I have been watching quite a few documentaries recently for review on this blog, and on the whole they have been enjoyable, if a bit low budget. The Haunting at the Old Mill (directed and written by Jeffrey Checker) however was not enjoyable, even at seventy minutes it felt like it long outstayed its welcome.
This takes place at The Old Mill, in Dundee Michigan, and follows a team of supernatural investigators as they spend a night at the place, hoping to get evidence of paranormal goings on. So far so good, but unfortunately, the way this is presented to the viewer left a lot to be desired. Initially things felt good, there was a narrator introducing the location and the investigators, clear to hear, even if they had a monotone voice that reminded me slightly of A.I (I'm sure it wasn't). My biggest issue with this documentary was how it left the viewer out of the picture quite a bit. Other than the occasional interjection from the narrator, this is a fly on the wall documentary, poorly shot scenes of the investigators doing their job, but zero input from them on what they were doing. This really needed some moments were the people spoke to the camera, to make this feel like a documentary rather than randomly filmed moments of these mysterious people. This felt like a found footage documentary, with the investigators not really seeming to even be aware they are being filmed.
It follows a somewhat linear path, with the show taking place over a single night, but it was very tedious to watch, I could feel myself age watching this. It doesn't help that the video and audio quality is pretty atrocious. The sound is muffled and hard to make out, with lots of interference coming through. As is the way, interactions with a spirit box type thing gives the alleged spirits or demons a way to communicate with the visitors, and at least these moments are subtitled. The poor quality camera footage makes it really hard to see anything that the people are talking about. It was so bad that I assumed a filter had been used at some points, and there are frequent moments where it appeared that still images were being put on screen rather than video. With people talking about blinking mannequins and shadowy figures moving around, it was frustrating that these moments were near impossible to see. Even when the moments are shown several times in slow motion and with pointers to show the viewer where they should be looking, it was still really hard to see anything. Perhaps worst of all was the droning urgent dramatic music that played constantly seemingly on a loop. Even when nothing at all was going on this urgent music was still going on and on, with it ending up giving me a headache.
The Haunting at the Old Mill felt like a real chore to get through. I don't understand the cold approach to showing this investigation, forever feeling distanced and separated from the people who are off doing their own thing, oblivious to being filmed. I understand the narrator saying poor audio and video could be down to spirits messing with the equipment, but when the result is such an unenjoyable slog it doesn't make for an entertaining view. The Haunting at the Old Mill was released by BayView Entertainment on EST/VOD/SVOD Digital platforms on 28th November 2023, and became available to view on AVOD from 1st January 2024. Jeffrey Checker will be releasing a new documentary entitled D.E.A.D in the future.
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