A Haunting In Connecticut (2002)

best movie i've ever seen.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

This movie is easily one the best supernatural features EVER! I watched years ago and recently saw it again along with "A Haunting in Georgia" to top off the fright night! Both are well done, especially the narration. But what scared me senseless was the sound effects of windy trees, blowing snow and doomed music. The terrifying scene in the boys bedroom when a group of ghostly beings gather to discuss something, ignoring the two boys, was so truly frightening and really leads one to believe this haunting really happened. Quirky is much more believable than cliché. Although it's a made for T.V. production, a sort of moody genius pervades throughout. For maximum effect watch this after dark and ALONE!

"Mom, I just heard a voice down in the basement, calling for Paul." -- Bobby Parker (Tyler Reid)It's questionable when even a historical movie claims to be a "true story," although I'll maintain that a fair recreation of D-Day, for example, does just as much to convey historical context as does reading some historian's second-hand description in a book. The difference is, of course, I'm firmly convinced that D-Day actually happened. I am less convinced of any supernatural nonsense.You've seen it all before. Just like The Amityville Horror and any of its sequels, remakes or imitators, a nice American family moves into a quaint (aren't they always) old house which, not more than 10 minutes later, somebody must suspect is haunted. Usually, it's built over an ancient Native American burial ground; in this case, the house was once a mortuary. The only major difference, if it is, is that in this picture, the family is already preoccupied with morbidity as the oldest son, Kyle (Matt Campbell), is dying from cancer. Not only is Kyle waiting to check out, but so is the film's token exorcist, Father Popescu (Elias Koteas), probably the meekest, whiniest exorcist in movie history. It's not like Max Von Sydow commanding "The power of Christ compels you!"; it's more like, "Hey, if it wouldn't be too much trouble..."I won't indict the technical crew's reliable work, especially production designer Alicia Keywan, who performed similar work in 2007's The Messengers, and the obligatory manifestations every five minutes are all staged creepily enough to make at least half the audience jump in their seats. I wasn't jumping as much as I was squirming because it all seemed so...familiar, despite the novelty of having Academy Award-nominated actress Virginia Madsen as the harried mom.At least director Peter Cornwell does what he can to maintain some plausibility. My objection to these things is not the fact that I just flat-out don't believe in the supernatural. I don't believe in space wizards with laser swords, either, but I can, briefly, if a movie requires me to accept that as its premise. However, my ability willingly to suspend disbelief flags when presented with the scenario of little kids playing hide and seek with their babysitting aunt and hiding in the darkest corner of the house where an animated corpse materializes. The next scene is fairly normal, which it wouldn't be. My kids would be so hysterical that such an event would have to be addressed for some scenes afterwards, although it's just as likely that, if it were my kids, it would be the demons screaming in terror. Later, the teenage aunt, after a similar encounter with demoniac forces, reaches the apparently obligatory cinematic decision, "Well, time to take a shower." Obviously, these people don't watch enough movies.Or maybe I watch too many. Maybe I shouldn't watch these things because I feel like I've seen it all before. Bet you have, too.

I made the serious mistake of watching this feature length documentary shortly before going to bed. I did not sleep at all that night.This is the allegedly true story of the Parker family, whose eldest son is terribly ill and requires frequent hospital visits. In order to be closer to the hospital where he receives treatment, the entire Parker family move into a new home which is a shorter drive from the facilities. It is also conveniently located quite close to a cemetery. The house itself is a large, impressively grandiose estate, but when Mr. and Mrs. Parker head downstairs just after purchasing the home, they discover a basement room filled with an odd assortment of surgical tools and a large freezer. To their horror, the couple realize they are standing in a disused embalming room. The house was once a funeral home.Having sunk their life savings into the purchase of their new home, The Parkers have no choice but to go ahead and move in. They decide to conceal the history of the house from their children, but odd things soon begin to occur. A kitchen floor stubbornly refuses to be cleansed of a vicious pool of blood. The sickly teenage boy, Paul, begins hearing voices, and all of the children see phantoms and shadows moving throughout the house. Paul's temper begins to fray and he grows increasingly violent. Not even removing him from the house seems to help, which his parents do after he attacks his own cousin. Instead, the forces inside of the house shift their focus, and the demonic displays of physical violence and destruction reach explosively frightening levels. By the time a team of parapsychologists arrive to investigate, it is almost too late. This is a very eerie documentary, and incredibly well made. The mood throughout is suffocatingly dreary and filled with unrelenting dread. The performances are all quite good and somehow, genuine fear is infused into every frame. Whether it's the discovery of the embalming equipment in the basement, or a face-to-face encounter with a black-eyed demon in the darkness, this documentary will leave you with a sinking feeling of horror in the pit of your stomach and an overwhelming urge to glance around your immediate surroundings during the commercials, just to make sure there is nothing lurking in the shadowy corners.I really had not intended to stay up and watch the entire program, but it hooked me easily and kept me watching late into the night, despite the fact that I had to get up early for work the next day. I didn't sleep that night anyway, and kept my bedside light on all night long. That's how unsettling I found this program to be, and I don't scare easily.If you like ghost stories, historical accounts of haunted houses, and having the holy old crap scared out of you, watch this show the next time it's run on TV. It's one of the best shows of its kind I have ever seen. Be sure to catch its companion piece: A Haunting in Georgia, as well.

I watched this for the first time around Christmas of last year with my wife.And we could barely sleep after wards.We had to watch something funny to make ourselves forget about it.What makes me so scared of this is that I have experienced things that I to this day cannot explain or even really care to remember.Please do not think I'm nuts but here are a few of the things I've experienced that made me think a little more seriously about a spirit world.1. A week or two after my wife's grandfather died a few years ago, my nine year old daughter tells me that she saw her great-grandfather in a navy blue suit and red tie in her bedroom. HE was buried in a navy blue suit and red tie and she did not attend his funeral.2. My son who's only three recognized my deceased mother's photo (died four years BEFORE he was born)as his grandmother long before I ever told him this. He'd look at the photo and saw 'granma'.Gave me and my wife the willies.3. As a kid I remember hearing rumors that the apartment complex I lived in was built on an old graveyard. I used to discard this as my friends trying to scare me, until one night in my bedroom I saw a figure walk into my room, it was totally black so I couldn't make out any features, I was half sleep and simply assumed it to be my mother looking in on me, the figure walked back out into the dark hall and I went back to sleep, thinking nothing of it.The next morning I asked my mother had she come in and peeked in on my that night ad she told me she never got out of bed.I don't really think the presence was malevolent, because I didn't feel any fear, in fact I felt protected, which is why I guess I thought it was my mom. It was like whatever it was it was simply checking on me in the middle of the night.4. As a kid in the same house, me and a pal of mine were playing video games when a tile from the bath tub flew out into the hallway. We were home alone. And I would have thought it the tile had just fallen it would have fallen into the bath tub. It was as if it were thrown.5. And perhaps the most chilling account, was once when my mother and her boyfriend at the time(who would eventually become my stepfather) had gotten to arguing and when she tried to prevent him from leaving he happened to shove her to the side. Well later that night, after they made up, he told her that at that moment he felt as if someone grabbed him by the neck. I did not witness this, but my mother did say he leave coughing and gagging. Even remembering these things and writing them runs a chill up my spine.So I truly believe in the paranormal and spirits.Watching this documentary only fueled my belief.The man with the red eyes was the most frightening thing I'd ever seen on television.If I woke up and saw something like that looking at me, I'd pee all over myself.My experiences were mild and in most cases seemed benevolent and just playing light hearted jokes (the tile), but I couldn't imagine facing something this evil.