The Haunting in Connecticut is directed by Peter Cornwell, based on the ‘true story’ of events paranormal activities experienced by the Snedeker family in the 1980’s. The film follows cancer struck Matt Campbell and his family who move into a new home, which they learn was previously a funeral house where the bodies of several victims were laid to rest. The family start to experience supernatural events which they blame on the side-effects of Matt’s treatment, later to discover that their existence is within the presence of several sprits who inflict fright and violence on the family members.
The film, although relying on the firm foundations of the horror genre, does perpetuate the viewer into a sense of history, showing us the past events (of the house) that has caused the haunting to occur. This historical element of the film, however, doesn’t serve to enrich the viewers understanding of the present events, but rather makes the film come across as too ambitious and self indulgent for the foundations that the script would allow. The script merely conformed to rather formulaic conventions of the genre, which when combined with elements of history makes certain parts of the film come across as unnecessary, perplexed and convoluted.
The film is also rather pretentious. It seems that every action that Matt undertakes from making lunch, sleeping, looking through windows etc has a consequence. While this may offer a fright in many horror films, the fact the film is based on true events doesn’t allow for this constant scare, which should have been more subtle and attuned to the story the film was based on. This is a similar mistake films such as The Amityville Horror (2005) made. When a film is based on ‘true’ stories like this, the suspense should stay true to the story and not to the conventions of the horror genre; as these films tried to conform to. Films based on true stories like this have a huge advantage over others and unfortunately this film did not use it to its advantage.
Despite these flaws in the film, it does offer some scares, emotion, suspense and enjoyment that we would expect anyway. The film, therefore offers exactly what you will expect, but nothing more. The concept the film based on: a ‘normal’ family moving into a new haunted home, made it impossible for this film to be original from the outset purely because of the type of film it had to conform to. This is proved though the heavy use of referencing to The Shining, Number 23 and The Amityville Horror which confirms the real ambition The Haunting in Connecticut was trying to achieve. Overall, the film does offer a good experience, but when watching it, just remember all the films you have seen like this before, making this seem strangely familiar.
The film, although relying on the firm foundations of the horror genre, does perpetuate the viewer into a sense of history, showing us the past events (of the house) that has caused the haunting to occur. This historical element of the film, however, doesn’t serve to enrich the viewers understanding of the present events, but rather makes the film come across as too ambitious and self indulgent for the foundations that the script would allow. The script merely conformed to rather formulaic conventions of the genre, which when combined with elements of history makes certain parts of the film come across as unnecessary, perplexed and convoluted.
The film is also rather pretentious. It seems that every action that Matt undertakes from making lunch, sleeping, looking through windows etc has a consequence. While this may offer a fright in many horror films, the fact the film is based on true events doesn’t allow for this constant scare, which should have been more subtle and attuned to the story the film was based on. This is a similar mistake films such as The Amityville Horror (2005) made. When a film is based on ‘true’ stories like this, the suspense should stay true to the story and not to the conventions of the horror genre; as these films tried to conform to. Films based on true stories like this have a huge advantage over others and unfortunately this film did not use it to its advantage.
Despite these flaws in the film, it does offer some scares, emotion, suspense and enjoyment that we would expect anyway. The film, therefore offers exactly what you will expect, but nothing more. The concept the film based on: a ‘normal’ family moving into a new haunted home, made it impossible for this film to be original from the outset purely because of the type of film it had to conform to. This is proved though the heavy use of referencing to The Shining, Number 23 and The Amityville Horror which confirms the real ambition The Haunting in Connecticut was trying to achieve. Overall, the film does offer a good experience, but when watching it, just remember all the films you have seen like this before, making this seem strangely familiar.
Posts
