The Haunting in Connecticut has a few frights, but for the most part they are all generated by quick cuts and jump moments as opposed to creating an actual building dread, which is where this film could have separated itself from the pack. The attempt to sell the audience on the idea this is “based on a true story” is an instant way to tap into an audience member’s fear, but films that didn’t carry such a caption including The Others and The Orphanage manage to accomplish far more tension than this film could ever hope to. The Haunting in Connecticut builds a story much like those two films, but turns itself into a movie filled with so many CG ghoulies you are never scared as much as you are just waiting for the next unexpected sound effect to blast out of the speakers beating you over the head with the idea, “You should be scared… Now!”
The story centers on the Campbell family as they decide to rent a home in upstate Connecticut in order to live closer to a hospital treating their son Matt (Kyle Gallner) for cancer. However, strapped for cash they are forced to settle in an old Victorian home with something of an ominous past. When Matt begins to see strange things at home it is initially chalked up to hallucinations due to his treatment, but as the story moves along the real source of what Matt is seeing may be all-too-real.
As I said, The Haunting in Connecticut relies heavily on jump scares and loud music as its primary source of terror. While this is an age old technique and can oftentimes be rather annoying, since you never really feel as if you were truly frightened as much as just caught off guard, I don’t really have all that much of a problem with the lack of originality in the scare department. Where this film falls apart is in its execution of the idea this is “based on a true story,” which is a claim that carries some weight behind it. Since I am supposed to believe this is something that actually happened it should add to the chills and make me wonder if it will ever happen to me. In this case I never really found myself in fright mode. Instead I kept waiting for the next thing to pop up while the characters’ backs were turned and by the end that became a little old.
The Haunting in Connecticut is hardly a bad film, it just isn’t a film that manages to accomplish anything more than mediocrity. There is no real sense of dread and while the anticipation of the next ghost around the corner does keep the tension at a certain level, it isn’t a result of the storytelling as much as it is just a matter of turning up the film’s volume accompanied by a quick jump cut. It’s a way of achieving scares, but it also makes for a rather amateur feature.
