AN AMERICAN HAUNTING
RYAN: “I’m frightened, Auntie Em, I’m frightened!”
CAROLINE: Ryan made me go to a scary movie.
RYAN: I am so excited. I think this is the first time in the six years we’ve been together as man and wife –
CAROLINE: As it were.
RYAN: Or gay and wife – that I actually got you to go to a scary movie!
CAROLINE: It’s a rare thing for me to see a scary movie in the theater because I just don’t enjoy it, thank you!
RYAN: Yeah, but this was fun. This was Sissy McSpacek, and Donald McSutherland and McWendy from the Peter Pan movie a few years back, the one with Jason Isaacs, the really cute “Peter Pan.”
CAROLINE: I think you’re the only one who knows that movie for the record.
RYAN: Maybe the only adult.
CAROLINE: Hmpf.
RYAN: But this movie, “An American Haunting,” had a great cast.
CAROLINE: It was good. I wasn’t thrilled about going to a scary movie but the good news is that it’s not a gory-scary movie, it’s just a creepy-scary movie, so it’s more of a thriller. And I enjoyed it but I was creeped!
RYAN: Yes, it was a little creepy. There was some “Exorcist”-type imagery and not too many over the top effects, so that was good. It was kind of scary but it was by no means the scariest movie I’ve ever seen.
CAROLINE: No. But it’s cool ‘cos it’s based on a true story of a family that was haunted in the 19th century.
RYAN: Right, and I loved it because my favorite period in American history is the Salem witch trials, and this kind of has that vibe – I mean, granted, this movie takes place a couple hundred years later, but it was still an interesting period film for early America and it delved into the supernatural and that kind of stuff.
CAROLINE: Yeah, the lead girl was good, I thought. She had to do a lot of convulsing that had to look like it was happening against her will, and I kept thinking of all the training she had to do to make it look like someone was slapping her or dragging her.
RYAN: Oh right.
CAROLINE: It was cool.
RYAN: Very, very interesting. But overall, it wasn’t too scary.
CAROLINE: No, not terrifying, but definitely some gasp-out-loud jump-in-your-seat moments.
RYAN: For shnizz.
CAROLINE: And it’s nice to see two old birds like Donald and Sissy coming starring in a movie that was in the top five for two weeks in a row.
RYAN: Final thought?
CAROLINE: I’m not a scary movie aficionado, so it’s hard for me to say if people who love scary movies would like this, but it was enjoyable and well-done and it’s short and to the point, and I like the ‘based on a true story’ angle. So yeah, it’s pretty good, but it could be a rental.
RYAN: I agree, it’s not a must-see in the theater. But overall, short and enjoyable enough. If you like scary movies, this is a fun one. For big horror fans, this won’t fright. Like, I wasn’t afraid… and I sippose I like to be scared in a great horror flick. I don’t think I’m desensitized to horror. In this film, there were maybe a couple moments, at least, that I could imagine myself trying not to think about as I go to sleep at night… and freaking me out a little bit.
CAROLINE: (laughs) That’s why I don’t like scary movies! Cut to two hours later and you’re trying to drift off to sleep and you’re freaked by those images.
RYAN: Is someone tugging at my sheet?
CAROLINE: Exactly.
RYAN: So. “An American Haunting” …in America.