THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT

 

Headline:  ** Dangerous Mixture **

Title:  THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT

Quality:  * *     Acceptability:  -4

SUBTITLES:  None

WARNING CODES:

Language:  LL

Violence:  VVV

Sex:  None

Nudity:  N

 

RATING:  PG-13

RELEASE:  March 27, 2009

TIME:  92 minutes

STARRING:  Virginia Madsen, Kyle Gallner, Elias Koteas, Martin Donovan, Amanda Crew, Erik J. Berg, Ty Wood, and Sophi [sic] Knight

DIRECTOR:  Peter Cornwell

PRODUCERS:  Paul Brooks, Andrew Trapani, Daniel Farrands, and Wendy Rhoads

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS:  Scott Niemeyer, Norm Wait and Steve Whitney

WRITERS:  Adam Simon and Tim Metcalf

BASED ON THE NOVEL/PLAY BY:  N/A

DISTRIBUTOR:  Lionsgate Films

 

CONTENT:  (PaPaPa, FRFRFR, OOO, CCC, BBB, LL, VVV, N, AA, MM) Very strong mixed, false syncretistic pagan worldview combining very strong, dangerous occult ideas that too often overcomes very strong Christian and moral/biblical content including ghosts haunt house bought by Catholic family, haunting rooted in evil necromancy rituals and séances in the past by mortuary father to enhance teenage son's occult medium powers, background story includes mortuary father steals bodies of the dead to write on them with spells, past séances shown in visions, mother of Catholic family has rosary beads with a Cross and prays to God for her teenage son's recovery from cancer, positive overt references, quoting and prayer using Psalm 23, Christian reverend who helps family says, "We're all in God's hands" but also accepts some occult theories, speculations and practices about appearances of "ghosts" and getting rid of them, a healing apparently takes place after evil forces are removed, poltergeist activity, and dialogue refers to God's ways being mysterious but that people don't know just how mysterious they can be; one "h" word, two strong profanities, seven light profanities, and teenager with cancer gets sick and vomits; very strong scary violence includes dead bodies and ghosts of dead bodies appearing, ghosts with burnt bodies, dark ghost figures in mirrors and behind people who don't know it, poltergeist activity of slamming doors and dropping dishes on floor, fire caused during séance, fire started to burn dead bodies and remove angry ghosts, drunken father yells at family and smashes light bulbs, implied mutilation of bodies for occult purposes; no sex; upper male nudity; implied alcohol use and drunkenness in one scene; no smoking; and, lying, fatalism, brooding teenager, and fathers seem to be susceptible to evil.

 

GENRE:  Horror

INTENDED AUDIENCE:  Older teenagers and adults

 

 

Please address your comments to:

 

Jon Feltheimer, CEO

Lionsgate AKA Lions Gate Films

2700 Colorado Ave.

Santa Monica, CA  90404

Phone:  (310) 449-9200; Fax:  (310) 255-3870

Website:  www.lionsgatefilms.com

 

SUMMARY:  THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT is a ghost story about a family being haunted by ghosts in a house that used to be owned by an evil mortician with a psychic son who led séances so that clients could contact the spirits of their dead loved ones. This movie has some decent acting but it is unbelievable and not very clever. It also contains a mixed worldview that combines very strong occult beliefs with some very strong references to God, Christianity and the Bible.

 

IN BRIEF:

 

THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT takes a real haunted house story that's probably a phony hoax and enhances it with spooky, unbelievable effects. In 1987, Sara and Peter Campbell move their family into an isolated house so that their teenage son, Matt, can get special cancer treatments at a nearby hospital. The house used to be owned by an evil mortician, however. The mortician dabbled in occult magic to enhance the psychic powers of his own teenage son, who leads séances so people could contact the spirits of their dead loved ones. Of course, this eerie past unleashes all sort of scary phenomena which haunts the parents, their children and a teenage cousin who lives with them.

 

THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT is a bit different from other ghost story movies and has some decent acting, but it's not that believable. Also, the worldview is mixed, with the movie's occult horror elements too often overcoming the stronger-than-normal Christian elements in the plot. For example, a reverend says at one point, "We're all in God's hands," but he also believes occult notions about ghosts. Ultimately, this kind of heretical mixture is very dangerous and abhorrent.