Gallery | More Information
Rachel Playing: Betsy Bell / Entity Voice
Director: Courtney Solomon
Written By: Courtney Solomon and Brent Monahan (novel)
Release: May 5, 2006 (US)
Status: Out on DVD
Genre: Drama / Horror / Mystery / Thriller
Runtime: 91 minutes
Rating: PG-13
In 2006, in Red River, Tennessee, a teenager has frequent nightmares.
Her mother reads an old letter from 1817 written by her ancestor, Lucy Bell.
After a dispute of lands judged by the church, her husband John Bell is cursed by his opponent Kathe Batts,
who has a fame of being a witch. From this moment on, an entity threatens John and her daughter Betsy Bell,
attacking the girl during the nights. With the support of Betsy's school teacher Richard Powell,
who tries to find rational explanations for the manifestation; her brother John Bell Jr.;
and their friend James Johnston, who unsuccessfully tries to exorcize the entity from the house,
the family does their best to protect Betsy in the haunted house. Source
Gallery Images
Movie Trivia
Filmed in Romania.
Rachel says she likes the American version of the film much better.
The movie is actually based on a true story. Andrew Jackson is quoted as saying, "I would rather take on the entire English Fleet than stay one night at the Bell House."
Rachel got so nervous when meeting with the director, Courtney Solomon, that she talked too much and he told her to "shut up."
Rachel was the first person Solomon saw for the part.
The film features a photograph of Rachel and another character. Cameras were not technically invented at the time the movie was supposed to have taken place.
Rachel did all of her own stunts. (Spoilers) A metal plate was fastened to her back during the scenes where she had to be dragged up the stairs.
Rachel fell asleep on the floor of the set because she was so tired.
(Spoilers) While the historical events are based in fact, the letter mentioned in the present-day plot line is purely fictional. There is no evidence that John Bell ever molested a member of his family, or that Mrs. Bell killed her husband.
Quotes By Rachel
"No, I dont believe in ghosts. I mean, no I have never had any experience with the supernatural of any kind." - Pretty-Scary.net
"[Betsy's] an amazing character. She stays strong throughout the whole horrible ordeal, and that's something I really respected. I found her to be quite similar to myself, so I couldn't stand the idea of anyone else playing her." - Radiofree.com
"I had to work quite hard for it. At the beginning, Courtney was saying, "You're not doing enough work. You need to really get your act together and sort this out." Because I needed to get the accent good, and I needed to show him that I could play the role. And so there was a lot of preparation work to do. But in the end, it all came good, so I was very pleased." - Radiofree.com
"Sissy's such a lovely lady. She's really motherly, she's always ensuring that I was warm when I went outside, and drinking enough and eating enough and everything. She's just such a sweet lady. And she taught me how to scream. Little nuances, little tricks that she'd teach me all the time. Not really stuff you can explain. Just watching those two, you get so much of an education, it was like spending years in film school." - Radiofree.com
"It was pretty nerve-wracking because I had to do a southern American accent which I'd never done that before. I didn't expect I'd have to do that in the very first audition, but Courtney said, "All right, now try reading these lines in a southern American accent." [...] I had absolutely no idea how to do it. But I worked as hard as I could because I really wanted the role. I was so pleased that it paid off." - ugo.com
[When asked if she learned anything from Sissy Spacek and Donald Sutherland] "I did. Tons and from James as well. I learned how to scream from Sissy. I was doing really pathetic screams before and she taught me how to scream gutturally." - ugo.com
"My character, Betsy Bell, is vivacious, full of life, confident, sparkly, flirtatious and very happy until certain events take place that change her personality." - Close-Up Film
"Sissy is so lovely and you wouldn't have said that she is who she is [upon meeting her]. She was so sweet, funny, and so very motherly and I was so honored to work with her. Donald is a lovely person, too. He has that presence, that aura, that voice that is so powerful. I remember when the shootings were about to end he bought me an iPod. It took me completely by surprise!" - Close-Up Film
"The most difficult scene in the movie was probably when I was dragged on the stairs backwards, while I had to scream, to cry and to fight. It was both physically and emotionally very demanding. My feet were hitting each stair as I went on top and Courtney actually bandaged them so my skin wasn't in direct contact with the wooden steps. But we had to make it to look as painful as possible." - Close-Up Film
"I am terrible at waking up in the morning! And this movie had so many early starts. Wherever I went I was falling asleep. One day I was lying on the wooden floor, for the scene and I fell asleep on it! People were walking around me trying not to wake me up!" - Close-Up Film
Quotes About Rachel
"[Rachel's] being very modest about that now. Honestly, for days and days and days she was slapped and pushed and kicked and thrown around. But she always came to work in the morning with a smile on her face." - James D'Arcy, co-star
"Courtney [Solomon] described you as a young Ingrid Bergman." - Interviewer
| 
