Film Review: The Haunting in Connecticut (2009)

Virginia Madsen takes on a Possessed Home

Apr 2, 2009 Andrea Beca

The Haunting in Connecticut is a new (but old-school) horror movie that follows a family who moves into a possessed home.

The first way to send shivers down a viewer's spine is to put together a vague opening sequence with lots of blood and spooky sound effects. The second way is to tell your audience that the horrific movie they are about to watch is based on a true story. Such is the case with Peter Cornwell’s The Haunting in Connecticut, written by Adam Simon and Tim Metcalfe, and after an eerie start, the scares keep on coming.

Desperate Family Moves to an Eerie House in Connecticut

The film revolves around the Campbell family, which is led by mother Sara (played by Virginia Madsen) and father Peter (Martin Donovan). Their son, Matt (Kyle Gallner) has been fighting cancer for a prolonged period of time, and his treatment is a long commute away, in Connecticut. Desperate to make life easier for him, Sara decides to rent a home near the hospital. There is only one home she can afford – a huge, ancient, and very creepy Victorian house.

Before she and her son can sleep through their first night at the new house, Matt starts to see things. He is magnetically drawn to a locked room in the basement, but he can’t get in to figure out why. While clearing the house of dust for the rest of the Campbell family to move in, Sara discovers a series of photos, which lead her to the conclusion that their new home was once a mortuary. Still, the Campbells cannot afford to give up the house; their son needs treatment, and they’re quickly going bankrupt.

Dark History Haunts the Campbell Family

It isn’t long until the entire family starts to experience the horrors that inhabit their home. After doing a little research, Wendy (Amanda Crew) and Matt learn that not only was their house a mortuary, but also that the owner’s son, Jonah, was clairvoyant and therefore provided a gateway to the “other side.” Matt and Jonah have a spiritual connection of sorts, and it’s up to Matt to figure out how to save his family from the demons of the Aickman family.

Amittyville-Style Movie Delivers Plenty of Old-School Horror

Although it does have its minor writing issues (the discovery of the home’s history, for example, is a 10-minute info dump), The Haunting in Connecticut is a smart, fun old school horror film. It has an Ammityville Horror feeling to it, but its story is different enough that it stands on its own. Madsen and Gallner are standouts in their performances. You’ll root for them to beat the demons, but you’ll also find yourself hoping that Matt will survive his illness; the development of an emotional connection is successfully achieved.

Prepare yourself for a lot of good scares and the strong desire to research the truth behind this family’s haunting story.

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The Haunting in Connecticut	Film Review: The Haunting in Connecticut	Virginia Madsen in The Haunting in Connecticut
Amanda Crew in The Haunting in Connecticut