The Phoenix Network:
 
 
About  |  Advertise
Adult  |  Moonsigns  |  Band Guide  |  Blogs  |  In Pictures
 
Features  |  Reviews
FIND MOVIES
Find a Movie
Movie List
Loading ...
or
Find Theaters and Movie Times
or
Search Movies
Nominate-best-2010

Review: The Haunting in Connecticut

Succeeds despite eye-rollers
By SHAULA CLARK  |  April 1, 2009
2.5 2.5 Stars


VIDEO: The trailer for The Haunting in Connecticut

It's no shocker that The Haunting in Connecticut — a film inspired by the "true tale" of a family who stir up a nest of spooks when they move into a former mortuary — offers many a groan-worthy moment: the thrills are cheap, the opening credits are in Papyrus font (the fastest way to draw snorts from a theater full of Emerson students), and the expositional wad of a scene where two kids dig up the house's gory occult past at the library is more Scooby-Doo than Amityville

Despite these eye rollers, The Haunting proves enjoyable horror fare. Director Peter Cornwell's first feature-length outing merrily mashes up The Shining and Poltergeist, tossing in gobs of gurgling apparitions, fiery ectoplasm, and one particularly nasty eyelid flensing. T

he icing on this creepshow cake are the fine performances from Virginia Madsen as a God-fearing mom and Kyle Gallner as her tormented, cancer-stricken son.

Related: Review: Friday the 13th (2009), Review: Drag Me To Hell, Review: Timecrimes, More more >
  Topics: Reviews , Scooby Doo, Virginia Madsen, Virginia Madsen,  More more >
  • Share:
  • Share this entry with Facebook
  • Share this entry with Digg
  • Share this entry with Delicious
  • RSS feed
  • Email this article to a friend
  • Print this article
HTML Prohibited
Add Comment

Today's Event Picks
ARTICLES BY SHAULA CLARK
Share this entry with Delicious
  •   REVIEW: DEAR JOHN  |  February 05, 2010
    "We're sitting here . . . and we're talking, but nobody's actually saying anything."
  •   REVIEW: SUNDANCE SHORTS 2009  |  January 13, 2010
    Welcome to the world of "Sundance Shorts 2009," where the happy endings tend to look more like reprieves from misery.
  •   REVIEW: IN SEARCH OF BEETHOVEN  |  January 06, 2010
    Phil Grabsky's exhaustive documentary doesn't exactly dispel any stereotypes about Beethoven's being a shaggy genius prone to rages.
  •   52 WAYS TO LEAVE 2009  |  December 30, 2009
    Your usual lackadaisical approach to New Year's Eve — just see what happens and go with the flow — is not going to cut it this year. Sure, the end of this decade may not have the same kind of new-millennium pressure riding on it as the last one, but the plunge into 2010 is a milestone nonetheless.
  •   REVIEW: BROTHERS  |  December 09, 2009
    Operation Enduring Freedom seems to have replaced Vietnam as Hollywood's go-to military quagmire from which to dredge gut-wrenching meditations on the psychological carnage of war.

 See all articles by: SHAULA CLARK

MOST POPULAR
RSS Feed of for the most popular articles
 Most Viewed   Most Emailed 



  |  Sign In  |  Register
 
thePhoenix.com:
Phoenix Media/Communications Group:
TODAY'S FEATURED ADVERTISERS
Copyright © 2010 The Phoenix Media/Communications Group