An American Haunting
Freestyle Releasing | Release Date: May 5, 2006 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
38
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 18 Critic Reviews
Positive:
3
Mixed:
10
Negative:
5
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
70
Film ThreatFelix Vasques Jr.
Yet another light weight PG-13 film that poses rather well as an honest to goodness horror film. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterSheri Linden
Solomon crafts a quality horror piece from strong performances and effects. The chief disappointment of An American Haunting is that it doesn't exploit more opportunities for the sublime subtlety of performances by Sissy Spacek and, especially, Donald Sutherland. Read full review
63
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
There are jolts galore in a movie stuffed with the basic tricks of the evil-spirit trade - banging noises in the attic, slamming doors and windows, spinning clocks, shaking beds, rabid beasts, disappearing children and the occasional moment of eyeball-rolling possession. Read full review
60
VarietyJohn Anderson
A well-made, good-looking movie it is, but between the non-stop tumult and the sense of deliberateness about its period authenticity, An American Haunting produces a lot of screaming, crying and cruelty, but not much drama. Read full review
50
Village VoiceJim Ridley
The movie exhausts its blast-in-the-face scares through repetition. A wasted opportunity-- especially since the events as reported scarcely need embellishing. Read full review
50
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
The unnecessarily famous cast for such a standard, creaking, fake-spooky ghost story (with Bible verses thrown in for good measure). Read full review
50
SlateGrady Hendrix
This is a well-packaged film that arrives like a nicely wrapped Christmas present, full of promise and potential. Then you unwrap it and discover that it's just another electric gravy boat and, worse, it's still got the price tag attached. Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
Throughout the film, doors slam, windows shatter and poor, battered Betsy wakes up screaming with tiresome regularity; even Sutherland appears bored by it all. Read full review
40
L.A. WeeklyPaul Malcolm
Despite their appeal to patriotic horror fans, the makers of An American Haunting end up doing more harm than good to domestic fright production. Read full review
40
The New York TimesNathan Lee
An American Haunting purports to be based on a documented event, although most of its inspiration has been drawn from the empty well of "The Exorcist" and its progeny. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesGene Seymour
At times, the narrative thread slips the movie's grasp and there are flat spots in which characters just scream and thrash. Given what its ending aims for (don't ask), such interludes feel flabby and gratuitous even with Sutherland and Spacek providing gravitas to the ghoulishness. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
It really IS fun to watch yet another oddball turn by Sutherland, and a marginally restrained one from Spacek. It's just not THAT fun. Read full review
40
Washington PostDesson Thomson
Tries -- and fails -- to evoke that whoa-did-this-really-happen edge. Read full review
38
New York PostKyle Smith
Its images came from a dusty box in the horror-movie attic, and the attic is where the entire picture will be in a month. Read full review
30
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
I'm guessing Donald Sutherland agreed to do this tedious horror flick because he heard Sissy Spacek was on board, and Spacek agreed to do it because she heard Sutherland was on board. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChroniclePeter Hartlaub
This is the type of movie that you should be getting for free on television. Read full review
25
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
Never remotely frightening. Read full review
12
Boston GlobeTy Burr
An American Haunting sets the bar at a new low: It makes ''The Blair Witch Project" look like a masterpiece of world cinema. Read full review
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