Being from Virginia, the legend of the Bell Witch is not unknown to me. Her story is interesting for the simple fact that not only is she the only supernatural being to have murdered a human, but that the president of that time actually visited the site, after hearing the stories of what happened, and was frightened.
When the film came out I was a bit skeptical because when films are made based on real life events, they don't always picture it correctly. Unfortunately this was the case here.
The film is set going back and forth between two different settings, the present and the early 1800s. The present finds a young girl in her teens alone in house in which her mother bought after her parents had seperated. Unfortunately for the girl, the house was built on the former Bell family land.
The movie then goes back and forth between times and quickly gather that the Bell Witch is now tormenting the present day girl. However the reason given as to why the Bell Witch has been tormenting both girls is troublesome: that both girls' fathers are sexually abusing them.
The reason does not make sense nor does it make a connection between the time jumps. It was poorly done and was done at the waste of great talented actors Donald Sutherland and Sissy Spacek.