It is wholly unimpressive that the Campbell family has moved into a new home, and can’t seem to master the layout. Days, maybe even weeks pass, and yet they still find ways to walk into dark, unexplored rooms.

It is one thing to walk into the dark basement when you hear a noise the night you move in. Logic should dictate that a flashlight is in order, but whatever. An hour into A Haunting in Connecticut, all rooms should be accounted for.

This story, that of what is obviously a haunted house scenario, is two-plots-in-one. On one hand, the oldest son Matt (Kyle Gallner) has cancer. The family deals with his worsening condition in many ways, including drinking and weeping in ways that have little effect on what one would assume is the main story. Matt’s condition seems completely disjointed with the haunting, although is needed as part of the supposedly true story.

The ghosts are relatively poor haunting experts too, failing to generate scares, just chills. Yes, it is creepy that an unknown apparition is approaching your bed, complete with burned up flesh hanging off the face. However, that can’t be scary because the movie completely fails to establish if these spooks/specters/ghosts have the ability to harm the family. That isn’t handled until late into the film.

Haunting finds drama in everything, including a library search montage with the most dramatic musical cue in the film. A priest (Elias Koteas) exists to fill in blanks left over from the research portion of the movie, and of course he knows everything required of the plot.

When the source of the haunting is revealed, it fails to make any sense, particularly if the house, a former morgue, had been rented out before the Campbell family arrived. One would assume it has given the information provided. Constant, repetitive flashback gain all of the mileage they can to fill in additional blanks.

At one point in the film, Matt has to ask what “ectoplasm” is. Apparently, he is on the verge of death without having viewed Ghostbusters, which would have answered his question. That’s a scarier thought than anything in this movie.

Movie  

Haunting starts with what appears to be a fantastic AVC encode. Colors are strong and bright. Contrast is bold without washing out details. Black levels are deep, rich, and maintain steady shadow delineation. Sharpness is consistent throughout.

Unfortunately, beginning at the nine-minute mark, noise begins creeping into the frame. Eventually, it becomes a consistent issue in almost every scene, varying only in intensity and volume. It could have been effective in generating additional scares during scenes of the hauntings, but is aggravatingly consistent and distracting.

That’s a shame, because this would have been a knockout encode otherwise, as all of the positive aspects remain top tier.

Video  

Lionsgate provides a wonderfully mixed DTS-HD 7.1 track, immersing the viewer in the otherwise mundane hauntings. Voices, creaks in the floor, shaking objects, and moans swirl through the sound field as the ghosts becomes increasingly vocal. Positional dialogue is noted multiple times. Doors slam with ferocity, and the track excels in the high and mid-range.

Bass, while notable, never feels full however. When the house begins rumbling, the subwoofer does not. It provides punch, but not as much as one would expect from the low end in a film like this.

Audio  

Two commentaries are included with the unrated version, with the theatrical cut left given nothing. The unrated version runs 10 minutes longer without noting what is new. The first commentary is technical, with director Peter Cornwell, writer Adam Simon, producer Andrew Trapani, and editor Tom Elkins. The second brings back Peter Cornwell to speak with his two lead actors, Virgina Madsen and Kyle Gallner.

Two Dead Boys is a creepily titled featurette on the making of the movie, which touches on the actual story and how it was translated. The Fear is Real is the best piece on the disc, offering a history on the actual events with interviews from the family. It runs just over 40 minutes.

Anatomy of a Haunting is a general piece on hauntings and beliefs, skeptics be damned. Memento Mori is a weird one on photography of the dead, with numerous photos used as demo material. Creepy. Deleted scenes offer an optional director commentary.

BD-Live features include downloadable trailers and the stupidity of weather reports on screen while you browse the menu. Are you ever going to put in a Blu-ray to find out what the temperature is outside?

Extras