Horror Film Reviews: The Haunting In Connecticut

Whenever a film begins with the claim that it was based on true events, I always take notice, for some reason if it seems real or fact based then the more exciting the film could potentially be, whether they are actual true events that happened for real is one that is up for debate, but however this was an enjoyable haunted film, much like the first two Amityville movies were you know dark things happened in a house and there are angry spirits about.

The story really starts when the main character who is suffering from cancer and he has to make regular visits to the hospital, so his mum has to find a property that is near to the hospital for his regular chemotherapy treatment and so the first property they settle on is of course a haunted house and after a short period of time he sees stuff, that others brush off as hallucinations because of his treatment, but it's not!

I like the way the story unfolds and the history of the house is revealed, through the seances that take place in some of the story flash backs, as with any haunted house type of film though, I find it hard to believe that the characters stay after the events that they witness, I mean the kid who has a bedroom in the basement has an extra room adjoined to his room, which is dark at first and is locked...there is seriously no way I would sleep down there with that room in the corner hiding all of the dark shadows and haunted goings on.

Obviously because this is based on a true story, you need to separate fact from fiction to assemble the real fear that someone must have really gone through, but this is apparent through the directors vision of the material as there are some small jumps and scares like any ghostly film, the tension is sort of comparable to Amityville 2 The Possession, as there is some aspects that apply to the central character who freaks everyone else out within the family who live in the house.

The ending brings a solid conclusion to the story and happy endings all round as the ghosts are laid to rest in typical hollywood style, but there is sort of an open endedness about the whole story, as it explained certain elements, but left out some small details, but overall it was a better film than I thought it would be and it was all played out in a nervous atmosphere, which made it compelling to watch.

Some of the story flashbacks seemed a little unsettling, especially the dude with a beard overseeing the ghostly seance and the ghosts ectoplasm emerging from the boys mug and especially the corpse preparation to induce the spirits.

So to summarize the story, it was good and went at a pace that was comfortable and things seemed like they were resolved, although it felt like there was something missing, it did deliver a good amount of atmospheric scares and spookiness, so it wasn't that bad at all.