We saw this movie last night at the Nashville Film Festival and sat 3 rows behind Courtney Solomon (the director). The ending we saw last night was recently changed because the previous ending got such a horrible review. In my opinion they should have just stopped the movie 2 minutes short.
I was raised in middle Tennessee about 3 hours south of the Adams farm and grew up hearing all the stories and reading all the books so I'm a pretty big fan of the Bell Witch. I wanted so badly for his movie to be an accurate representation of the "real" story but it was not. As in all movies these days they had to put a big twist at the end to shock everyone. This twist completely kills the movie and nullifies the whole Bell Witch legend. The movie even contradicts itself and in the end just becomes a confusing mess.
If you are looking for jolts and some scary scenes you will not be disappointed. My hair stood on end more times than I think it ever has before. And up until the ending I was willing to give it an 8 out of 10. The last 2 minutes or so absolutely kill this movie. Once we saw the ending all the little hints throughout the movie tied together in the worse kind of way and the movie falls apart. If you are a Bell Witch fan you will hate this movie. If you do not know the story you will probably love the movie and just think the ending was dumb.
In the Bell Witch legend Betsy Bell is tormented by a spirit named Kate that follows her wherever she goes. It starts out with what is considered poltergeist activity (strange noises, things moving around the house, etc...) but then becomes abusive and begins pulling Betsy's hair, scratching and slapping her, etc... She even vomits needles at one point. In the end though the spirit focuses its attention on John Bell and ultimately poisons him. This is the legend.
** Spoilers follow ***
The movie follows along the story fairly closely but in the end its John Bell who is abusing and raping Betsy Bell. Betsy has conjured up this "protector" spirit because of his abuse. That's the big twist. And its the mother Lucy Bell that poisons John Bell due to this abuse. The spirit which is apparently Betsy Bell's spirit (?????) then returns in 2006 to warn a relative of the Bell's that her ex-husband is abusing their daughter. Just stupid. To me this destroys the whole legend.
There were so many parts of the legend that they should have put in but instead focused on shocker rape scenes and dreams she was having so you never knew what was real and what wasn't. No mention of the Andrew Jackson incident or the witch singing "Row me up some Brandy'o" in front of 500 people at John Bell's funeral. Instead we got more shocker scenes and more of Betsy being drug around by the hair. Just how many times do we need to see Betsy being drug around by the hair anyway? I've waited for years for a good movie that tells us the real Bell Witch legend and I guess I'll keep waiting.
I was raised in middle Tennessee about 3 hours south of the Adams farm and grew up hearing all the stories and reading all the books so I'm a pretty big fan of the Bell Witch. I wanted so badly for his movie to be an accurate representation of the "real" story but it was not. As in all movies these days they had to put a big twist at the end to shock everyone. This twist completely kills the movie and nullifies the whole Bell Witch legend. The movie even contradicts itself and in the end just becomes a confusing mess.
If you are looking for jolts and some scary scenes you will not be disappointed. My hair stood on end more times than I think it ever has before. And up until the ending I was willing to give it an 8 out of 10. The last 2 minutes or so absolutely kill this movie. Once we saw the ending all the little hints throughout the movie tied together in the worse kind of way and the movie falls apart. If you are a Bell Witch fan you will hate this movie. If you do not know the story you will probably love the movie and just think the ending was dumb.
In the Bell Witch legend Betsy Bell is tormented by a spirit named Kate that follows her wherever she goes. It starts out with what is considered poltergeist activity (strange noises, things moving around the house, etc...) but then becomes abusive and begins pulling Betsy's hair, scratching and slapping her, etc... She even vomits needles at one point. In the end though the spirit focuses its attention on John Bell and ultimately poisons him. This is the legend.
** Spoilers follow ***
The movie follows along the story fairly closely but in the end its John Bell who is abusing and raping Betsy Bell. Betsy has conjured up this "protector" spirit because of his abuse. That's the big twist. And its the mother Lucy Bell that poisons John Bell due to this abuse. The spirit which is apparently Betsy Bell's spirit (?????) then returns in 2006 to warn a relative of the Bell's that her ex-husband is abusing their daughter. Just stupid. To me this destroys the whole legend.
There were so many parts of the legend that they should have put in but instead focused on shocker rape scenes and dreams she was having so you never knew what was real and what wasn't. No mention of the Andrew Jackson incident or the witch singing "Row me up some Brandy'o" in front of 500 people at John Bell's funeral. Instead we got more shocker scenes and more of Betsy being drug around by the hair. Just how many times do we need to see Betsy being drug around by the hair anyway? I've waited for years for a good movie that tells us the real Bell Witch legend and I guess I'll keep waiting.