Horror movies of today, why are most of them PG-13? Why are we relying on the "loud noise" factor to scare us? Why is everything now always "based on a true story"? Is it supposed to make it that much scarier? But when I saw the trailer for The Haunting in Connecticut, it actually sent chills down my spine. I never had the opportunity to see it in the theater, so I did the rental and to be honest I'm glad I didn't see this in the theater for one reason, the loud noises. Seriously, I watched this in the dark with the volume turned up and I can't tell you how many years this movie possibly took off my life with every single skip that my heart beat took. The Haunting in Connecticut is not a bad movie by no means, it's a fun ghost story, definitely gave me the creeps in a few scenes. While I'm a little "iffy" on some of the effects, this was an effective story. I just wish they would stop pulling the "based on true events" crud, because you know that if this really did happen, Hollywood emphasizes, the person was emphasizing, the person was crazy, or the person was definitely looking to fill up their wallet during the writing of this script.
Matthew Campbell is being treated for cancer on a trial therapy in a remote hospital. After seeing the effect the long commute has on Matt, his mother rents a nearby house, which she learns was previously a funeral home. They discover a mortuary room in the basement that they are unable to enter initially. The family begins experiencing violent, supernatural events that the parents first blame on stress and hallucinations from Matt's medications and treatment. Matt also experiences several disturbing visions of a séance from the point of view of a young man named Jonah and witnesses a doctor inscribe runes onto the skin of a corpse. They investigate the house's past, and discover the previous owner, Doctor Aickman, conducted séances in the house, using his assistant Jonah as a medium, who convinced many skeptics of his abilities. Doctor Aickman and his guests all died during one of the séances, and Jonah went missing. But things keep getting worse as the family descends into the house's madness.
Over all I did like the movie, it had a very decent story, but of course it has it's flaws. The father is an alcoholic, now I admit that he was intense to watch, but it didn't further the story by any means, so it didn't have much of a point. The ghost coming out of Johah's mouth that we see on the DVD cover was a bit cheesy, it just looked like one of those fans that are blowing ribbons around and makes the ends flap like crazy. Also I think this would have been a bit more scary with less noise and more Rated R adult content. But I have to admit that this did have some very effective scares, like Matthew's descent into madness. A scene that was so subtle but was perfect on the scares was when Matthew is in the funeral room and he puts his little brother on a metal table that was used for autopsies and starts spinning the boy around and around and to see the look on Matthew's face was extremely creepy. So to finish this up, the acting was OK, the story despite it's not being so original as The Amityville Horror is still pretty creepy, the effects could have used some work, the loud noises need to be cut down a notch, I'm just going to say this is worth the watch for a rental, but just don't expect too much.
5/10
Matthew Campbell is being treated for cancer on a trial therapy in a remote hospital. After seeing the effect the long commute has on Matt, his mother rents a nearby house, which she learns was previously a funeral home. They discover a mortuary room in the basement that they are unable to enter initially. The family begins experiencing violent, supernatural events that the parents first blame on stress and hallucinations from Matt's medications and treatment. Matt also experiences several disturbing visions of a séance from the point of view of a young man named Jonah and witnesses a doctor inscribe runes onto the skin of a corpse. They investigate the house's past, and discover the previous owner, Doctor Aickman, conducted séances in the house, using his assistant Jonah as a medium, who convinced many skeptics of his abilities. Doctor Aickman and his guests all died during one of the séances, and Jonah went missing. But things keep getting worse as the family descends into the house's madness.
Over all I did like the movie, it had a very decent story, but of course it has it's flaws. The father is an alcoholic, now I admit that he was intense to watch, but it didn't further the story by any means, so it didn't have much of a point. The ghost coming out of Johah's mouth that we see on the DVD cover was a bit cheesy, it just looked like one of those fans that are blowing ribbons around and makes the ends flap like crazy. Also I think this would have been a bit more scary with less noise and more Rated R adult content. But I have to admit that this did have some very effective scares, like Matthew's descent into madness. A scene that was so subtle but was perfect on the scares was when Matthew is in the funeral room and he puts his little brother on a metal table that was used for autopsies and starts spinning the boy around and around and to see the look on Matthew's face was extremely creepy. So to finish this up, the acting was OK, the story despite it's not being so original as The Amityville Horror is still pretty creepy, the effects could have used some work, the loud noises need to be cut down a notch, I'm just going to say this is worth the watch for a rental, but just don't expect too much.
5/10