The Haunting in Connecticut 2009

      This movie is loosely based on the real life stories of Al and Carmen Snedeker from 1986 to 1989.  They lived in a reportedly haunted former funeral parlor in Southington Connecticut.  When the Campbell family moved to upstate Connecticut, they soon learned that their charming Victorian home has a disturbing history.   Not only was the house a transformed funeral parlor where inconceivable acts occurred but the owner's clairvoyant son Jonah served as a demonic messenger.  Jonah provided a gateway for spiritual entities to crossover?

     This review is of the movie shown in theaters and not the Unrated Special Edition.  This version has scarier and rawer content.  This film is based on a true story horror film.  It is milder than movies like Saw but is still too scary and disturbing for kids.  It's full of mutilated bodies, bloody scenes, supernatural violence, medical and autopsy imagery.  There are also fairly serious discussions of the challenges facing a teen fighting cancer.  One character is a recovering alcoholic, he starts drinking again and ends up driving drunk.  The language isn’t strong plus and sex and product placement are not an issue.  3* (This movie is OK)

92 min, Drama directed by Peter Cornwell and written by Adam Simon and Tim Metcalfe with Virginia Madsen, Martin Donovan, Elias Koteas, Kyle Gallner, Amanda Crew, Sophi Knight, Ty Wood, Erik Berg, John Bluethner, D.W. Brown, John B. Lowe, Adriana O’Neil, Will Woytowich, James Durham, Darren Ross.

Note:  Imdb 5.9* out of 10* with 59,246 reviews, Rotten Tomatoes 17% with 105 critic reviews 45% with 250,000+ audience scores, Common Sense Media James Rocchi, age 15+, 1* out of 5*, 1* sex, 2* language 3* drinking, drugs & smoking,  4* violence, Roger Ebert 2*, Metacritic 33 out of 100 with 23 critic reviews, 6.1 out of 10 with 93 ratings, Amazon 4.5* out of 5* with 1547 reviews, Letterboxed 2.6* out of 5* with 9 fans

Special Note:  Based on the story featured in the Discovery Channel documentary "A Haunting in Connecticut".  Ed Warren and Lorraine Warren were known for their involvement in The Amityville Horror case and they were the investigators for this case.  John Zaffis is also an investigator on the case.  He happens to be the nephew of Ed & Lorraine Warren and they led the investigation.  Author Ray Garton, who wrote In A Dark Place.  He has distanced himself from the claims of the Snedecker family and the Warrens.  He has continually disowned the book and proclaimed it to be 100% fiction.  Filmed in Teulon Manitoba Canada.  Although the film states that the house was destroyed in a fire and rebuilt, there was never a fire and the original house still stands today?

Mistakes:  At the beginning of the film, the father mentions that he would look the house up on the Internet.  The Internet was not widely used for consumer or commercial use during this time.  It was not used for commercial business until the mid to late 1990s.  When Matt is in the hospital waiting room, there is a TV set up with a VCR.  The TV is an 80's model and does not look out of place given the film's time period but the VCR is a model from at least the late 1990s.  The ambulance shown at the beginning is much newer than 1986-1989.