Beware of horror films that are "Based on a true story". Generally speaking, the true parts are either grossly exaggerated or completely made up. The new ghost story "The Haunting in Connecticut " proclaims to be "Based on a true story", but after watching it, I'd be hard pressed to tell you what parts, if any, are actually true. What I can tell you is, true or not, this is much better than David S. Goyer's silly "Exorcist" knock off "The Unborn".

"The Haunting in Connecticut" tells the story of a family in dire straits, who opt to move to a inexpensive home in the countryside after the oldest son is diagnosed with cancer. Determined to beat the cancer, young Matt Campbell (played winningly by Kyle Gallner) agrees to subject himself to special, untested treatments. Treatments that could have strange side effects. Shortly after moving into the new home, Matt begins having strange visions, posing his concerned parents and siblings to ask the big question; Is their house haunted, or are these visions being brought on by Matt's treatments. Lucky for the Campbells, they have the good Reverend Popescu (Elias Koteas in a thankless role) on hand to explain to them what's going on.

As "The Haunting in Connecticut" began, I actually got sucked into it. Not because of the creepy happenings occurring in the home, but because I cared about Matt and his parents. This film has a surprising amount of drama for a horror picture. What's more, Kyle Gallner is really effective here. Virginia Madsen is also strong as Matt's emotionally devastated mother.

The ghost story at the heart of the plot is a stock one. We've seen it countless times. From the get go, it's obvious that something weird happened at the home years earlier, and once Matt's visions begin materializing, "The Haunting In Connecticut" plays like a fusion of "Poltergeist", "The Shining", "The Sixth Sense", and "The Amitville Horror". Director Peter Cornwell sets the stage for a few effective jolts, and some unsettling imagery, but too often, the film's biggest scares are accompanied by the obligatory loud music cue. Still, through the first half of the picture, I was fairly engaged.

Once the second half of the film is set into motion and we discover the truth behind these visions, the movie sort of derails. Not only in terms of the supernatural plot element, but in terms of the drama as well. The scenes in which Madsen struggles to hold her self together at the sight of her son suffering are fine, but dad's battle with personal demons (he's an alcoholic) leads to one of the film's most cliched scenes. As for where the supernatural portion of the plot leads, it's all pretty predictable and, ultimately, uneventful. Where Matt ends up at the end of the film is the most intriguing aspect of the entire picture, but I'm not entirely certain what it has to do with the rest of the movie.

I'm pretty burned out on the PG-13 rated horror film craze. A PG-13 rated horror film can be effective I suppose. "The Ring" gave me chills and so did "The Exorcism of Emily Rose". "The Haunting in Connecticut" isn't as chilling as either of those movies, but the performances are strong and I applaud the film makers for injecting a little bit of drama into the proceedings.