When buying a house, it’s usually expected that “”what you see is what you get.”” However, the Campbell family is about to uncover the dark past behind their new home in “”The Haunting In Connecticut.””

Life is hell for Matt Campbell (Kyle Gallner), who’s been diagnosed with cancer and is undergoing treatment. However, for Sara Campbell (Virginia Madsen), making the eight hour drive from her home in upstate New York to the hospital in Connecticut is no walk in the park either. To solve this problem, Sara rents a house in Connecticut that is only minutes away from the hospital. She is amazed at how low the rent is, but soon discovers the catch – the house used to be a funeral home. Despite this slightly creepy fact, Sara decides to stay in the house anyway. Almost immediately, Matt starts to see and experience things he cannot explain. To make matters worse, nobody else seems to be seeing the things he does, making him feel alone. Sara believes Matt’s treatment is the cause and begins to question whether Matt is really seeing things or if there’s something evil within the house.

Whether it’s Matt battling his cancer, Sara battling to find hope, or Peter (Martin Donovan), the father, battling his previous alcoholism, there’s a conflict for everyone. Aside from these secondary battles is the main war: the family versus the spirits. Director Peter Cornwell does a great job of showing how these different fights take a toll on everyone’s life. The movie opens up with Sara recounting what happened, creating a true story atmosphere; it’s almost as if they are interviewing the actual person.

While “”The Haunting In Connecticut”” contains many true experiences from the event, some things were altered. For example, the family’s name was Parker, not Campbell. Also, some of the “”flashbacks”” that Matt saw whenever he and his family would join hands to say grace is not part of the original story. Peter was said to have been an alcoholic when in reality, he wasn’t. In a way, Hollywood did corrupt the original story, but not as much as other movies like “”Black Hawk Down”” (Josh Hartnett’s character actually drove a jeep, he didn’t repel in on the black hawk). Despite corruption, “”The Haunting In Connecticut”” still made a great movie.

Rating: ****