The Haunting in Connecticut

Directed By: Peter Cornwell
Written By: Adam Simon & Tim Metcalfe
Starring: Virginia Madsen, Martin Donovan, Elia Koteas & Kyle Gallner
Rated: PG-13

MY RATING: C +

Well told story but not haunting enough for me. 

The Haunting in Connecticut is based on a true story.  It follows the Campbell family who relocates to Connecticut in order to get their very sick son, Matt (Kyle Gallner), the Cancer treatment he needs.  They find the perfect home but not soon after they move in, Matt starts witnessing strange events.  It is quickly discovered that their new house used to be a funeral home.  Desperate to get her son the help he needs, Sara Campbell (Virginia Madsen) is willing to overlook that simple fact.  However Matt is no so lucky when he starts having visions of the dark past locked inside the house.  As things escalate more and more the question becomes will the Campbells all escape the house before it's too late?

This one is pretty hard to critique because it is painted with the brush of being "based on a true story." Of course I had many moments where I wanted to yell at the screen, get out of the house! I never understand why the family doesn't leave as soon as strange things start happening. However, being that these are supposed to be actual events I had to let that be.  Although I must say they did a good job of making the audience relate to the mom's perserverance and anguish in wanting to help her dying son.   
Now on to the horror elements. The ghosts were visually somewhat disturbing. I grimaced a little here and there.  Nothing made me want to turn away so it wasn't terribly gory. With a PG-13 rating I guess that's to be expected.  Not much suspense for me either. I felt the "jump" scenes were pretty predictable so nothing really got me.  My main issue was the unrealistic looking special effects used in a climactic scene at the end.  If I'm spending all of my time focused on how divorced the actor is from the special effect he's supposed to be physically connected to then that's not good.  Luckily that was a small fraction of the film because the rest held up fairly well.  At the end of the night I was not disturbed by this film at all, which is what I like after watching a horror film.  But I was entertained.  It was nowhere near one of the scariest movies I've seen but it was a little creepy and kept me intrigued throughout.  The actors were good. The story was good. The make-up effects were great!  All in all, not bad.    

I'd say check this out but there's no rush.