Movie Review: An American Haunting

An American Haunting (2006) 

Directed by Courtney Solomon

Written by Courtney Solomon

Starring Donald Sutherland, Sissy Spacek, James D'arcy

Release Date May 5th, 2006

Published May 5th, 2006

The ineptitude of director Courtney Solomon is seemingly boundless. After taking what had the potential to be a Lord of the Rings style series of blockbusters in the Dungeons and Dragons, and dragged it into the depths of hellish mediocrity, it seemed Solomon was finished as a director. Sadly Solomon was merely recovering from that massive failure and accumulating material for a property he had purchased around the time of D &D, a horror novel called An American Haunting.

Some five years later Solomon's vision is finally on the biggest screen and hellish ineptitude would be a kind description for the jaw droppingly awful period horror flick An American Haunting.

Donald Sutherland, whom the director must have incriminating photos of, stars in American Haunting as John Bell the head of a small rural Tennessee household with his wife Lucy (Sissy Spacek, another likely blackmail candidate) that somehow becomes afflicted by a spirit. Thought to be the curse of a neighbor who the Bell's wronged in a land deal, the spirit attacks in the middle of the night, knocking over furniture, moaning loudly and taking an unseemly interest in the Bell's young daughter Betsy (Rachel Hurd Wood).

The ghost is especially violent with Betsy while afflicting John with ever worsening health. Friends and neighbors visit and confirm the Bell's haunting, the only holdout being Betsy's school teacher Richard Powell (James D'Arcy) who believes science can explain the phenomena, that is until he witnesses the spirit firsthand.

An American Haunting is based on the popular novel by Brent Monaghan called The Bell Witch: An American Haunting. That 2000 novel was a controversial bestseller that purported itself to be a non-fiction account of the only murder ever attributed to a spirit. Monaghan's central thesis that spirits are created by bad energy within homes serves as a pseudo-scientific explanation of the supposedly real haunting. Essentially the family's negativity manifested in an angry violent ghost.

An interesting but thoroughly non-scientific theory that Monaghan, I'm told, spins into quite a compelling yarn. Unfortunately the script by director Courtney Solomon deviates wildly from Monaghan's thesis in favor of a more familiar brand of horror genre hokum. Looking to get audiences jumping out of their seats, Solomon relies on the tired act of loud unexpected noises. Yup, that's it. Just the occasional animal knocking over furniture amped to ear splitting decibels. This is what passes as horror in An American Haunting.

Worse yet Solomon crafts the film in such a way that he forgets to create any mystery as to why the family is being haunted. He retires the film's one and only red herring, a neighbor suspected of witchcraft, early in the story and never allows the skeptical teacher to develop into a formidable enough character that his debunking skills might introduce some mystery.

The storytelling is so awful that at one point we are lead to believe the family was being punished because they charged a usury tax that was well above the established law. USURY! As a horror film device!

The Usury Tax thing is a big laugh but unfortunately An American Haunting does not have enough of that kind of unintentional humor to make it any kind of guilty pleasure. No, sadly the film just sucks and nothing more.

It may have taken Courtney Solomon five years to get another less than mediocre feature on the big screen but don't think for a moment that just because An American Haunting was even worse than his Dungeons & Dragons, that Courtney Solomon is finished. Uwe Boll has stunk out loud on four pictures and has several more in the pipeline. If Hollywood won't throw a leash on Boll why would they stop Courtney Solomon from stinking up movie theaters for the foreseeable future.

Movie Review: Exorcist The Beginning

Exoricist The Beginning (2004) 

Directed by Renny Harlin 

Written by Alexi Hawley 

Starring Stellan Skarsgard, James D'arcy, Izabella Scorupco 

Release Date August 20th, 2004 

Published August 21st, 2004 

Let me begin this review with a confession. Readers of my columns already know that I have written frequently about the troubles plaguing The Exorcist film series. I have been quite critical of the film’s producers for jettisoning director Paul Schrader in favor of Renny Harlin because they felt Schrader did not deliver the kind of disgusting gore they had requested. Schrader's shabby treatment is a shadow over this film and until his finished version is released on DVD, that demon cannot be 'exorcised'.

With that out the way and my bias clearly in the open, we can discuss this highly unusual and tragically awful film Exorcist: The Beginning.

Father Lancaster Merrin (Stellan Skarsgard) is famous for having saved the life of young Regan McNeil in 1971's The Exorcist but he was not always a priest. In the 1950's, he was just another archaeologist digging up fossils in British-controlled North Africa. Merrin's days are spent drinking and nights spent tormented by memories of the time when he lost his faith in God. One day as Merrin is drinking, he is visited by a representative of the British government requesting that he take part in an archaeological dig that has uncovered an ancient church buried beneath the desert.

It is clear that Merrin's expertise as both a priest and archaeologist are what are being requested and Merrin is insistent that he no longer has religion in his life. Still his curiosity is piqued and soon he is off to the desert where the natives are restlessly and warily uncovering one of the most unusual finds in history. It is a church buried beneath the desert. On the dig, Merrin is joined by a priest from the Vatican, Father Francis (James D'arcy) who is to track Merrin's progress and report back to Rome, something Merrin is unhappy about. Father Francis believes this church may be the place where Lucifer fell.

Merrin is not there long before strange things begin happening. Villagers are falling ill, Hyena's are circling the camp and becoming increasingly aggressive. Eventually a young boy named Joseph (Remy Sweeney) is taken ill and the camp physician Doctor Sarah (Isabella Scorupco) can't find what is wrong with him. The villagers believe the boy is possessed and want to sacrifice him. It's up to Merrin and Sarah to protect him and eventually they will try and save him, exorcising him with the help of Father D'arcy. From there the film has a twist so mind-blowingly ridiculous it's worth the price of admission. Laughable is the best way to describe it. Campy kitsch. So funny I could almost recommend it, if you didn't have to sit through the rest of the film to get to it

Exorcist: The Beginning may sound like a straightforward story of one man's struggle with his faith and his spiritual reclamation but as directed by Renny Harlin it is a shrill, stupid horror cliche of bad twists and an insatiable lust for gore. The reason director Paul Schrader was dismissed and the film entirely reshot was that it wasn't gory enough for producer James G. Robinson. Renny Harlin made certain he did not make the same mistake and in so doing ratcheted the gore factor to an extreme that would make the most twisted imagination wince.

There are babies stillborn covered in maggots, fields of crucified bodies hanging from upside down crosses, and the most hacky of screen cliches, the child-in-danger manipulation. Numerous children, including the film’s lead child actor are placed in serious jeopardy and Harlin has the gall to portray the children’s murders without cutaways, something akin to child abuse for the young actors forced to fake their gory deaths.

Subtlety has never been Mr. Harlin's strong point, he famously failed spectacularly with Cutthroat Island, Driven and Deep Blue Sea. If you thought Mr. Harlin's special effects work in Deep Blue Sea was bad, wait till you see the horrendous CGI abortion he performs in this film. From bad CGI smoke in the film’s opening scenes to CGI Hyenas with glowing cartoon eyes to a makeup job in the film’s final moments that is something only Ed Wood could appreciate.

The blame for this abomination of Exorcist legend does not sit fully with Mr. Harlin. Most of the blame can be placed with producer James G. Robinson who has been quite vocal about his hands on approach to producing. He was rumored to have considered directing the film himself after firing Paul Schrader before settling on Renny Harlin. Mr. Robinson's hands on approach may be part of the reason why the film’s special effects are so bad, consider the film was finished just days before prints of the film had to be shipped to theaters. A producer’s decision no doubt. Delaying the film any further would push it out of it's comfy August release, a dumping ground for Hollywood's end of summer dregs.

Mr. Robinson's hands on approach has been seen on a number of his prestigious productions like Major League: Back To The Minors, Juwanna Mann and most horrifyingly alongside Director Paul WS Anderson on Soldier. While Anderson has taken most of the blame on Soldier, maybe there should be some revision of that legendary Hollywood story of how such a prized script was turned into such a bad movie to make room for Mr. Robinson.

I have been quite hard on this film and it deserves it. I have been hard on producer James G. Robinson and I think he deserves it as well (did I mention he produced Chill Factor? Sorry, distracted again). Mr. Robinson has a chance to prove me wrong when he releases Director Paul Schrader's version of Exorcist: The Beginning on DVD later this year. He has promised to release both films so that comparisons can be made and hopefully he is a man of his word. Even if Mr. Schrader's version is as bad as the producers claim, it certainly could not be as bad as the film they did release.

Movie Review Master and Commander The Far Side of the World

Master and Commander The Far Side of the World (2003) 

Directed by Peter Weir 

Written by Peter Weir 

Starring Russell Crowe, Paul Bettany, James D'arcy, Billy Boyd

Release Date November 14th, 2003 

Published November 13th, 2003 

I've never been exposed to the work of author Patrick O'Brien. His high-seas adventures are the kind of tales that always appealed to my father, a student of history, especially naval history. So Master & Commander: The Far Side of the World is an opportunity for my dad and I to bond over a movie, the film’s historical accuracy pulled apart over a dinner cooked by my mom. So you can understand why I was looking forward to this film and why I might seem to gush a little bit about this tremendous Oscar-worthy adventure.

Take the essential elements of Errol Flynn's classic high seas serials and a dash of Herman Melville and you get a sense of what you’re in for in Master and Commander. Lucky Jack Aubrey (Russell Crowe) is the Captain of the British navy ship the Surprise. Lucky Jack's mission is to hunt down and either sink or capture the French profiteer ship the Acheron (pronounced as Ack-Eron). It's 1805, and Britain is at war with France and its leader, Napoleon. 

Though the Acheron is larger and better armed than the Surprise, the Surprise’s 197-man crew has complete faith in Captain Jack--everyone, that is, but the ship’s surgeon Stephen Maturin (Paul Bettany). It's not that Maturin doesn't trust Captain Jack's abilities, however he functions as Jack's conscience as the captain begins to see the Acheron as his white whale. Two times early in the film the Acheron snuck up behind the Surprise and nearly sank it. The captain is determined to not let it happen again. Maturin feels that returning to Britain for repairs is a more prudent solution.

Even as Captain Jack and Maturin disagree vehemently over tactics, the two are good friends who spend their free time dueting, Maturin on the cello and Jack on his violin. Crowe and Bettany played a similar relationship in the Oscar winner A Beautiful Mind and their familiarity and ease working together shows.

The rest of the cast of Master and Commander run together and, especially during the battle scenes, it's difficult to tell them apart. The one other cast member able to make a real impression is Max Perkis as Blakeney, a teenager who both Captain Jack and Maturin take under their wing. Blakeney is also quite interesting from a historical standpoint as not only a teenager, maybe only 13 years old, but an officer on the Surprise. This seems unreal but it is historically accurate that children as young as 13 were taking positions in the British navy.

Master and Commander is the first non-documentary ever to be allowed to film on the famed Galapagos Islands, where Maturin is allowed to indulge his love of nature and, in a pre-Darwin scientific discovery, develops an obsession with a flightless bird that would be an amazing find. It would be, but in his search of the island, he discovers the hiding place of the Acheron and must rejoin Captain Jack for the film's climactic battle.

Based on the first and the 10th book of Patrick O'Brien's 20 volume series, Master and Commander was a dream project for producer and Fox Chairman Tom Rothman who acquired the rights to the books while O'Brien was still alive but was unable to get it made until after the author’s death in 2001. It wasn't until three studios--Fox, Miramax, and Universal--pooled $125 million that the film even seemed viable. Finally, after landing director Peter Weir and Crowe, Rothman had the tools to turn the dense, character-driven adventure into a film.

With so much rich dialogue and innumerable characters Master and Commander seems an unlikely blockbuster but in the capable hands of Weir, who also co-wrote the script with John Collee, it is an epic action adventure movie that evokes classic Hollywood filmmaking. In its scope and scale it's reminiscent of Lawrence Of Arabia, but may be more akin to Gladiator, another modern epic that also starred Crowe. The combination of realistic stunts and seamless CGI is what true blockbusters should aspire to. Too many computer generated effects can be distracting and more often annoying. Master and Commander proves there is no substitute for real actors and real stunts. Let the Oscar season begin with Master and Commander firing the first shot.