The Haunting in Connecticut (2009)

Claiming to be based on true events, The Haunting In Connecticut is the story about a family who move to a new house in Connecticut to be closer to the eldest son's treatment center for cancer patients. The new house seems ideal, but as time goes by the building's dark & sinister history starts to emerge soon followed by haunting images.I usually love these types of supernatural horror movies. Sinister, The Exorcist, and Insidious just to name a few were all fantastic, but unfortunately I was pretty much let down with The Haunting In Connecticut.Story-wise, while not that original, is not too bad. It has a somewhat decent gradual build-up, although the first 50 minutes are a wee bit slow at times, but from then on the pace starts to pick up. There are quite a few creepy moments in the movie as well, which is to be expected obviously, but in all honesty they're nothing special and there's really nothing that will make you throw your popcorn in the air with fright.While The Haunting In Connecticut is a decent film, there are far better movies of this type out there. It's worth a watch, but don't pin your hopes on it being that great.

This is I suppose a memorable enough scary movie title, I certainly heard about the sequel (unrelated to the same story) when it came out, this original was meant to be a moderate success at the cinema, hence the reason for a follow-up, so I gave it a chance. Basically Matt Campbell (A Nightmare on Elm Street's Kyle Gallner) is submitted for an experimental treatment at St. Michael's Hospital Goatswood in Connecticut to try and assist his terminal cancer, Dr. Brooks (D.W. Brown) who is responsible for the trial advises that if he starts seeing things he should drop from the trial. Sara (Candyman's Virginia Madsen) his religious mother is worried due to his constant nausea, so she thinks it is a good idea to be closer to the hospital, rather than drive eight hours, so she and former alcoholic husband Peter (Insomnia's Martin Donovan) rent a house in Connecticut. They find an old house with an affordable price, when asked for an explanation to the owner about the price he says that the house has a history, it is only later, after finally opening a locked door in the basement, now Matt's chosen bedroom, that they find out in the past it was a funeral home. The rest of the family move into the house, while Matt makes friends with fellow cancer patient Reverend Popescu (Elias Koteas), but things do not stay peaceful for long as Matt starts having visions and nightmares from the past history of the house, where he is seeing ghosts and reliving the experiences of the people who used to be in the place. Sara and Peter realise his health is at risk with having these visions, but they are nothing to do with his physical or mental state, as they later discover when the same strange occurrences are happening around them too, Posescu explains that Matt is almost connected to the spirits because they border the worlds of the living and the dead. Eventually the power of the spirits become too great, to the point where loud bangs and shaking happens around the family, the house near the end sets on fire, Matt is caught in the blaze with Sara trying to save him, the spirits are free of their curse, while Matt dies but comes back, with the spirit within him going away also. The end credits explain that the cancer Matt suffered disappeared, and since the house was rebuilt and resold after incidents no further occurrences or hauntings have been reported by the new owners. Also starring Final Destination 3's Amanda Crew as Wendy, Sophi Knight as Mary, Erik J. Berg as Jonah, Ty Wood as Billy Campbell and John B. Lowe as Mr. Sinclair. I agree with the critics that call this a surface level scary movie, it's not going to get any higher than below average, it is certainly creepy in the right places, the best parts are seeing zombie like people with writing scarred on their skin, and the bit where a guy has a large vat of ectoplasm come out his mouth and body, but the story is predictable, you are not sure what is fact based in fact, and the dialogue is indeed laughable at times, but I suppose it's not the worst horror thriller based on a true story. Okay!

This is one of my all time favorite movies. To me, this movie is different from other horror films because it actually has a tragic and touching story behind it. This film also scared me A LOT. I absolutely loved the actors. All of them did a phenomenal job in portraying their characters and helping the story move forward. I especially loved Erik J Berg's character because it was small yet dynamic. The soundtrack is suspenseful and beautiful. Every time I watch the movie, I notice something else that I hadn't noticed before. This movie never fails to entertain me, even though I have seen it at least five times. Overall, this is an outstanding horror film with plenty of scare and an interesting story.

This is my favorite ghost horror movie, a story where the Campbell family moves to upstate Connecticut so teenager Matt Campbell (Kyle Gallner) could be closer to his cancer treatments. They soon discover that their new home used to be a funeral parlor, and Matt finds himself seeing images and apparitions involving a young boy who had connections to the spiritual world. As a result, the dark past of the house and the lingering supernatural beings eventually unleashes a series of terrifying events on the innocent family. Based on the events of a true story, Adam Simon and Tim Metcalfe wrote a very interesting and captivating screenplay for this movie that interweave the main plot of the house's supernatural residents and the subplot of Matt's cancer treatments very well, providing us with a unique and compelling feature. Peter Cornwell gave solid direction for the movie and the acting was believable and on-the-spot - no off-the-wall jokes, campy dialog or overzealous screams you usually see in low to medium budget horror flicks. Robert J. Kral's music score is very eerie and the visual effects were just right, nothing over-the-top. This movie, though a supernatural fiction based only loosely on real events, is more reality-based than fantasy, for it details the suffering of Matt's cancer to the unending faith and hope that parents Sara Campbell (Virginia Madsen) and Peter Campbell (Martin Donovan) have for Matt's recovery. The ghostly images that flashes before Matt's eyes added tension and horror to the story that blended in well with the cancer drama, which also sends Matt off his rocker a bit, scaring those around him including brother Billy (Ty Wood) and cousins Wendy (Amanda Crew) and Mary (Sophi Knight). In addition, the fatherly character of Reverend Popescu (Elias Koteas) tries to help Matt with his pessimistic outlook in life and his torturing paranormal experiences, which I thought was a touching element. There are also several jumpy moments as well when apparitions appear out of no where, reminding you that you are watching a ghost movie.In addition to this film's solid plot, I like the fact that the story elements just flow naturally, not creating these confusing twists and unexplainable plot holes that leave the audience bewildered and perplexed throughout the movie. My only minor issue I have with the movie was that a few of the flashbacks and ghostly sequences just appeared on-cue, creating very little suspense. But overall, it's a real entertaining movie that is highly recommended for both drama and horror movie fans. Grade A