DVD Review: The Haunting in Connecticut (Single-Disc Edition): Virginia Madsen, Elias Koteas, Kyle Gallner, Peter Cornwell: Movies & TV
DVD Review: The Haunting in Connecticut (Single-Disc Edition): Virginia Madsen, Elias Koteas, Kyle Gallner, Peter Cornwell: Movies & TV
Amazon.com
Based on a chilling true story, Lionsgate’s The Haunting in Connecticut charts one family’s terrifying, real-life encounter with the dark forces of the supernatural. When the Campbell family moves to upstate Connecticut, they soon learn that their charming Victorian home has a disturbing history: not only was the house a transformed funeral parlor where inconceivable acts occurred, but the owner’s clairvoyant son Jonah served as a demonic messenger, providing a gateway for spiritual entities to cross over. Now, unspeakable terror awaits when Jonah, the boy who communicated with the dead, returns to unleash a new kind of horror on the innocent and unsuspecting family.
Product Description
Based on a chilling true story, Lionsgate’s THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT charts one family’s terrifying, real-life encounter with the dark forces of the supernatural. When the Campbell family moves to upstate Connecticut, they soon learn that their charming Victorian home has a disturbing history: not only was the house a transformed funeral parlor where inconceivable acts occurred, but the owner’s clairvoyant son Jonah served as a demonic messenger, providing a gateway for spiritual entities to cross over. Now, unspeakable terror awaits when Jonah, the boy who communicated with the dead, returns to unleash a new kind of horror on the innocent and unsuspecting family.
Yawn…,
By M. Ryan Fairbanks (Cleveland, Ohio) -
Well the woman and I figured we go see this Haunting in Connecticut. There seems to be only a limited number of routes a modern day horror movie goes: Over the top gore and torture, remakes, and based on true story gimmicks. The Haunting in Connecticut goes with the last, the “based on a true story” gimmick. Nevertheless, I went into this with my expectations set at zero, and I broke about even with my disappointment.
The story follows a family of six in which the eldest son is a cancer victim. For convenience sake and financial reasons, the family moves into an eerie looking house that is located nearer to the hospital for a bargain. The cache is that house has a bit of history to it, but in their desperate situation the mother decides to move the family in anyway. The boy decides he wants the basement as his room, naturally the place where much of the shady past of the home took place. Strange events begin happening throughout the house, lagely revolving around the cancer-striken son as his behavior grows increasingly violent and unpredictable. Eventually the horrific story of the house begins unraveling around the family as they struggle to keep their son alive.
I felt that the backstory that explained why the hauntings were occurring in the first place was very poorly explained. It was revealed in segements which made it very confusing and difficult to piece together into a coherent whole. I don’t know if the film makers assumed that you would read up on the actual story or watch the documentary prior to viewing the movie, but that doesn’t eliminate the task of actually constructing a plot.
CGI =Sterile. That’s all there is to it, and that’s basically all the movie uses in regards to the special effects. The scene in which the ectoplasm (if you were wondering what that stuff was) is emitted from the young boy’s mouth just begged for some good old fashioned effects. It was easily the most memorable scene in the movie, but it is simply spoiled by fake looking computer generated effects. Maybe I’m being nit picky, or maybe it’s just that I love old horror movies that used practical effects so much, but CGI just looks terrible and it’s criminally over used. The movie relies almost entirely on “jump scares” where it suddenly get very quiet, and then a loud burst of volume comes as something bursts out of nowhere at you. This is the lowest form of scares you could possibly stoop to. It got tiresome and left my ears in pain after the second time it occurred, and they proceed to do it about twenty more times.
Overall there was some cool imagery here and it’s well acted, it’s just nothing special. If you absolutely need to see a haunted house movie “based on a true story”, go out and rent the original Amityville Horror.
Good for one watch but nothing more then that,
By Jay (USA) -
The Haunting in Connecticut has been a story that intrigued me for sometime now so naturally I had to see the film. I first caught the story on the Discovery Channels show “A Haunting” showcasing the Connecticut incident. After seeing that I must admit it seemed one of the creepier ghost stories I’d ever heard. As for the film itself it was quite different from what the story from the show claimed to be. Obviously the film is loosely based on “actual events,” but almost every Hollywood feature that claims to be true attempts to spice it up a bit.
A family moves into a Connecticut home to be closer to the hospital where their son Matt is going for cancer treatment. Once arriving in the home Matt chooses the basement as his bedroom and that’s when things begin to happen. On a daily basis Matt see’s a young boy wandering throughout the house, then begins to have darker visions of him being a medium to communicate with the dead. Once more of the family starts to have situations they seek out the homes history and find a very sick past. The home used to be a funeral parlor and a lot of evil deeds were done. The demonic entities begin plaguing everyone in the house until they find a way to release the spirits from the home.
In comparison to the actual details of the haunting, the film is certainly loosely based on the actual events. The true story tells of the mortician speaking to Matt at the foot of his bed each evening forcing him to become a recluse. He was even sent away after attempting to rape his cousin where he was evaluated and then released. This version has the typical big feature changes all over it to really spruce up the scares. If the story actually happened as the movie states then you’d never want to move into another home just for the possibility something like this could happen. But hey it was very entertaining, so true or not I liked what I saw.
Home Scary Home,
By Chris Pandolfi (Los Angeles, CA) -
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)
There isn’t much I can say about “The Haunting in Connecticut” that I haven’t already said about other films of this type, and that in and of itself says plenty. Let’s begin with the fact that it’s “based on a true story”–if there’s one thing horror movies have taught me time and time again, it’s to take such claims with more than a few grains of salt. Honestly, does anyone believe that these events actually happened? Let the details speak for themselves; during the 1980s, the Snedeker family claimed that their Southington, Connecticut home was plagued by some kind of demonic presence, resulting in a slew of supernatural occurrences. Carmen Snedeker, the mother, claimed to have seen a number of apparitions. It wasn’t long before she contacted paranormal experts Ed and Lorraine Warren, who were also involved in the case that came to be known as “The Amityville Horror”; after nine weeks in the Snedeker house, the Warrens and their investigating team were reportedly “touched” by unseen entities, and the house was always ripe with the smell of decay.
It was eventually discovered that the house was once a funeral home, and that one of the workers was apparently guilty of necrophilia. The house was then “exorcised,” and the supernatural phenomena stopped altogether. The Snedekers moved away. Other families came and went. None of them have made any reports of poltergeist activity.
All history (and its lack of credibility) aside, “The Haunting in Connecticut” is really no more or less than your average haunted house film, so loaded with clichés that you can practically check them off as the story progresses. This brings me to another subject I’ve frequently written about in horror reviews, and that’s the historical significance of the house itself. When I reviewed “The Messengers” a few years ago, I made reference to a plot device I like to call The House That Something Bad Happened in. You know the setup: A family moves into a seemingly perfect house, witnesses a series of supernatural occurrences, and eventually learns that the dark history of the house is to blame. “The Haunting in Connecticut” is no exception to this rule … or, for that matter, any other rule horror movies tend to follow.
The plot, which takes place in June of 1987: Peter and Sara Campbell (Martin Donovan and Virginia Madsen), in spite of their financial problems, decide to move to Connecticut so that their cancer-stricken teenage son, Matt (Kyle Gallner), won’t have to travel as far to get treatment. When they arrive at their new house, Matt takes residence in the basement, which leads to a locked chamber with tinted windows. It isn’t long before he’s plagued by a series of strange, frightening visions: his mother mopping the floor with blood instead of water; a bearded man and a teenage boy surrounded by mortuary equipment; eyelids being snipped off; a cadaver with words carved into its skin; burned corpses that groan a lot; a séance circle interrupted by a teenage boy spewing ectoplasm. All of this somehow relates to that basement chamber, which only opens at just such a time when it’s most convenient. What secrets does it hold? What is Matt seeing? And why is he seeing it?
The answers to all of the above are given, but who cares? This movie is more concerned with creating atmosphere than with telling a decent story. That being said, the atmosphere is spot on, and I give credit to composer Robert J. Kral for his tense score, cinematographer Adam Swica for his eerie lighting, and production designer Alicia Keywan for her intimidating set pieces. One of the most effective scenes occurs late in the film, when phantom bursts of light emanate from empty light bulb sockets; it effectively makes use of all three creative elements.
Not quite so effective are the pop-out scares, which are never in short supply in a haunted house. Indeed, there are so many startling moments in this film that they eventually lose their ability to startle. And the image of the kid vomiting ectoplasm wasn’t frightening, although considering the clever way it’s revealed, I had the feeling that it was supposed to be. But that’s impossible; many photographs have been taken showing ectoplasm emerging from mediums, and as far as I know, all of them have been proven as hoaxes.
Even less effective are the characters, who seem so passive and one-dimensional it’s as if the actors were taking the material seriously. There’s never a moment when Matt isn’t brooding over something, and while I understand that cancer can have that effect, I still think it was a bit overplayed. His parents are there only when it’s convenient for the plot; his mother is weepy and desperate for his recovery while his father is a detached alcoholic. One of the most baffling characters is Reverend Popescu (Elias Koteas), a cancer patient who just happens to understand the supernatural problems Matt is having. His explanations for what’s going on are unbelievably inane, and what’s worse, he relies almost entirely on speculation. Such a man would never be given the time of day. Not by any rational person, at least.
The long and short of it is that “The Haunting in Connecticut” doesn’t work as a horror film, and it works even less as a document of an actual event (assuming there even was an actual event). The only way it works is in its ability to develop mood, which can sustain a film only for so long. A small but important side note: As a personal favor to me, I would really appreciate it if you horror filmmakers stopped ending your “true” stories with facts for the audience to read. I go to these movies to get scared, not to get a history lesson. But this movie barely managed to scare me at all, so I guess the point is moot.
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