriously need to grow up.

The fact that a fraud was perpetrated nearly 2 centuries ago does not make it any less a fraud. The fact that a large number of inbred hillbillies from Tennessee believe it doesn't do it either. Go to college. Or at least finish high school.