Film Review: THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT

With so many ghost and haunted house films being released since The Ring (2002) was a huge hit it’s kind of easy to dismiss this “Based on Real Events” film based on the experience of a family going through the hardship of having a child with cancer who move into the perfect house that just so happens to be haunted.

If you’ve seen one American ghost story then this move will not seem like anything new…on the surface that is. This film follows all the trappings of the haunted house film – 1) a desperate family moves into a house that harbors a dark secret, 2) “shock moments” approximately every 10 minutes as if the audience really needs a “fake” shock moment to remind them of the type of movie they are watching, and 3) you think you know what’s behind the haunting until the big reveal at the end. As written by Adam Simon and Tim Metcalfe the film doesn’t miss a beat at it follows the conventions of all American ghost/haunting films, which makes it had to believe that anything in the film actually “really” happened.

The thing that holds the film together and actually makes it worth watching is the on screen chemistry between Virginia Madsen and Kyle Gallner as Sara and Matt Campbell (mother and son, respectively). Matt is battling cancer while Sara is his mother who is trying to be strong and keep it together not only for her son but for her other two younger children and over-worked husband (played by Martin Donovan). With lesser capable actors the film would have been derivative but these two actors play the smaller and quieter moments extremely well and give their characters a humanity that is missing from most other films of this genre.

The film has its chilling moments especially when you learn the nature of the haunting but like most modern day horror films this film suffers from its reliance to end on a big action-packed moment (which also comes off as very unlikely and unreal) and therefore looses some of the intimacy that it had created earlier. This is a small element that can be over looked in an otherwise very entertaining, yet predictable, haunted house film.

THE UNINVITED (2009) is No Comparison to A TALE OF TWO SISTERS

Being a huge fan of the original film A TALE OF TWO SISTERS I was opt to be a little skeptical by yet another remake of an Asian film with the potential to be an utter water downed dredge (i.e. ONE MISSED CALL, SHUTTER, THE EYE, etc.). More often then not American filmmakers just don’t get why the original films are so good which is why we get such horrible remakes. Either that or they tend to water down the plot in order to, heaven forbid, make it more “accessible” to American audiences. This is never a good idea as horror film audiences are not “dumb” (since we are the ones that watched and liked the original films subtitled) and get even more upset when filmmakers think that we are. This is why “good” American remakes of Asian films are few and far in between – only THE RING and THE GRUDGE come to mind (with the later being directed by the original film’s director).

A TALE OF TWO SISTERS is a brilliantly crafted ghost story (possibly) with rich characters all around and magnificent performances by the ensemble cast. The story is slow but that is deliberate as the film relies on mood and dread to keep the audience on edge. It’s a mystery and a suspense film rather then a typical horror film but when the horror comes, it comes in spades (most of it at the end). The American remake THE UNINVITED (2009) barely resembles the film it claims to be a remake of. Instead this new film is a watered-down THE SIXTH SENSE-pretender that wishes it was as clever as that film or as engaging as TWO SISTERS.

The biggest problem with the remake is not with the cast as the ensemble cast in this film is actually its only asset (praise goes to the three women of the film Elizabeth Banks, Arielle Kebbel, and Emily Browning, sorry David Strathairn), but with the production design which makes the family seem like they are wealthy beyond their means with a father (Strathairn) who is merely a writer whose book just came out. It seems to be the norm in American films to present families in “suspense” films with these overly wealthy homes or situations (i.e. WHEN A STRANGER CALLS, PROM NIGHT, THE GLASS HOUSE) thus defusing any sort of empathy with the characters (with the exception of WHEN A STRANGER CALLS in which the house actually made for a very good character in the cat ‘n mouse “suspense” thriller).

No matter how hard the cast tried to make the film work they couldn’t because of the predictability of the entire affair. In this post-SIXTH SENSE movie world in which the “twist” is now looked for (and sometimes even expected) by audiences THE UNINVITED was completely predictable (even though I knew the original my friend had guessed the film long before the end and he didn’t even know it was a remake). It also doesn’t help that even though the film looks “pretty” there is no style or substance to the film like Ji-woon Kim’s TWO SISTERS. The random “jump” scares are also tiresome which happen about every ten minutes when nothing of substance is on the screen.

THE UNINVITED (2009) is a better forgotten remake (like so many of late) that leaves a sour taste in your mouth but since its less then ninety minutes long (whereas the original was almost 2 hours) you won’t have long to suffer.

The Pang Bros. Return with the dismal THE EYE 3

I’m usually a huge fan of Danny & Oxide Pang’s films but THE EYE 3 is one of their most incompetent films bordering on ludicrous drivel that should have never been committed to celluloid. I don’t blame this on the cast because if this was meant to be a comedy instead of a horror film then the Pang’s outdid themselves. Where the first two films presented audiences with disturbing ghost stories (the first film recently having its own Americanized remake with Jessica Alba), this film is nothing short of wasteful trash.

The film concerns a group of friends who find themselves visiting a friend’s home in Thailand where they play a game which will allow them to see ghosts. Sounds like an interesting idea for a film but the ways in which they play the game is what makes the film so ludicrous. One of the games has them bending over frontwards and looking between their legs to see ghosts while another one has them trying to give food to the ghosts while also banging on empty bowls. It’s nothing short of laughable, so, much so that it almost found myself taking the film out to get away from it.

Most of the Pang’s career consists of ghost stories which they tend to excel at only in this film it seemed as if they were trying to just grab another paycheck (king of like them remaking their own film BANGKOK DANGEROUS for the American market). It’s hard to recommend this film to people other then fans of the Pang brothers…then again I don’t recommend it fans either as it rarely ever feels like a Pang brothers film.

Just skip this movie. See one of the first two films again. You’ll be glad I warned you.

After Dark Films Presents CRAZY EIGHTS

Out of the four After Dark Horror Fest films that I screened in the same evening (the others included BORDERLAND, UNEARTHED, and TOOTH & NAIL) CRAZY EIGHTS is the most disappointing because of the great cast that was put together for the film. Included in the cast are Dina Meyer, George Newbern, Traci Lords, Dan DeLuca, Frank Whaley, and Gabrielle Anwar. This is probably the best cast of any of the After Dark Horror Fest Films.

CRAZY EIGHTS concerns a group of friends who get back together after a friend of theirs has died. They haven’t seen each other in many years so the reunion is a bitter one in which they all have their own inner demons. As part of this “healing” process of getting over their friends death (and a wish by their dead friend) they venture off to look for an old time capsule they buried. When in search of this capsule they find themselves trapped in a mysterious hospital which is all to familiar to them all but they don’t know why. As they try to find a way out hidden memories start to resurface leading them to remember an event at the hospital that has haunted them their entire lives and that will not let them leave the hospital alive.

As with many low budget indie films this film takes place almost exclusively in the one location. The production design is out standing and the cinematography is some of the best of any of the After Dark Horror Fest films thus far but the film doesn’t go anywhere. There is a lot of dialogue and talking amongst the characters but other than Whaley’s character none of them are all that interesting. The cast makes the best of the material which isn’t much as this film comes off as an Asian ghost story knock-off without the atmospheric dread and ghost with long hair. The ghost in this film is a little girl which isn’t really all that terrifying. The death scenes are interesting but never anything we haven’t already seen before which is sad considering what could have been achieved in the location at hand.

Writers Dan DeLuca, James K. Jones, and Ji-un Kwon try very hard to create a suspenseful psychological horror film but fail at every turn as the situations in this film have become cliché and over done. As director Jones does a capable job (especially in terms of the look and feel of the film) but the overall film is hampered by the fact that audiences have tired of this kind of film no matter how you slice and dice and reserve it up. This is one of the few “adult” horror films on hand from the Horror Fest and I’m sure they included it because of the variety in which it brought to the event but with all this talent available it should’ve been put to better use.

THE SEEKERS: ISH Screening at Gwinnett Center

My new company The SWIFF sponsored the first screening of the new Southlan-Films documentary THE SEEKERS: INVESTIGATING SOUTHERN HAUNTS, the pilot episode of a proposed series that was filmed over the last two years in multiple different locations. Being a skeptic of the whole paranormal phenomena I was aprehensive when I showed up on the set of the first shoot which was at a graveyard on Halloween night 2006.

I can honestly say that to me there was nothing present to indicate to me that there was any paranormal activity at the location.

The film and series in general, as produced by Ron McLellen, is meant to be an exploration of the Georgia Ghost Society as they go to various alledged haunted locations to see if they can prove or disprove the claims. Lead investigator Bob Hunnicutt, whom you may remember from several of my previous blog entries, is a devout believer in the paranormal and honestly wants to prove in its existence. Whether or not there is any "real" proof is second to experiencing "something." On the other hand producer/director Ron McLellen believes in the paranormal whether there is evidence or not. To parlay their enthusiasm about the subject matter and thelocations is investigator Drew Hester who seems to be a good moderator between the two.

All of these people were present at the screening which took place at the Gwinnett Center as part of The SWIFF's first Movie Event leading up to the actual film festival later this year. Although I do not believe in anything that was filmed or happened on set during the production of the film, the audience members who screened the filmed seemed to have liked and enjoyed the film regardless as they had many questions for Hunnicutt, Hester, McLellen, and Tim Beacham (also part of the team but whom was late).

The screening went over well with the audiences as well had about seventy people in attendance (out of eighty seats) and the Q&A session went longer than anticipated because of all the questions; Hunnicutt continued to answer questions long after the event had concluded.

As the Movie Event Coordinator there were many things that I needed to address, before, during, and after the screening, much to my surprise but this was our first screening/Movie Event and I will know better for next time. This was a learning event and we will know better for the next event.

I wasn't all that surprised that this event was going to cost me money in the end because I just wasn't prepared enough and this is after thinking that I was more then prepared. For the next Movie Event (which I hope will be a Cast & Crew screening of BAD LAND) there will be a different and more effeciant strategy and hopefully it will help shed more light on that which I am try accomplish with the Movie Events and the film festival itself.

THE GAITHER'S PLANTATION Pt. 4

Now that we are coming to the end of the night at the Gaither's Plantation I would like to shed light on the final incident that occurred. Unpon leaving Cecelia's bedroom we (Mui, Justin, and myself) ventured downstairs where he hooked up with Drew Hester's friend Charles. Not being one to be left out, Charles wanted to know if we wanted to do an other EVP session. I didn't care either way since I don't believe in there authenticity anyways but Mui and Justin agreed whole-heartedly. This time we decided to go into the basement of the facility which has a large stainless steel combination safe that was embedded into the wall and was probably used as a storage place for valuble items. The safe was now locked up tighter then Fort Knox, which didn't matter anyways because the combonation was probably lost through time.

Other than the safe the basement was completely empty with nothing else contained within. It was also very small and any more than six of seven people would probably make the place feel crampted. We decided that this would be the perfect place for our second EVP session of the night.

We each gathered up a chair and headed down into the basement. I don't remember who closed the door but the room became suddenly shrouded in total blackness and then I became truly aware of what it might feel like to be blind. This wasn't slight darkness, this was total blackness of all the senses. There were no windows from which the moonlight might creep through and no other rooms nearby. There was nothing but the sense of an enclosing blackness like the feeling you get when watching an eclipse.

We were each shrouded in the veil of night.

Unlike our previous location where even if all the lights were out we could still see and feel the warmth of the moonlight gleaming through the many windows, here it felt like a blackness of hell. Being shrouded in total blackness my senses began to dull. And quiet. And eventual take on a life of their own as I stopped hearing the breathing of everyone else in the room. I could hear no movement in the air nor feel it across my face because there was no air flow. I could not make out any shapes in the darkness. I began to look inwards slowly evolving and coming into a relaxed and meditative state.

I was alone. Or at least that's what I thought.

I don't know how long we were down in that room because when you enter a deep meditatiive state you tend to lose track of time as you become very in tune to not only yourself but your surroundings. This is what happened to me without me ever knowing it. My mind was blank. Calm. So calm that I don't recall anything from those moments other than I know I was not sleeping.

I know this because at some point during the session and my meditative state I heard voices. To me it sounded like children's voices. They were indistinguishable from one another and just sounded like noise in my head. The only thing I could do to quiet the voices was to yell out, "Quiet!" The voices didn't seem to hear me so I yelled it out again - "Quiet!"

Still no response so eventually I yelled, "Shut up the racked!" (or something to that effect. Since we were filming this I'm sure the exact words are on tape.) to which I finally realized the voices finally disappated. My concentration had been broken. I was fully back to the conscious world. At first I was a little peturbed but then I realized that everyone in the room was starring at me. And then it suddenlt dawned on me that none of them knew what in the hell I was talking about.

The EVP session had been interrupted by my utterance. I was a little embarrased at first but then when I told them my story I realized that no one else in the room had heard the children voices nor had they heard me say anything out loud other than my last line. They were under the impression that everything else was in my head.

"My head?" I thought to myself. Had I imagined it all? The child voices and the utterances for them to shut up? It felt really real to me even after they explanned it back to me. The whole incident was rather strange in that I usually didn't think that I could be so suceptible to such things. I don't know how to explain the incident.

All I know is that my conversation felt real at the time. I really believed that I was truly trying to get children to be quiet. I still don't know what to make of it all.

I walked out of the room a tad disoriented which is normal when you are put in such a situation and I began to question what was the point of it all. I'm not a palm reader and I don't see into the future nor know the past

What I did gather, mind you, was that there is more to this house then meets to I. Was I so enthralled in my meditative state that I lost control of what was fantasy and what is reality? Did I in fact hear the voices of children? Who knows? I don't really believe in the supernatural nor the religeous dogma that is inherent in every Christian myth and legend.

It was an unuasual incident in which I don't know how or what happened nor how it can be explained by someone like me who doen't believe in all of this. When I stepped out of that cold darkness and into the upstairs portion of the house I was extremely taken aback. I couldn't explain to anyon exactly what I heard or why I yelled out loud, but only that I did.

I was told later that the EVP session only lasted about thirty to forty-five minutes and to everyone else in the room this session was a complete bust. For me I had entered an unparralelled psychosis of pure relaxation and meditation of which I had never done before.

When we finally touched base with Ron McLellen and Bob Hunnicutt, Hunnicutt informed me that no previous owner of the house had children. This news was not what I was expecting as I was thinking that there might be ghost spirits everywhere. No such luck; therefore the nature and origins of these voices have up to this point remained a mystery to me.

As we packed up the gear at the slave quarters, in which David Vinson had spent his evening, the thoughts of the voices began to hound on me. We then all moved on to the church location where nothing happened or was caught on tape (that is nothing caught by the naked eye but maybe something would become better on a second viewing). Cleared perhaps?

The whole evening in my opinion was a bust but then again I was neither present at the slave quarters nor at the church so whom an I to say a word. My only experience on this investigation was as experienced at the main house where we were trying for a paranormal response.

I don't know how to evaluate these investigations therefore I don't. This is not something I always look forward to but it is part of my job as production manager on the film so I don't altogether mind. Although I failed to experience anything truly paranormal I look ward to each of these investigations because they are fun and inventive.

Whether or not they are real or not I leave it up to the audience(s) who view the film because ultimately they always have the benifit of the doubt.

THE GAITHER'S PLANTATION Pt. 3

That night of our most recent visit to the alledged haunted Gaither's Plantation did not, for me at least, seem to yield anything worth a damn but then again maybe I was just looking in the wrong place. As I've said before lead investigator Bob Hunnicutt and producer/director Ron McLellen were on location at the church while guest investigator David Vinson was in the slave quarters. Our production team of Vernon Mui and his friend Justin in addition to Charles (who was a friend of Georgia Ghost Society member Drew Hester) were also present.

Mui is a budding young filmmaker with an interest and curiosity in the paranormal. On the previous investigation at this location he engaged in his own private session with our guest psychic investigator to no avail so he was determined to try his luck once more in this house by use of an EVP session. If you are familiar with an EVP session then you know it is meant to be a way in which paranormal investigators try to illicit a response from ghostly spirits within an isolated room or domain. Since EVPs are electronic voice phenomena you are unable to hear the responses of ghostly spirits during the actual session; you must replay the session through your voice recorder or video camera in order to hear what a possible ghostly spirit is saying or would have said. It's a very shaky way in which to try to prove the existence of the paranormal (which is why it is not accepted in many corners) but it is a curiosity that begs to be investigated.

After I had my isolated session in Cecelia's room Mui wanted to conduct an actual EVP session in this very room. There was Mui and Justin and myself although point of fact I was nothing but an empty vessel and/or observer while they proceeded to ask the questions. We closed the door and turned off the lights and sat in total silence for a long spell before one of them decided to ask the "room" questions. The questions were very predictable at first which is to be expected by two people who had never been privy to an EVP session but were rather going off instinct with what they had seen on television. I, on the other hand, paid little attention to thing as I closed my eyes and sat back in one of the benches in the room.

The session lasted almost an hour and I recall absolutely nothing of what happened. This is not because I wasn't interested in the whole thing but rather my mind was fixated on the fact that my uncle had just died a day prior and I was trying to recall all the memories of him locked within my head.

What I do know is that Mui and Justin had now had a partial taste of what it was like to be a paranormal investigator but they soon wanted a full course meal.

We all went down stairs where Hester and his friend Charles made their presence known. The house now had actual bodies within it so it no longer seemed like a cold and lonely place (which is how I picture plantations in which slaves were used as manual labor). Although this hinted at the end of the evening, it would only be the start of Mui's investigations for the night in which I would find myself even more enraptured.

To Be Continued...

THE GAITHER'S PLANTATION Pt. 2

In the upstairs bedroom of Cecilia Gaither I decided to see if I could illicit my own paranormal experience.

At the time Ron McLellen and Bob Hunnicutt were at the church continuing that investigation or conducting interviews that coincide with the night's proceedings while David Vinson was at the slave quarters experiencing his own personal enlightenment in the haunted attic. That left the house empty except for me and our production assistants Vernon Mui and his friend Justin. While Mui and Justin were downstairs I walked upstairs to Cecilia's room.

Now this isn't first time I've been up in this room as it was one of the key locations for our previous investigations of which I participated (I was the camera op for that investigation with an IR camera). This time I decided to lie back on Cecilia's bed and stare into the darkness of the room. The room was extremely dark as it had no working overhead lighting. The only lighting that illuminated the room came from the moonlight streaming through the windows and the headlights of a passing car (fellow GGS investigator Drew eventually arrived with his assistant Charles).

I laid back upon the soft bed and all I could think about was the death of my uncle which I had only been told about a day earlier. I couldn't think of the paranormal investigation nor any other aspect of what I was physically there at the location to do. My mind was in a land-lock. As I lay back on the bed allowing the thoughts to stream through my consciousness I eventually realized that my thoughts began to manifest themselves out loud until they were no longer just thoughts but a conversation with Cecilia herself. As if her spirit was actually in the room I began to foretell all my personal thoughts about the paranormal, ghosts, death, and my uncle. She was my psychiatrist as feelings and thoughts that I've never told anyone else began to ooze out of me like the simplest of exercises.

I sat up in that room talking to Cecilia for a good hour and a half, if not more, before someone realized I had even disappeared. By the time I was done speaking with Cecilia my consciousness was calm were once it was a volcano about to erupt. Now I have no accertions that Cecilia was actually in the room hearing me although it is a confront to think that maybe she was. I don't believe that anyone or anything was actually in the room but for that moment in my life I wanted to believe that maybe there is another life out there just on the cuspe of our own. That maybe there was someone or something in that room with me.

Never on any of these investigations have I ever wanted to believe in what we were filming. I've been on several of these investigations with two separate groups and not once have I seen or experienced anything that would give me the inclination that there is an alternate or afterlife beyond our own. It is easier for me to believe that we are not the only intelligent species in the universe and that there may be EBEs, extra-terrestrials, or aliens, then it is for me to believe that ghosts inhabit and roam the Earth after death.

That night I not only settled several personal issues that was plaguing me but I also had an alternative experience that as of right now I cannot explain. Upon breaking from my personal experience in Cecilia's bedroom I was more open to the possibilities present out in the world. So, I became more involved with the production and what better way to open up to this production then to volunteer for some seperate investigations.

While McLellen, Hunnicutt, and Vinson were off in their own little world, Mui and his friend Justin and myself decided to do couple EVP sessions. This is an area of the paranormal that Mui has found himself very interested in and he invited me to conduct one in Cecilia's room - one of the most haunted of the location's of the Gaither's Plantation.

Everything was about to change...

TO BE CONTINUED...

THE GAITHER'S PLANTATION Pt. 1

On Friday, February 8th at approximately 6:00pm we arrived at the Gaither's Platation in one piece although two hours late of our scheduled time. In the car was Ron McLellen (the producer/director), David Vison (our guest investigator), and myself - the production manager of this little paranormal investigation. Although this would be only my second time out at the location (last Halloween night 2007 was the first), this world be McLellen's forth or fifth as he and the other members of the Georgia Ghost Society have been at this location on many an occassion. I on the other hand do not believe in ghost or the supernatural and thus this second trip didn't appeal to me in the slightest. I was only on set for moral support.

Unlike last Halloween when we focused the investigation on the main house this night's investigation would focus on the alledgedly haunted church also on the property (although it did not originate with the property but was moved here several years prior). I didn't see this location on my last visist as we kept the investigation on the main house and the slave quarters (which were still barely intact). Tonight we will be setting up the IR (infra-red cameras) cameras to see if we catch anything on take. The church is one of the most haunted areas on the pl;antaton and McLellen and the GGS wanted to add to their other great footage filmed over the corse of the last two years. Their idea is to set up two camera's in the church for several hours and just let them record.

There are no trick photography or set ups - everything in the doc is actually filmed on set as it is happening. After setting up the main location of the church upon arriving on set, we set up the slave quarters set once again. On Halloween we had Abrey Britt Bailey (lead singer of the Worm Wood Project) sit in the attic by himself as he was being filmed to get his experience in the alledged haunted location. This time the guest was Vinson whom McLellen and myself work with up at Gwinnett Center; Vinson is a sound engineer who wanted to be a part of the paranormal investigation and this was the best opportunity that we knew how to get him involved. He would get to be the one up in the haunted attic by himself in the dark with only the IR camera on him for as young as the tape in the camera lasted.

Although we didn't need to film anything at the main house this time (as that was the main location of the investigation on Halloween 2007) it was our base of opporation and a good location to do the initial interviews between Vinson, McLellen, and Bob Hunnicutt - the founder of the GGS and our Host for the show and liasson for all the locations. Hunnicutt would be leading the investigation and provide us (and the production) with all the background info we need to conduct the investigation.

My job on set is as production manager, which means I'm the gofer and general "bitch" of the location getting whatever needs to be got and accommodating everyone whenever needed. This night I wasn't needed as much as usual (and frankly, I'm rarely needed on these paranormal investigations as it is. I'm just there when I can be or when I think I might have fun. They tend to run themselves.). This night would be a different night for me as I would have a different agenda for coming to the location rather than just being a part of the investigation.

Two days earlier I received the tragic news that my uncle had passed away while in the hospital. It was unexpected and took me by surprise and when I found out I debated whether or not I even wanted to continue with the investigation. I thought long and hard about it but in the end I thought that it would do me good to continue on with the investigation. I would continue on and hope that with this newfound tragedy in my life that it would all become something barable. I also had an inkling for wanting to believe that maybe there are "spirits" and "ghosts" out there trapped in their own purgatory. Maybe there is an afterlife.

But mainly I needed to believe. I needed to believe in something. Anything. And what better place to learn about believing in something then to go to a haunted house and see and experience something truly unique and truly extraordinary. Something that could possibly make me believe.

I would try to have my own paranormal experience at the haunted house.

To Be Continued...