I knew, years before the film was even made, that there was going to be a film produced based on THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT. I saw the news stories and the rumors all over the web, and I was skeptical about the whole production, as I knew that the family on whose experiences this story were based had gone into hiding soon after the events took place in 1988. I first became familiar with the haunting in the mid-nineties when I was working with a small paranormal group that was well aware of the effects of negative spirits and demonology. Unlike the Amityville Horror, whose whole story many investigators believe never has been told, THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT had video evidence and had a larger group of both investigators and members of the Catholic Church involved.
Unfortunately, though the film has aspects of the true story in its plot, it is not the real story of what happened in that house. The film, based on the conventional Ray Garton book, IN A DARK PLACE, was co written with paranormal investigators Ed and Loraine Warren. Garton is quoted as saying that he did not like writing this book because the Snedeker family’s stories did not add up and that the family was suffering from some personal issues. The Snedekers say that they only met with Garton for one hour, and that Garton did not really seem interested at all in their claims.
I never read IN A DARK PLACE, which is no longer in print. I find it hard to believe that the film is entirely based on the book as the book was said to be a non-fiction book based on the true accounts. The film is pure fiction with certain elements of the true story added in.
THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT is about a young boy, Matt Campbell (Kyle Gallner), who is suffering from cancer. Every day, his parents have to travel from New York to Connecticut so he can receive his treatments. Stressed about having to drive over 300 mile each way, Sara Campbell (Virginia Madsen) and her husband Peter (Martin Donovan) talk about renting a home closer to the hospital. Sara finds a big house for rent that is within their budget. Sara agrees to rent the place and that is when the paranormal experiences begin to happen. Matt becomes the focus of the negative energies, and soon, they begin to consume him. When his parents have him put into a hospital for the insane, the hauntings become more frequent and the evil in the house goes after the family. With the help of a former Reverend (Elias Koteas) and a bit of research, they find the truth about what really happened in the house and set out to stop the evil that is consuming the family.
My problem with the script is no so much the story. I really wanted to see a film that was based entirely on the real story as told by the Snedeker family. The Discovey Channel did have a version of the story that they aired as part of their Haunting series back in 2002, but that story also had a few things that were a bit out there. I do not know which story is more aimed towards the truth of what really happened, but from my research, I have found that the story on which this film is based is far from the truth. The story that the film tells is alright, has decent character development and a simple, solid story. However, I was disappointed as I was hoping that they would try to tell the true story rather than to branch off and craft a whole new fictional ending.
The film has some decent acting. I cannot say that the performances are stellar, but each member of the cast plays their characters well and tries their best to pull off their roles. The film’s production values are very good. The set design has a very creepy feel to it, and even the way the film is shot and use of lighting always leaves the audience feeling uncomfortable. There are some decent visuals, and some of the make-up effects are cool, even though they were a bit over the top. The CGI effects are neat-looking, as well, especially in the scene involving ectoplasm coming out of the young boy’s mouth.
The DVD has many special features. There are three good featurettes on the disc. “Two Dead Boys: The Making of THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT,” is a whole featurette about how the film was made. “The Fear is Real: Reinvestigating the Haunting,” is done in two parts and is a series of interviews with the people who lived in the house, the investigators involved and people who live in the neighborhood where the real house is. There is also a feature titled “Anatomy of a Haunting” which talks about ghosts and haunting in general, and another feature called “Memento Mori: The History of Postmortem Photography.” There are audio commentaries with the film’s director, producer, cast and crew, as well as deleted scenes with optional director’s commentary. The disc also contains the film’s original theatrical trailer and English and Spanish subtitles.
I do not think that this film was made with the real story in mind. I think that the studio just wanted to make a film based on their own ideas and attach the “True Story” moniker to it to draw in an audience. That is all fine, but as someone who really researched this story before this film was ever conceived, I was disappointed that they decided to use so few of the family’s experiences in the film, and to take the story in a different direction. There are no scenes involving Ed and Loraine Warren’s investigation, there is no exorcism scene. All of these were key parts of the real haunting, none of which ever is covered in the film. What is here is just a scary story with some true life elements thrown in. The film, as a horror film, is alright, but nothing we as horror fans have not seen before. It is similar in style to the many ghost films that have been released in the past few years such as THE GRUDGE and THE AMITYVILLE HORROR remake.
– Horror Bob
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
