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Bookmark this pageThe Haunting in Connecticut (2009)
Director: Peter Cornwell
Movie review
From Time Out London
From the Amityville school of dubious real-life paranormal mumbo-jumbo comes this dour, self-serious but surprisingly effective little haunted house shocker. When teenage cancer victim Matt Campbell (Kyle Gallner) moves with his family into the requisite old house with ‘a bad history’, he’s soon beset by ghoulish hallucinations: blood, burned kids, and gangs of grumpy ghosts festooned with mysterious runic calligraphy. Mum Sarah (Virginia Madsen) thinks it’s just a side effect of the medication, while recovering alcoholic dad Peter (Martin Donovan) is too busy staying off the wagon to pay any attention. But as Matt digs deeper into the mystery, he becomes convinced their new home is plagued by the restless, abused spirits of the damned.There’s nothing remotely original in ‘The Haunting in Connecticut’, but director Cornwell holds things together admirably, wasting no time on his all-too-familiar setup, preferring to bludgeon his audience into submission with a parade of obvious but well-judged ‘gotcha’ moments and chucking in a decent scare at least every 5-10 minutes. If things become a mite operatic in the home stretch – with suitably haggard man-of-God Elias Koteas popping up to ‘cleanse’ the place of its ancient evil – there’s certainly enough here to satisfy the post-pub crowd in search of a few cheap, grab-the-armrest thrills.
Author: Tom Huddleston
Time Out London Issue 2015, Apr 2-8 2009
User reviews of this film
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- rich said...
- Posted on Apr 01 2009 22:12 dont write "a comment" if u havent seen the film!!!
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- Amii said...
- Posted on Mar 29 2009 09:20 Watched this last night, thought it was surprisingly good! Definately worth watching, lots of jumpy scenes, and the story was really original. 8 out of 10
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- Vicky said...
- Posted on Mar 28 2009 19:34 going to see this tonight,i love horrors,scary stuff..cant wait!! back later with my ratings! :D
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- miles said...
- Posted on Mar 28 2009 17:38 i have never seen or heard so many people laugh in a horror movie -total crap of a farce and it even says its true -lolz
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- Michael said...
- Posted on Mar 28 2009 02:26 Seen this film tonight, it is a very good film! Scary and has a good story line gets a bit freaky toward the end but this keeps you on edge of your seat, i thought the story was original and the film was creepy from the very start, all in all an excellent film one of the best released so far this year
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- Michael said...
- Posted on Mar 28 2009 02:26 Seen this film tonight, it is a very good film! Scary and has a good story line gets a bit freaky toward the end but this keeps you on edge of your seat, i thought the story was original and the film was creepy from the very start, all in all an excellent film one of the best released so far this year
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- Gemma said...
- Posted on Mar 27 2009 18:15 This is definetly going to be the one to watch. hopefully it lives up to my expectations and im not let down! cant wait to see it.
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- dollykp said...
- Posted on Mar 27 2009 15:14 Im going to see this 2night been waiting ages for it to come out so it better be good!
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- Danny said...
- Posted on Mar 27 2009 08:12 I think this movie will make the critics have mixed views on this film. The film is based on a true story following a family, whos eldest son has cancer and need to be by a hospitall at all times. They move into a new home, everything is quite settled until paranormal occorences start to tear the family apart. I havent seen this movie, but i am for sure going to see it.
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Cast & crew
Director: Peter Cornwell
Cast: Virginia Madsen, Kyle Gallner, Elias Koteas, Amanda Crew, Martin Donovan full cast
Rated: 15
Duration: 102 mins
UK Release: Mar 27 2009
US Release: Apr 1 2009
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