A Haunting in Connecticut

The Parker family moves into an old home in Connecticut in order to be closer to the hospital where their son Paul is undergoing cancer treatment. Turns out that the house used to be a funeral parlor that is haunted by several demons who proceed to terrorize the family in general, and poor Paul in particular, threatening to undo his physical improvements by damaging his mind, and forcing him out of the house altogether, which does not end the haunting... First of two specials that led to the TV series creates an effectively eerie isolated & snowy atmosphere, even if viewer gets the feeling that the whole story is not being told. Still quite good regardless.

Awesome Nostalgic 90's style Paranormal TV Docu-Movie! I know it was made in 2002 but I grew up on these types of programs in the 80's snd 90's and it still has that exact charm - back when people cared about what they were doing, no flashy, click bait, amateur been-done-a zillion-times excuse for a horror film or show. Just a good old genuinely scary feature length TV drama that you'd watch on a Friday night with the whole family whilst eating a pizza. And in a time just before those terrible reality ghost TV shows where nothing happens. No, these are (allegedly of course) real documented events, recreated with actors and told in an 'it's up to you what to believe' way.

Firstly the Connecticut case is a fascinating one regardless of your views on the Warrens. The entire family experienced it - and as much as times have changed, the church did sanction an exorcism, something that was last resort and rare in those days.

Is it cheesy? Yes. Amateur TV acting? Of course. And it's far superior than any modern equivalent show of the last 20 years! This is when if you wanted a birds eye view shot of the town you hired a helicopter! If you wanted to tell a story with a deep narrators voice guiding you through events as they unfold, you don't conflict it with the dialogue of the actors or vice versa. It's all thoughtfully done, with heightened drama of course, but nothing over the top, flashy or annoying that detracts from the story and in my opinion, has a lot of heart that so many things lack these days.

Some of the special effects are of course very limited to the budget, technology of the time and style of the show, but even these have their own creepy cool charm and nuances much akin to shows like the x files because they're not all, but largely 'in-camera' or lighting effects.

The actors, although wooden because they're mostly there to do a visual job that fills in for the narration still make you care about each of them. This, alongside interviews with the real people (in silhouette to conceal their identities) also detailing their personal accounts of each event as it unfolds although a standard formula for these shows, is still genuinely gripping.

Even though he never covered this one, it's also where James Wan probably grabbed a lot of ideas to tell his Conjuring and Insidious universe stories. In fact there's direct line for line quotes amongst other similarities, not just to do with the common paranormal events but with the emotional (and spiritual) impact these things cause on human beings being a central theme in his movies.

I loved it. It's scarier than 99% of modern horror films and with a run time of 95 mins is a good way to spend a spooky night over watching a disappointing 5/10 modern horror film Amazon prime and Netflix seems to riddle us with.

I believe this was part of a series as there's also 'A Haunting in Georgia' by the same studio so I'll be watching that too! Honestly 8/10.

I started watching this for no particular reason and couldn't stop. It's basically documentary format telling of a supposedly true story involving a haunted house. It was very well acted, directed, and produced. Although it totally had a made-for-TV vibe, in this case the people involved in the creative process really nailed the genre. My girlfriend was scared to death and begged me to change the channel to "Pet Star" or "Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction" or maybe even "Animal Face-Off" (three of our standby favorites) but I refused, wresting the remote from her hand as I threw back my head and cackled maniacally. Anyway, I couldn't stop watching, I had to know what happened next. I think this movie is going to catch on as one that I'll watch every All Hallow's Eve and get my friends (who are legion, I assure you) to watch as well. We started out laughing about the bearded demon guy when he first appeared but by the time it was over and I was in bed I was terribly frightened that he was at any moment going to show up in my room and make with the spooky. I highly recommend this movie to anyone who likes horror. It may not be a remake or cop any Japanese trends, but it's something special. All who were involved should be very proud.

I saw this episode when it aired back in '02 and was totally sucked into the storyline within minutes. The combination of high production values, movie-quality direction, and terrifying storyline had me hypnotized. I've seen a LOT of horror movies over the years, but only a handful really had me looking under my bed.

This was one of them.

The narrator, Anthony Call, has a perfect campfire-story delivery that genuinely adds to the proceedings. After watching this episode I learned to never buy a house that was once a funeral parlor.

Even if you don't believe in the paranormal, give this fine TV series a chance. You won't regret it. Oh, and I dare you to watch it alone.

On a stormy night.

In the dark. heh heh heh

I watched this while alone and regretted it, although I was fascinated. This documentary is very well done and doesn't get "cute", as this genre is wont to do...it is just scary as hell. I am always amazed at these families that STAY in these houses through all this horror (literally!) The basement scenes gave me shivers and I felt bad for the boys when the parents wouldn't believe what was happening to them. Of course, the film would be much more effective if it was commercial free. The ads always are placed at a particularly spooky place in the story -nothing takes you out of a deliciously scary moment like a commercial for Viagra. All in all, however, this is the best recounting of an actual haunting I have seen. This documentary is usually aired with "A Haunting in Georgia", which is also worth viewing.