The Haunting In Connecticut

Rating: PG-13

Movie Release Date: March 27, 2009

DVD Release Date: July 14, 2009

Plot 411: A family moves into a former funeral home and soon experience paranormal occurrences.

Review: This movie is based on true events that happened to a family in the 1980s (according to them but as always there are skeptics who disagree). As far as that goes, it's kinda like a recreation of their lives, taking their stories and picking the most visually captivating ones to portray on film. Interesting in an "I need therapy after re-living my childhood horrors" type of way. As a scary movie, it's not bad. The pacing is right on and there are some great scare that you don't expect. The father, played by Martin Donovan, is actually hideous for none of the paranormal reasons and all of the human ones. Virginia Madsen plays the mother and as always does a phenomenal job. You could really tell that she and Kyle Gallner, who played her son in the movie, related well in real life and makes for good movies. The token priest (Elias Koteas) in the film is plagued with illness like Gallner's character and can see the evil as accurately as the boy does. You're not quite sure if he's trying to help the family or if he has other motives. I walked away from this film with a creepy feeling, especially after I watched all the special features that included interviews with the real family. I don't usually let these types of movies bother me much, but this one struck a nerve somehow. It just makes your shudder to think that these people lived among spirits for so long. However, I suppose it's understandable because they were financially and emotionally struggling to deal with the boy's life-threatening illness.

Watch It: If you're looking for a good supernatural fright fest that'll make your skin crawl.

Skip It: If you'd rather watch a bucket-load of blood gush out of someone. This is the other type of horror flick.