The Bell Witch Haunting (2013) User Reviews (54)

It should be named "Screaming, whispering, and police chest cams"

[shadow4583 · 4/10 · 25 January 2015]

I LOVE found footage horror films. Especially independent ones, because without a big-budget production company calling the shots, it forces and encourages creativity from the film.

This, however was not an example of that kind of creativity. The movie started off good - most of the time when I watch a found footage film, if I can get through the first few minutes without losing interest, it's usually good.

But dear lord, this movie was far from good. Throughout the film we seem the same thing repeated over and over and over and over again. Every night the daughter is having a seizure-esque screaming fit in her sleep. Her parents rush to her aid while her brother just sits there recording with a camera. . .and what was she screaming about you ask? When the parents ask her the very same question, she always responds "It was really scary, and dark, so much blood". . .Seriously?

And that's just one example of how this movie comes up short. All-in-all, I must say that there was barely any plot, aside from "Typical white family movies into haunted house".

I guess the acting was okay. (Most of the time). Only reason I give it 4 stars instead of two is because the beginning was good.

Paranormal Activity light

[stevensjohn · 3/10 · 9 February 2014]

While the story line is pretty good the sound warnings of something about to happen comes straight from Paranormal Activity. Also there were tons of continuity errors. Such as a door in the dining room that in one scene is a room seems to later bee a shallow closet(mom walks out of it earlier yet in a later scene she puts something in the back of the closet without entering it. ). Additionally what is going on with this kid .. he has footage of the blankets floating early in the film yet it never gets brought up later. Come on folks if I had footage of that happening in my house I would be gone.

Also the best acting in my opinion came from the actress playing Dana at the dining room table scene.

Not so bad, but busy busy busy

[begob · 5/10 · 29 November 2015]

A family hold a birthday party for their son at their new house, and he uses the present of a camera to document the ensuing strange events. are they tied to a local legend?

This has caught a lot of flack on IMDb, but I reckon it deserves a higher rating than 3.6. The pool party scene has annoyed some, but I thought it was fine, although the shaky cam was too much - if girls helicoptering their bikini tops is not for you, then stay away. If shaky cam grinds your gears, stick it out because it gradually settles down, and the last half hour (apart from the final scene) is on static surveillance cams.

The problem is they threw the kitchen sink at it, so it's full of action and sound effects and lots of characters, instead of the eerie build up of little things exploding in a terrifying climax that we're used to from the early Paranormal Activity movies. And packing in so much action means the implausibility of people not running for their lives comes way before the audience feels escape is futile. Also there's deep sloppiness in the story's internal time line.

There are a couple of scenes inserted to show off grandstanding effects (second forest death and exorcism), which carries on from the desire to capture the male teen audience in the pool party scene. Cut them out and you probably have an acceptable run time of 85 mins. Also, a useful scene is ruined by the hokey trick of tying strings to the four corners of a sheet to make it elevate.

Couple of good jump scares, but some of the stuff to camera is too literal for this genre - suggestion is much more effective while building to the climax. And the ghostly whispering took me back to '70s haunted house productions.

The acting is fine, apart from the sister. Too many characters early on, although they do get thinned out. And the discipline of the first person POV is lost in the final scene.

Overall - tries too hard, takes on too much, misunderstands its audience. It may be a case of the technical guys setting up the visuals before really thinking about their story. Seen a couple of those recently.

Robertson County Res.

[jc-heady · 1/10 · 27 January 2014]

Being a Robertson County resident, knowing the real stories of the Bell witch this movie SUCKED!! When you grow up right down the road from Adams TN you hear all the stories and it would be nice to actually see a movie about the Bell Witch that was actually about the Bell witch!! Plus how are you going to have a movie set in TN and have the date as Jan and have a pool party??? Did someone not do their research or was this just another screw up and they got the dates wrong like they got the mothers name wrong?? Also it isn't Adams County...it is Robertson County, Adams is a City....and the cops that would have responded would have been county but "Robertson County"...again do a little research 1st!!!! Plain and simple this movie was a waste of time!

The saddest excuse for a film.

[trublu215 · 1/10 · 22 January 2014]

There's some found footage films that are great...then there's a good seventy percent that are down right awful. The Bell Witch Haunting is not only a terrible film but it is quite possibly one of the worst films I've ever seen. The acting is awful, the story makes absolutely no sense and the scares come and go without ever really developing a sense of dread or suspense. There is also a ambient stock sound that portrays the "demon" that sounds so fake and superficial. It's one thing to use a specific sound to implore anticipation to the audience but its a totally different ball game when it sounds cheap and lazy. It makes us feel like we are cheated. The ending never really builds up to much except for a complete gore fest that feels more like something out of a Jason Vorhees film, not a supernatural thriller. Bottom line, this film is cheap, lazy, ludicrous, and so poorly made that it makes The Room look like a modern cinematic masterpiece. Do yourself a favor, do NOT watch this. It is by far one of the worst films I've ever seen.

This movie is very stupid.

[shinieris · 15 January 2014]

This movie is very stupid. Anyone with half the sense would've left when things started happening. When people you know started dying one by one, people would've drove away without packing their bags.

When the father started freaking out, the mother must've felt something wrong. Any mother who loves her children would've moved out, regardless or not she loves her husband. When their daughter became like that, the protective instincts of a sane mother would've tried to find help.

When their daughter suffered nightmare after nightmare every night, the parents must have felt afraid, they would do something to help, maybe get a counsellor if not a priest.

And Brandon? I don't have enough words to say how the character has no sense of time and place. This is the worst kind of irresponsible 'i must film everything no matter what', kind of character. It's like watching Heather Donahue from Blair Witch Project times 5. It's that bad.

And what about the days' worth of 4-5 static cameras that was placed. Colby watched it, and he didn't notice anything? Sure, there were a few scares that jumped out at you from time to time, but it was all very much expected. It did made me jump, but most other horror movies made me jump too.

It was quite okay, and the actors and actresses did quite well. I put the blame on weak scripts and incompetent director.

I am a fan of good found-footage films.

[dld2012 · 2/10 · 9 December 2013]

This was not good. In fact, it's a good example to demonstrate that just throwing together all of the typical ingredients of a good one doesn't necessarily work. This movie veers wildly between not showing enough in some scenes (long shots of empty rooms with somebody screaming off-camera, for which we sometimes never get any hint of the reason.) It's inconsistent and pays no attention to continuity. The pacing is bad, with no escalation of tension. People start wandering around in dazes more often and crying more often, but it still manages to not build tension.

To any filmmakers who happen to read these comments on movies like this - it isn't always a bad thing to be derivative. Go ahead and make a knock-off of the Blair Witch or Paranormal Activity. There are others like me who don't care about originality. But please, make it good. It doesn't have to be novel, but it does have to work.

"January 21th"...enough said

[Jharnden1 · 1/10 · 1 January 2014]

They tried. They really did. However, the movie is like watching a bunch of talentless a**clowns trying to decide what storytelling and acting is. They literally put as one of the dates, "January 21th." I almost peed myself from laughing.

The story seemed to be typed by monkeys on crack, the acting is poor, and the found footage idea just sucks this late in the game. I watched to the end so you wouldn't have to. Nothing here new or worth seeing, except the breasts flashed in the first few minutes, but as they were supposed to be high school students, you should feel bad even seeing that. Skip this movie!

The Paranormal Blair Witch Activity

[bkearns-137-662936 · 1/10 · 8 January 2014]

This is one of the worst films I have ever watched. It is very predictable. The film is not believable whatsoever. It is not scary,and was done in an amateurish on all fronts. The creators claim that this film is based on true events. Really? The only true event being that someone went to Best-Buy and purchased a video camera. A purchase in which must have come with a free copy of some obscure video editing software. I'm sure it was the lite version at that. Horror video documentaries are good when done right. Sadly, there are no original ideas here. While the director attempts to make up for the lack of substance with gratuitous nudity, even that is done poorly. The story line of this film tries to portray a blending of paranormal activity and the Blair witch project. Save your time and money by spending it watching cat video's on you-tube.

Couldn't sleep so I gave it a watch

[tim-arnold777 · 1/10 · 30 January 2014]

An 11 year-old with an iPhone and a vague notion of storyboarding could have done a better job. Tedious, repetitive and far too much screaming and crying. None of the characters were sympathetic...just pathetic. Less than halfway through the film I wanted them ALL to be dead just to be put out of my own misery. Also, terrible audio continuity. Some scenes I had to turn down the volume 75% for fear of ripping my speakers, then other scenes were virtually silent movie. I normally don't write bad reviews. I see a LOT of movies, so while I may have panned a few on IMDb that represents less than a tenth of a percent of the movies I have seen and enjoyed and didn't consider a complete waste of time.

Another Asylum found footage stinker

[TheLittleSongbird · 1/10 · 4 January 2014]

I have nothing against found footage movies, some are fun and tolerable even when lacking in some areas but there are others where they are just too amateurish to enjoy, and The Bell Witch Haunting is one of the latter examples. It is a very cheap-looking movie for starters, sometimes the movie is lit too darkly while the editing at best is sloppy. The effects rushed-looking, poorly blended within the setting and poorly textured and proportioned(almost like constructed as an after-thought, the witch hovering near the table was a prime example) and watching how The Bell Witch Haunting is shot you'd think you're suffering from motion sickness from all the over-utilised and unneeded shakiness. The setting is spooky enough looks-wise but with little atmosphere it feels very bland and too much of a cliché. The found footage itself is clumsily incorporated and looks sloppy rather than interesting, the findings are okay but everything happening around it is so irrelevant the use of it feels like a waste. The sound is mixed in a muddied way and the soundtrack is plodding with nothing memorable. For want of a better word, the script is shambolic with no structure or flow and dialogue that sounds awkward and underwritten. The story has very little to it, it is very tediously paced with scenes like the men that become electrocuted and possessed going on for far too long. Everything feels random with events being strung along together with little correlation to one another and a lot of the time ridiculously executed, and it is very predictable not helped by droning whispering voice-overs that tells us far too much too soon. The tension, horror and shock levels suffer from that and also that they don't look very good at all, plus the ending in many ways is a complete mess, overly-silly and with no build-up. The direction is completely flat and half-hearted, veering on incompetent, and you don't care for a single character, that they're cardboard cut-outs is one problem and that they often act like idiots(especially the police officer) is even more problematic. The acting is not much better, in fact it is too often laughably bad with overwrought crying, mumbling, stock gestures, constant yelling and looking half-asleep, the hysterical mother faring the worst. There is some nudity and some beautiful women but they seem there for the sake of them and are used in a too in-your-face way. All in all, another found footage stinker from The Asylum. 1/10 Bethany Cox

pretty cool

[hannahstarfoltz · 8/10 · 30 September 2018]

I thought it was pretty good. it had jumpscares and had it moments. idk why there are bad reviews

Not a bad movie at all!

[jfish678 · 7/10 · 28 December 2013]

I have no idea what people are talking about who are ripping on this movie. Continuity, storyline, tension, blah blah blah. The story was fine, the continuity was fine, and there certainly WAS tension buildup leading to the scares. It's a found footage film so obviously the camera work is going to be a little shaky. Yes it's similar to Paranormal and Blair Witch... who cares? There are some great scares and scenes that creeped me out. Who cares if some of it is predictable? Who cares if it isn't realistic? It's a horror movie folks. Newsflash: most paranormal and zombie horror isn't realistic. Some of you have to remove the stick from your rear and just walk into these movies to enjoy them instead of trying to find things wrong.

I highly recommend this movie. Not the best or scariest, but far far far from the worst.

Absolutely hilarious

[fyrgod73 · 2/10 · 5 February 2015]

This movie gets an extra star out of me for the unintended hilarity. Whilst my girlfriend sat transfixed, I either chuckled quietly or laughed out loud, earning irritated looks at first, but gradually mutual understanding. Seriously couldn't help it. After the 4th time they send the SAME EXACT COP to a grisly (supposedly creepy) murder scene, i just about lost it. After the Mom calls 911 for the 3rd time, and also for the 3rd time hangs up on the 911 operator for no reason, I was rolling. I can't take credit for this as I didn't notice it, but the January "21th" date tag, now that I know it is there, makes it even funnier. If you need a solid laugh, check it out.

Save your time and money

[joshbowman · 1/10 · 25 January 2014]

This has to be one of the WORST movies I've ever seen in my life. This didn't even seem real in the least. The acting itself was terrible, and I felt like I probably could have put on a better show than what these folks did. This movie was definitely too far fetched with the events that happened for it to even be believable. There were times when I even questioned if I was watching a scary movie because some of the small things they decided to throw in there (I guess trying to be scary) were almost silly. In closing, pick anything BUT this movie because all you'll find here is amazement that this movie even made it out of the studios.

One of the Worst Found-Footage Movies I've Ever Seen, Which is No Small Feat

[Rusty-61 · 1 July 2014]

I don't know why I started watching this; I know if I'd seen the 3/10 rating here, I wouldn't have bothered. The fact that EVERY cast member except one was "uncredited" would have tipped me off too, but nooooo, I had to blow off the usual IMDb check. It's my fault because it come up on Netflix streaming as "recommended" (thanks for assuming I have sh*tty taste, Netflix) and even though I vaguely recalled the title as one I was warned against by several reviewers whose opinions I trust, I had a little time to kill and figured what the hell.

The opening minutes featured some gore (more than usual in a found footage movie with a "haunted house" theme) so maybe that got my attention. A big red flag came up with the voice-over acting by the cop who was supposed to have discovered the bodies was TERRIBLE.

Less than five minutes after that scene the only thing keeping me watching it was my deep hatred for a certain character, (who naturally, survived the movie as a last "f-you" from the movie to me). I wanted to see her get kicked down a flight of stairs or pushed off a cliff or die brutally. This is not a good sign when it's the only thing keeping you from turning off the movie. The character was (I think, because I swear they were barely trying) supposed to be likable, too.

This movie was so terrible, so boring, such an endurance test that I can't even write a traditionally-structured review for it. I have to make a list of things wrong with it instead.

1. Every found-footage horror cliché in the book used. transcription of 911 calls (even when someone on screen is clearly seen making them and you can hear everything fine, in a couple cases)? check. shaky-cam over-use? Check. There are what seemed like several 10-minute segments of someone holding the camera while they run around freaking out and all you can make out is occasionally the ground or trees. Mysterious forces throwing someone across the room? check. Night-vision footage of people sleeping while some object moves around by itself? Check. Stupid fake jump-scares where one character sneaks up on another and makes a "scary" noise as a prank? Check. 2. People keep filming after any sane person would have stopped, under the circumstances 3. I wasn't even sure who was filming what, supposedly, by the end. 4. the movie actually gets worse as it goes along. 5. some of the worst make-up "effects" I have ever seen. 6. some acting so bad it is funny instead of scary... but do NOT see this movie because it's one of those MST-3000 movies that is fun because it is so bad, this is NOT one of those movies.

There is no shred of entertainment anywhere in the movie. At no point did I feel remotely scared or even mildly creeped out, nor did I care what happened to the characters (other than hoping they died horribly for being such idiots). There was no point where I was in any kind of suspense.I could see every jump scare (or what they thought passed as jump scares), or pretty much any action whatsoever coming a mile away.

"Bell Witch" (I don't respect anyone involved in the making of the movie enough to go and look for the complete title) is the reason people hate found-footage horror movies.

DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME! Even if you watch this just to see how bad it is, you will hate yourself when it ends. I hated myself before the first hour of the movie was over. If you want to see a good paranormal found-footage movie, see "Grave Encounters". Hell, even if you've seen it already, just watch it again, you'll have a much more enjoyable time.

wish I could give it a lower score than 1

[tl_edu · 1/10 · 13 August 2015]

I really wish there was a positive note to my first review, not gonna happen.

Unless I was meant to laugh so hard I may or may not have weed my pants.

This has to be a joke, right? I wasn't expecting too much, at least I wasn't let down, much.

I have seen a few movies on a tight budget, but they still were a decent watch.

This was absolute rubbish.

I'm still trying to figure out why I even watched it to the end.

Copycat movie, lackluster scares, nonsensical characters...disappointing it strayed so far from the true legend

[tigerlily923 · 2/10 · 7 September 2015]

I never usually review a movie, but I chose to review this one to save anyone else from wasting their time waiting for the good part to start. If you are bored and looking for something mildly entertaining maybe this is for you, as it was in my case. However, as a scary movie fan, this was very disappointing. Most of what was in this movie has been done before in others, far better might I add (made identical to Paranormal Activity). The reactions of the characters made very little sense, for instance: they are more worried about scratching noises and pots and pans than the father and pipes vomiting red bloody goo... When events happened in the movie, there was no follow up, leading to many loose ends. Something major would happen, and come the next scene, it was never mentioned again. This was the biggest problem I had with the film. Also no one seemed concerned that several people were found brutally murdered, all of whom were in contact with this family prior. Things like this made the movie even less believable. All in all this was a decent movie for jump scares, but the plot was underdeveloped and disappointing. I feel the movie would have been far move successful if they had actually done their research on the bell witch and put more effort into the plot than the effects and crappy gore deaths. Also note since this movie is a "found footage" type, there are a lot of jerky camera movements that, at times, make the movie far less enjoyable for some. If you are looking for quality or decent plot this isn't it. But for some mild laughs or scares, this satisfies that. I am not sure why they even base this movie off the bell witch legend.. It is mainly poltergeist/demonic activity and then they occasionally show a lady with messy dark hair and what looks like a store bought Halloween dress. I guess this would be the witch, although I have seen my trick or treaters in scarier and more legitimate attire...

Painfully below average.

[j-nickturner · 2/10 · 8 April 2020]

I love found footage, but this movie blows chunks. It has nothing new to offer and the use of obvious digital sound effects that don't come from the cameras internal mic drove me crazy. Quintessential "Oh we can just add it in post" type directing.

Considering the source material, you'd think the director would've put more effort into using it. But no, its just a poorly assembled, repetitive mess that uses every tired old cliche from the genre to pad the runtime. (Some of which is laughably stupid. I'm looking at you Mr. Electrician) However, the lack of originality is not the real problem here. Cliched tropes can be executed well. The problem is that they don't really mean anything. It's just a bunch of set pieces that feel pointless and lazy. So when things happen, you just can't be bothered to care.

This is a painful example of a lazy script capitalizing on a famous legend and a cheap format. Feels like the legend of the bell witch source material was just used for an easy cash grab. The lore was barely even explored. It basically amounted to "hey there was a witch here once." Ok... what did she want? Why is she still messing about? What kind of stuff was she doing when she was alive? "Nah she's just a ghost or whatever." ... ... ... (-_-) ...

MOVIES LIKE THIS ARE WHY PEOPLE DON'T GIVE FOUND FOOTAGE A CHANCE.

Disgraceful.

Another Horribly Bad Found Footage Film....

[wandernn1-81-683274 · 1/10 · 18 June 2020]

So at the beginning a Cop finds a car with 2 bodies near it... then we go to flashbacks of a Teen / College Birthday Party from '6 Hours Earlier'

Hopefully here this is where we find out about the BELL WITCH!!!!

You always think these found footage movies are going to have something new or innovative in them but of course that is very very rarely the case.

-1 Star for Inserting More Officer Body Cam footage IN with the found footage. That's really annoying.

-1 Star for the horrendously fake crying that went on far too long. They should have ended that scene a lot sooner..

LOL... -1 Star for the stupidity of night after night after night the daughter screaming at the top of her lungs from 'bad dreams' As a father I would have taken her to the hospital or a doctor or something after this happened a couple of times. In this case, it's happening night after night after night and the family just keeps saying 'It's okay honey! It's just a bad dream!!! ' Very stupid, And they talk like they are so superior to residents of Tennessee??? Like they just moved in and they are so superior? Oh give me a break!!!! :)

Bodies are dropping everywhere yet the family stays in the House....this one...is about to get turned off.

You're okay baby!!! Just keep repeating it!!!! It Will Come True!!!!!

Okay I had to turn this off. The family 'response' time is just so hysterically stupid...bodies are dropping left and right and they don't get that something bad is happening. It's just tooo STUPID!!!

1/10

Do not watch this F$&*%# movie

[a-bond · 1/10 · 27 August 2015]

I made this account just to rate this movie 1 star. What a piece of s***. From the abhorrent acting to gigantic plot holes, I wish I would have passed this by. Well the movie begins with the son of the family receiving a video camera for his birthday. It must be a popular hobby in this town because most of these idiots are carting around cameras filming their stupid f****** lives. His friends obviously know how to party though, because a bunch of underage girls take their tops off and run around bare breasted. Who cares if his parents and their creepy uncle are around. After the peep show, the father and uncle exclaim what a great party it is. Cool. Nothing weird about that. The s*** continues with the characters becoming even less believable if you can f****** believe that. Teens are dying all over the place but people are barely talking about it or even taking f****** precautions. Members of the family lose their s*** one by one and run away, only to be carted back to the house by the police despite obviously requiring further f****** help. Eventually the father becomes physically abusive, which everyone in the family is cool with. They decide to take his advice and stay in the house. Soon after the wife calls for a preacher. So the preacher arrives and is ready to go with his speech written on one small piece of paper. There is just so much wrong with this movie. Anyone that had anything to do with it should be f****** ashamed. The days are numbered, although with "Day 21th"... Day 21TH?!?!? That is actually in the f****** film. Day 21th. Day 22th. Who the f*** edited this piece of s***. 0 stars.

Poorly done

[gnatsue · 3/10 · 25 July 2021]

I am a fan of found footage films....but the fact that you want us to believe that this takes place in Tennessee and in early January and you are all wearing bikinis by the pool in 2011....makes me laugh.

A fun ride

[victoryismineblast · 7/10 · 16 April 2014]

Paranormal Activity clone also borrows from films like The Exorcist and The Amityville Horror. Although it is derivative, it is a lot of fun and a wild ride. There are several well done jump scares as well as a lot of creepy moments.

I've noticed this one has a 3.4 rating. Don't let that fool you. It's the new trend on IMDb, to bash these low budget found footage horror movies. While not great by any means, it is an interesting addition to the found footage genre, and it delivers what it promises.

It also has a lot of hot girls, nude, in panties, bikinis, etc. Just thought I'd add that. 7/10.

wish I could give it a lower score than 1

[tedledu · 1/10 · 28 December 2014]

I really wish there was a positive note to my first review, not gonna happen.

Unless I was meant to laugh so hard I may or may not have weed my pants.

This has to be a joke, right? I wasn't expecting too much, at least I wasn't let down, much.

I have seen a few movies on a tight budget, but they still were a decent watch.

This was absolute rubbish.

I'm still trying to figure out why I even watched it to the end.

Routine found footage horror

[Leofwine_draca · 5/10 · 13 April 2018]

THE BELL WITCH HAUNTING is another cheap found footage horror flick based around a real-life haunting case in America. This was made by The Asylum, so at least they're taking a break from the usual rip-off movies they churn out. The film involves an ordinary family moving into a supposedly haunted home and subsequently finding themselves menaced, variously by possession, strange events, and bizarre behaviour. There are a few spooky scenes here and there, typically the ones which are more understated than most, although the whole thing is overwhelmingly familiar and passe at times. I did like the handling of the possession scenes which at least don't go down the usual all-out overacting route.