We finally found a documentary we don’t recommend watching.

The Mark of the Bell Witch tells the story of a haunting in 1817 Tennessee, but somewhere between folklore and filmmaking, it loses the plot. We talked about why humans are drawn to ghost stories, what makes folklore powerful, and how this documentary missed the mark (pun intended).

We also got into what the filmmakers could’ve done differently: from tone to pacing to credibility, and why throwing more money at films isn’t always productive.

→ On the next episode, we’ll be discussing “Downfall: The Case Against Boeing” which you can watch on Netflix.

Timestamps!

00:00 - Intro

02:25 - Synopsis

03:28 - Discussion starts

38:48 - Tangent 1: What makes a good scary film?

49:53 - Tangent 2: Southern Gothic vibes and its origin

1:09:18 - Tangent 3: Why are some movies so bad they’re good?

1:19:17 - Tangent 4: The biggest reasons this documentary didn't work

1:31:00 - Green Room starts (off-topic discussions)