'The Haunting in Connecticut' review

Virginia Madsen and Kyle Gallner (Credit: Rebecca Sandulak/Lionsgate)

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Most people would balk at renting a dark, creaky house “with a history.” Not Sara (Virginia Madsen), though, who plants her family in an eerie old place because it’s near the hospital where her son Matt (Kyle Gallner) receives cancer treatment. Soon Matt’s seeing visions of blood, bugs and dead people, and other freaky stuff starts spooking everyone else. Shocking!

The buzz: “Connecticut” is allegedly based on a true story, but that doesn’t add much when most PG-13, haunting-related movies are so similar—whether the horrors really happened or not. Does anyone even remember last year’s “The Haunting of Molly Hartley”?

The verdict: The lights flicker! The ghosts appear and disappear! The score is noisy! “Connecticut” couldn’t be more repetitive if it included two takes of every scene. Yeah, supernatural goo emerging from someone’s mouth mid-séance is distinctively weird. Otherwise, your ten bucks mostly goes toward seeing junk performances, a laughable drunken outburst by Dad (Martin Donovan) and, uh, the snipping of some eyelids. Fun.

Did you know? Matt claims that talking to yourself is “the first sign of losing it.” Why resist saying something of value just because no one else is around?

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