The Haunting in Connecticut (2009)

The Worst Film Ever

Lack of good storyline.

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

OK, but not great. Started well - the mystery and suspense was gradually increased and the plot promised much. However, the director then started to overdo the scares. The story got more confusing and nonsensical, and simply degenerated into scare-a-minute stuff.I never find Martin Donovan's acting convincing and this movie reinforced that view. Virginia Madsen's performance was good, however. Kyle Gallner did a reasonable job as the haunted kid.

It's got a basic premise that many of us could describe in our sleep. Family with a sick kid is forced to relocate and ends up renting a haunted house that used to be a funeral home. Turns out the people who worked at said funeral home did some really messed up things (necromancy, etc) and there's now a bunch of spirits attached to the house (on purpose) and chaos ensues. Sick kid has visions and sightings of said spirits that are chalked up to his cancer treatments initially but then all hell breaks loose.I have to say, when this movie started up I had high hopes. As repetitive and unoriginal as they can be, I tend to really like haunted house movies. And as bland and unemotional as the mother, Sara (played by Virginia Madsen) was, the son, Matt (played by Kyle Gallner) was actually pretty great. Beyond that… I don't have many good things to say about it.It's supposedly loosely based on a true story, a haunting that Ed and Lorraine Warren investigated at the home of Allen and Carmen Snedeker and their four children. There have been several people who have tried to discredit this story, so who knows if it's true or not. Plus the movie tended to take quite a few liberties so it's not all that accurate either.I thought that the special effects were super cheesy — every vision of carved up people just made me giggle. Most of Matt's "nightmares" were predictable. The parents' grief over his cancer was SO forced and stereotypical it hurt — there is literally a scene where the mom is clutching a rosary while screaming "YOU CAN'T TAKE MY SON!" and the dad is swigging vodka and smashing an electric guitar against an amp. The ectoplasm scene I think COULD have been cool but the overdone effects just made it comical.An unfortunate miss, since I think something more interesting could have been done with the plot.

This film is a strange horror film, and in my opinion pushes the PG-13 limit as far as violence and disturbing material. This movie revolves around the haunting of a house that is lived in by a teenager with cancer, along with the rest of his family. This movie contains very poor dialouge, a week storyline, and over the top grotesque images. The acting was OK, not bad just mediocre. The movie really dragged in the middle, and the storyline was so gross and just too digusting. I agree with the majority of people on this film, the acting was mediocre, the plot was weak, and it just wasn't scary or exciting, i feel like it relied too much on gross images instead of REAL horror. I feel like the filmmakers really did try, but they fell flat on their face with this one!

Virginia Madsen truly shines in this genuine creepy entry based "on the true story." Madsen's performance really works, as do the performances of Kyle Gallner as the cancer-stricken "hero" of the piece, and Elias Koteas adds another great performance in support as a fellow cancer patient and priest who shares some very interesting views on the hereafter that are actually pretty cool.The flick also features a solid script that doesn't go for cheap scares, instead, director Peter Cornwell relentlessly builds the suspense and tension, and ratchets up the scares and creeps quite effectively. Really enjoyable after all that brutal slasher stuff that's been bandied about lately, a refreshing change, and again, genuinely creepy.The only spoiler I'll add is this: the ending will truly surprise you. It did me, and truthfully, it's a very pleasing ending to the piece, so bravo all involved!