TheHauntingInConnecticut Tagged Articles at Cinematical

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If you saw Quarantine and thought, 'Hey, that wasn't so bad,' have I got a movie for you! The best moments of the Hollywood remake were all done first (and better) in the Spanish original, which is more intense, more grueling, and more graphic. (Scott Weinberg and William Goss agree with me.) A light-hearted news reporter accompanies firefighters on a routine call that quickly turns deadly when they're trapped in an apartment building with something far more terrifying than burning furniture. Buy it.

Add to Netflix queue | Buy at Amazon

The Haunting in Connecticut
If you like your horror much less intense, this haunted house tale is more spooky than scary. Supposedly "based on true events," Virginia Madsen stars as the mother of a very sick teenage boy who comes to regret her decision to rent a place with an unsavory past. It offers no big surprises (as William Goss scoffed), but I thought it trod familiar territory with a fresh eye. Available as a Single-Disc Edition, Unrated Special Edition, and on Blu-ray. Rent it.

Add to Netflix queue | Buy at Amazon

Horsemen
Dennis Quaid stars as a cop on the trail of a serial killer somehow inspired by the Biblical 'Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.' With Zhang Ziyi and Lou Taylor Pucci. Horsemen received only a token theatrical release from Lionsgate, which isn't a good sign, but possibly in its favor: the cast, the very Seven-ish premise, and the lack of much else new. Rent it.

Add to Netflix queue | Buy at Amazon

Also out: Mad Men: Season 2, The State: The Complete Series, Grey Gardens, Van Wilder: Freshman Year - Unrated, The Bracelet of Bordeaux.

After the jump: Keira Knightley, Blu skycraper on fire.

Damned if you have a mic, damned if you don't... Coming to you loudly (at least in my case) is the latest episode of The Cinematical Roundtable, and this time, we don't even dare leave the lobby before offering up our thoughts on the rock-'em-sock-'em likes of 12 Rounds, in addition to the week's other wide releases, The Haunting in Connecticut and Monsters vs. Aliens.

Rounding out the proverbial 'we' this week is Brian Orndorf, he of multiple outlets, not the least of which are eFilmCritic and DVD Talk. Also, my good friend Tyler serves as a last-minute substitute for a colleague fallen ill (that, or he just really didn't want to sit through a John Cena flick). He knows his stuff, which I can't say for all in our field, and he happened to be co-anchor of our college movie talk show, "Matinee Idle," which was pretty much a podcast before podcasts were podcasts.

So... yeah. He's good people. Enjoy!




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(We're reposting this review from SXSW to coincide with the film's theatrical release this weekend)

By: William Goss

Oh, actual events. Long have you reigned as the trump card in horror marketing, and only slightly less long have you been exposed as mostly malarkey. That hasn't stopped scarier films from finding their fans, nor the hokum from earning its opening weekend before vanishing into a blur of like-minded teen-targeting supernatural fare. Peter Cornwell's The Haunting in Connecticut falls firmly into the latter category, a run-of-the-mill spooker that often opts for Dolby jolts and Avid farts over character investment that itself rarely extends beyond asking why special effects happen to good people.

The crux of Connecticut is based on the allegedly true story in which a family found themselves terrorized in their new home, a former mortuary, back in 1987. While eldest son Matt (Kyle Gallner) receives and recovers from treatments for his cancer, he alone finds spirits roaming the house and tormenting his dreams. His parents (Virginia Madsen and Martin Donovan) just try keep him comforted, assuring him and themselves that it's simply a side effect, but a similarly ill priest (Elias Koteas) suggests that being close to death has indeed put them closer to the realm of the dead, which is in turn bringing escalating harm to the household...

Fortune smiled on Nicolas Cage as his apocalyptic thriller Knowing took the number one spot by a wide margin with last week's two other newbies I Love You, Man and Duplicity taking second and third respectively. Here's the top five:

1. Knowing: $24.6 million
2. I Love You, Man: $17.8 million
3. Duplicity: $13.9 million
4. Race to Witch Mountain: $12.8 million
5. Watchmen: $6.8 million

12 Rounds
What's It All About: Police officer Danny Fisher (John Cena) finds that his girlfriend has been kidnapped by a criminal from his past and Fisher must endure a dozen challenges to get her back.
Why It Might Do Well: Things blow up.
Why It Might Not Do Well: A generic looking action movie with no star power doesn't look like a good bet.
Number of Theaters: 2,200
Prediction: $11 million

The Haunting in Connecticut
What's It All About: Supposedly based on a true story about a family experiencing supernatural disturbances when they move into a home that was once a funeral parlor.
Why It Might Do Well: There's creepiness in the trailer.
Why It Might Not Do Well: 38% at Rottentomatoes.com does not bode well.
Number of Theaters: 2,600
Prediction: $18 million

When I was a kid there was this one strange family who lived in this all-black house, dressed in all black and drove a hearse. They were my neighborhood's obligatory "freaky family," and of course there were tons of weird stories people told of animals being killed and virgins being sacrificed. On the weekends and on Halloween, folks would drive past the house, daring one another to ring and run or honk their horn. Part of me felt bad for the family because no one deserves to be harassed and violated; then again, you drive a hearse and you don't own or work at a funeral home. You're just a dude. That's a strange thing to do, no?

And so when I hear how people are flocking to the real Haunting in Connecticut home, I feel bad for the nice family living there now, but I also wonder why you'd buy a home that was well known in the community as possibly being haunted. Yes, these inspired-by-true-events films -- like The Haunting of Connecticut, which we reviewed here -- are usually stretching the truth THAT far, but all people need is the tiniest of guarantees for them to obsess and get in the way. That's apparently what's happening to the family who bought the Southington house 10 years ago now that a new movie, loosely based on events that took place inside that house, is coming to theaters.

The woman who owns the house with her husband says that it's "been really, really stressful" to have all these people driving by or stopping to look in the windows. Funnily enough, she's never had a ghostly encounter there, and describes the house as having "beautiful woodwork" and a "warm feeling". But even though there aren't any ghosts (anymore?), that still won't stop the curious crowds from intruding.

The Haunting in Connecticut opens this Friday. What do you think about stalking movie-famous homes?

Welcome to the inaugural broadcast of The Cinematical Roundtable, our latest podcast here at the site, where we'll speak with writers and readers alike about the latest in film offerings. Our first episode has Drew McWeeny of Hitfix fame and our own Scott Weinberg joining you and I on the road as we discuss March's The Haunting in Connecticut, April's Observe and Report, May's Drag Me to Hell, and June's The Hurt Locker following their respective SXSW premieres in Austin, Texas.

Please pardon our dust as we get this puppy off the ground, please brace yourself for some mild profanity, and please tell your friends. Especially that one cute redhead. She's not seeing anyone, right?



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Oh, actual events. Long have you reigned as the trump card in horror marketing, and only slightly less long have you been exposed as mostly malarkey. That hasn't stopped scarier films from finding their fans, nor the hokum from earning its opening weekend before vanishing into a blur of like-minded teen-targeting supernatural fare. Peter Cornwell's The Haunting in Connecticut falls firmly into the latter category, a run-of-the-mill spooker that often opts for Dolby jolts and Avid farts over character investment that itself rarely extends beyond asking why special effects happen to good people.

The crux of Connecticut is based on the allegedly true story in which a family found themselves terrorized in their new home, a former mortuary, back in 1987. While eldest son Matt (Kyle Gallner) receives and recovers from treatments for his cancer, he alone finds spirits roaming the house and tormenting his dreams. His parents (Virginia Madsen and Martin Donovan) just try keep him comforted, assuring him and themselves that it's simply a side effect, but a similarly ill priest (Elias Koteas) suggests that being close to death has indeed put them closer to the realm of the dead, which is in turn bringing escalating harm to the household...

When I first wrote up the trailer for The Haunting in Connecticut back in October, I made the following prediction: "In fact, I'm willing to bet that it'll land somewhere between next Feburary... and maybe next April, before hitting DVD just in time for Halloween renters to settle for anything vaguely supernatural on the 'new release' wall." Well, as sure as Virginia Madsen shrieks, Lionsgate has moved the film up from a summer release to a March 27th bow -- probably wise, given the genre's less-than-successful streak with that particular season.

The fairly reliable Box Office Mojo also confirms that Sandra Bullock's own shriek-worthy rom-com All About Steve has now been bumped from its slot opposite Watchmen to the ominous "Fall 2009". Maybe Fox'll put that Watchmen settlement dough to good use and market that instead as a horror film -- forget Saw; if it's Halloween, it must be Sandra!

Hey, one can dream.

At this point, touting any horror movie as 'based on a true story' or 'inspired by true events' or however you phrase it serves to me as an indication that "we didn't think this was scary enough, but we want the gulliable teens to buy tickets" -- a marketing tactic which occasionally backfires (my younger brother knocked the plausibility of The Strangers on this count, but if they DIDN'T say it... would it have been a scarier film? How about a successful one?).

Regardless, The Haunting in Connecticut -- starring Virginia Madsen, Martin Donovan and Elias Koteas -- appears to be following in those footsteps, with first a poster and then a trailer purporting that this tale of a family tormented in their new home with a mysterious past is at least fact-based(-ish). (Why, yes, you're correct in thinking that they already remade The Amityville Horror.)

Throw in a bunch of loud noises, and you've got yourself a probably PG-13 one-weekend wonder that was shot in 2007, but won't get dumped in theaters by Lionsgate (without press screenings, natch) until 2009. In fact, I'm willing to bet that it'll land somewhere between next Feburary (in the wake of other teen-targeting horror fare of The Unborn -- which actually looks creepy, if familiar -- and The Uninvited and My Bloody Valentine 3D and Friday the 13th) and maybe next April, before hitting DVD just in time for Halloween renters to settle for anything vaguely supernatural on the 'new release' wall.

Or, who knows, it could be good; if it takes proving me wrong to do that, I've eaten feet for less. (True story.)

As someone who grew up in Connecticut, I can agree the state is good for two things, Christmas and hauntings. We've already seen a few versions of Christmas in Connecticut, and now it is time for us to see a movie called The Haunting in Connecticut. I only wish that Ed Warren, one of the state's legendary and expert ghost experts, was still around to offer some help with it. At least his wife and partner, Lorraine is still with us. Anyway, now that Connecticut is welcoming so many film productions to shoot in state, it is only fair that our reputation for spookiness be well represented. And hey, if such a movie wants to use my last name, then that's cool, too. Like countless other residents of the state, my family thought our house was haunted. Of course, The Haunting in Connecticut is not based on my family; instead it is based on a documentary titled A Haunting in Connecticut, which presented the true story of the Parkers and the evil ghost that terrorized their home.

We already learned The Haunting in Connecticut would star Virginia Madsen, as Sara Campbell (again, no relation), but now, according to The Hollywood Reporter, we have more of the Campbell clan: Martin Donovan (Weeds) will play Madsen's husband, while Kyle Gallner (Big Love) will play their cancer-ridden son. Also joining the cast is Elias Koteas (Zodiac), who will play the obligatory priest who comes to help the family. In my day, you'd either call The Warrens -- who actually appear in the original documentary -- or someone from the local historical society (this is what my mom did), but seeing as how the convention of this genre is to follow the model of The Exorcist, a priest is a requirement. And yes, it seems there was at least one in A Haunting in Connecticut, so I shouldn't complain. Ironically, despite Connecticut's currently trendy tax breaks, The Haunting in Connecticut began shooting this week in Winnipeg.