I just received my copy of The Bell Witch Haunting movie and sat down to watch it. I waited over the weekend almost impatiently for it to arrive since ordering it, because I had read up on the Bell Witch and found it to be a fascinating story. Nevermind that it's all true! And being that it is true, this has got to be the greatest ghost story that has yet to be figured out.
After watching the movie, and knowing of many people who were waiting on this review, I thought I better sit down to write it, so here we go. I'll talk first of the production of the movie since it was the first thing I noticed.
The production of the movie wasn't too bad, though there were things that at first made me very unhappy. The sound fluctuated throughout the entire movie which made it hard to listen to without constantly holding the controller to toggle the sound accordingly. I had started to watch the movie with my surround sound on, but found that to be very annoying. I turned that off and used just the TV sound. That too was bad, but not so bad. At times the speaking was so soft I couldn't hear what was being said, while at other times it was so loud you could hear it popping.
The lighting also changed too much. It wasn't annoying really, or even a bother, but it was noticeable. I don't mean the difference between inside and out either, rather, one scene that was done outside would have beautiful shots and one clip of the scene would have a bright white shade over everything. It seemed to me that the shots weren't properly set up for each scene. Then again, I went to school for this kind of thing, so I may notice this stuff more than anyone else would.
Also, some of the scenes moved so quick that it was hard to tell what it was that was on screen. It made me wonder if I had missed anything. But at the same time, it was perfect for this type of movie. So with all that said...
The movie was wonderful. It was nice to see these things acted out in front of me as opposed to in my head when reading the stories. All of the actors did a fantastic job in the movie and made it totally believable. I think that Ric White (writer, director, actor-"James Johnston") did a fantastic job in front of the camera as well as Stephanie Love ("Lucy Bell"). The whole cast did a fantastic job as I said, but those two really took their parts and lived them out.
Mr. White also did a great job writing it and directing it. Though I did say the production had it's moments of question, the writing, directing, and acting all came together so well that after an hour and a half of the movie was over I was shocked to know it had gone by so fast. I was drawn in to the story so much that the movie seemed almost to be over before I had realized 2 hours had gone by!
The only thing I didn't get to see was the story of when Andrew Jackson visited the house, nor did they ever say the witch's name was "Kate", which for as much as I've read happens to be a major part in the history of this story.
In any case, I'd suggest checking this out and make sure you are prepared to jump! I jumped a couple times in this, and all I can say is, it's been a long time since any movie has made me do that!
4 of 5 stars
Reviewed by Matt Roberts
Now for the rest. I'm now confused. I do remember when I heard of the Bell Witch movie that I checked out a couple of sites. I never put them together, but I just now have and I'm very confused. Apparently, there's this movie that Mr. Ric White put out for us to enjoy, and in another two months + there is another movie coming out. You can check out and order "The Bell Witch Haunting" by clicking here. You can also check out the site for the upcoming Bell Witch movie by clicking here. I guess I'm going to have to see this one as well. It stars Betsy Palmer from "Friday the 13th". In any case, check out Rick White's version of it while you wait for the new one to come out! You won't be disappointed!
UPDATE: I emailed someone off of a link I found at the movie site and this is what the email said...
Hello! I'm not sure if this is the email address I'm to write to with this, but I thought I'd do it anyway.
I just got my copy of the movie and watched it and I was very impressed. Congratulations to all of you for a job well done! I have also written a review of it if you'd care to read it. It's just another good review, and I'm sure you've seen a ton of those, so if you don't read it I'll understand!
Anyway, thanks for the movie and here's to a job well done!
I just got an email back and it was from Ric himself! This is what he had to say.
Hi Matt,
Linda told me about the review and I just read it. Thanks for the review and your thoughts, I'm glad you enjoyed the film so much. A lot of people have really enjoyed the behind the scenes video on the DVD if you haven't had a chance to see it yet. I am finishing a new project on Edgar Allan Poe and four of his stories that will be out next month, you can see info on our new site www.poenightmares.com, if you like Poe, I think you would enjoy it. Thanks again for the favorable review.
Ric White
Willing Hearts Productions
That's awesome! So check out the new site just like I have and check out the Poe work, but make sure you check out the Bell Witch Haunting ASAP!
And psst to Ric... I want to be in a movie!!!