The Opening:
The titles last for about 1 minute 50 seconds. They start with white writing on black, giving the names of the production companies. A classical piece created for the movie by Robert J. Kral is played over the top. It is a basic, childish and old-fashioned piece. After this a series of black and white photos of families are shown. They feature people dressed in black, and look about 100 years old. The costumes have connotations of death, as the subjects are morose, and dressed in funeral attire. Interjected between the photos are footage of necromancy; bodies being mutilated and sliced by a man.
The music changes, it is the same piece, but it jumps and is crackly and played at a higher pitch, with sound effects added. The photos zoom out to show that the morose looking people are with dead people, either in coffins, beds or even sitting next the others. The effect of this is that it adds a creepy and slightly disgusting edge to the film, and has connotations of what has happened in the house. The footage of necromancy becomes gorier, and features lots of blood. The music becomes less old-fashioned and classical and has more of a basis of sound effects and eerie sounds. The images flash and flicker in time with the music, then the pictures and images disappear and the screen is just black. Then the title ‘The haunting in Connecticut’ appears in a creamy white. It is fuzzy and fades from a blur to words. The title comes closer to the screen, the fuzzes out again.
The Highlights:
Many parts of the film were too obvious and too cliched to be effective, however there were some excellently directed moments. One of these was the poem that Matthew’s cellmate repeated after Matthew’s escape:
“One bright day in the middle of the night,
Two dead boys got up to fight,
Back to back they faced each other,
Then drew their swords and they shot each other,
A deaf policeman herd the noise,
And he came and he killed those two dead boys”
The words here added emphasis to the scene, adding an eerie difference to this scene from the rest of the film. This is one of the only moments in the film that does not use loud noises, cliches or special effects to scare the audience.
The other part of this film that is well acted and produced, is when the father comes home drunk. The destruction of the light bulbs hints to the disappearance of light from the house, and the loss of innocence that the film wants to give to its audience. The acting in this scene is excellent, and the music and lighting really adds to the atmosphere. This scene adds the authenticity that the rest of the film lacks.
The scene in the film that fulfils the conventions of horror most effectively is when Matthews mother hears something moving in her bedroom. She is alone in the room and moves to turn the light on when a face appears in front of her. It is one of the necrophilia bodies, and the shot is POV from Mrs Campbell, a shock tactic that allows the audience to access the characters fear. The lighting in this scene is dark, which adds to the ambiance of the scene. It preempts that something bad will happen during this scene. Although the effects used during this scene are cliched (shock tactics, darkened atmosphere, eerie music), they are effective, and they fit with the connotations of horror.
The camera shots used when Reverend Popescu attempts to remove the remains from the house are used to give the effect of another presence in the shot. Although this can be construed as being from the audiences point of view, it also gives the impression that the spirit is trying to remain in the house. One of the shots in particular (when Reverend Popescu is at the top of the stairs) makes it look like there is another being in the shot. The camera is at the bottom of the stairs looking up. This implies that there is someone trying to get out, which very effectively scares the audience.
