Review of The Bell Witch Haunting (2013) by Robert I — 10 Nov 2013

A terrible bore of a "found footage" film. The trouble with the genre is the distance from the subjects and the sheer ridiculousness of people still recording when they are. This film is so distant from what is supposed to be happening on screen, there's absolutely no sympathy toward the terrorized family or their friends that keep being found dead. Things get so silly after a while you completely check out of the reality of the film altogether. After about an hour in I couldn't even keep up with what was supposed to be happening. I was pretty sure the father bit off his tongue in a scene, but then he's seen fine and talking a few scenes later. The family encounters the police multiple times, but they never seem to follow up on anything that they are investigating.

The film is clearly modeled after the "Paranormal Activity" films and relies very little on the Bell Witch mythos. Watching the film, I was repeatedly reminded why "The Blair Witch Project" works as a film; it immersed you in the tone and tension of its world. You got to know the characters and gained some sympathy for their plight. There's no tension in this film to make it worthwhile. I don't blame the actors who have been given scenarios to act out, perhaps they were quite good, although the film doesn't do a worthy job of actually showing you their performances.

I lament the filmmakers who watched the rough cut of this film and realized they had made a horror film that doesn't work at all. "C'est la vie, release it anyway!".