The Haunting in Connecticut

Woe be to you if you don't see this film in a theater packed with back talking New Yorkers. Because then you might be forced to concentrate on what's on screen.

Haunted-house movies would be nothing without the odd frisson of scepticism. This is the best in quite a while.

The line between a great haunted house thriller and a mediocre one is very, very slim.

Madsen barely emotes during the ensuing flood of hokey scare tactics.

I wish Haunting had trusted its plot and its dank visuals -- which are often extraordinary -- instead of relying on cheap thrills of the cat-jumps-out-of-the-closet variety.

The Haunting in Connecticut might offer the occasional jolt, some creepy imagery, and maybe even a moment or two of genuine fright, but the production resorts to ghost movie clichés that audiences have grown accustomed to over the years.

The Haunting in Connecticut remains a predictable vehicle of horror, lost within the masses.

[D]espite Adam Swica's shadowy cinematography, and some well-timed shocks there's a sense that we've seen it all before.

Solidly made, watchable.