The Haunting in Connecticut
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The Story
In 1987, a teenage son’s experimental cancer treatments at a distant hospital force a family to move into an old rental house close to the facility. The son, Matt (Kyle Gallner), begins seeing horrific things in the basement of the house and exhibiting increasingly disturbing behavior.
At first convinced Matt is having hallucinations as a side-effect of the cancer treatments, his mom Sara (Virginia Madsen), dad Peter (Martin Donovan), and siblings try to comfort him. But they begin to suspect something more is going on when they learn the house was once a funeral home with a violent history.
A fellow cancer patient and minister (Elias Koteas) tries to help Matt and his family sort out the truth. Is Matt really experiencing an evil presence, or is it his medication? Is he losing touch with reality, or is he in touch with a reality of a different kind?
Content Issues
This is not a movie for children or young teenagers. The spiritually twisted content, grotesque images, language (including Jesus’ name in vain), and the inclusion of young children in some of the more frightening sequences make its PG-13 barely appropriate. I personally wouldn’t recommend it for anyone under 16.
Worldview Talking Points
Effective horror movies about hauntings, ghosts, and evil spirits can provoke two unhealthy reactions for younger viewers. The most obvious issue is fear. Any entertainment that gives kids a lingering sense of fear and dread should cause us some concern.
The other possibility is that a powerful story can confuse and warp a right understand of how the supernatural world really works, especially in terms of what happens to humans souls or spirits after we die.
As mentioned above, “Haunting” amplifies those concerns with the idea that it is “based on true events” and has been legitimized by a Discovery Channel doc about the house.
However, the actual evidence in the case is wildly inconclusive and based on a few key and questionable first-hand reports. Of course, a horror movie’s job is to take creative liberties in hopes of scaring the audience. We suspect it will succeed with many younger viewers.
Obviously, again, we’re not recommending that any young teens see the film. However, teens scared by horror tales about ghosts and spirits are sometimes intensely curious to know what the Bible teaches about these things.
Don’t miss an opportunity to talk with your teens about what you believe to be true—and deceptive—about any stories that might have scared them.
For a very brief biblical take, check out the worldview section of our review for students at PlanetWisdom.com. For a more thorough understanding of these issues and how they relate to teens, consider reading Mark Matlock’s book, Don’t Buy the Lie.
A few of the following questions might help uncover what your teen is thinking about “The Haunting in Connecticut” and help you to teach some truth from God’s Word.
- Do you think you like horror movies, in general? Did you like this one? Why or why not?
- Do you think it’s a good thing to watch movies that leave your scared? Do you think God wants us to feel afraid? How do you know?
- If horror movies don’t scare you a little, what is the point of watching them?
- Was this movie more scary to you because it is supposed to be based on true events? Do you believe the things shown in the movie actually happened?
- Do you believe that the souls or spirits of humans can get “stuck” here on earth after people die? Why or why not? [Parent: A good Scripture to reference is 2 Corinthians 5:6-8, where Paul says that once a believer dies he is immediately in heaven with God. Another option is the story of the rich man and Lazarus from Luke 16:19-31, where the unbeliever immediately reaches his destination.]
- Do you believe in ghosts, then? Why or why not?
- How would ghosts fit into what the Bible teaches about life after death?
- How would you describe the four main supernatural creatures talked about in the Bible: God, Satan, angels, and demons?
- Do you think the Bible teaches that demons can sometimes cause supernatural events to occur? Do you think it’s likely that demons could have been involved in the real-life events that serve as the basis for this movie—if anything supernatural really ever happened in that house, at all?
- What are some good questions we should ask when deciding how much to trust stories about supernatural things? Should we be ready to believe such stories or more naturally skeptical?
- As Christians, how can we know that we’re safe from any supernatural darkness or evil? Can we know for sure? (See Romans 8:38-39.)
- What can we do to get rid of lingering fear about movies or ghosts or demons? Do you do something that helps you with that, if you ever feel scared?
Byron Williams on Apr 03, 2009 said...
This is so radical! I love it! Using the enemy’s media against them. Just Philippians 4:8 your mind and continue to live like Jesus, using the natural to communicate the supernatural, and the tragedy (of calvary) to bring us the Gospel of Jesus’ ressurection from(by) God and in us!