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Haunting in Connecticut 2 (The): Ghosts of Georgia (Blu-ray)
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray B - United Kingdom - Lions Gate Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Paul Lewis (4th March 2014). |
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The Film
 The Haunting In Connecticut 2: Ghosts of Georgia (Tom Elkins, 2013) The American television series A Haunting (New Dominion Pictures, 2005-13) somewhat reinvigorated the world of paranormal documentaries, with its mixture of interviews with the participants and some very effective dramatisations of events. A number of subsequent series followed its format closely, including The Haunted (Picture Shack Entertainment, 2009-11), Paranormal Witness (Raw Television, 2011- ) and When Ghosts Attack (Sirens Media, 2013- ). The formula for A Haunting, and the paranormal documentary series that have followed in its wake, was established in two feature-length documentaries produced (and aired) in 2002: A Haunting in Connecticut and A Haunting in Georgia. The first of these documentaries, A Haunting in Connecticut focused on the case of the Snedeker family (renamed the Parker family for the purposes of the documentary) who, in 1986, moved into an old house in Southington, Connecticut, only to discover that they were plagued by aggressive supernatural phenomena. With the aid of (in)famous paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren, the Snedeker/Parkers discovered that their new home used to be a funeral parlour and is haunted by an apparently evil presence. This documentary was adapted into the 2009 feature film The Haunting in Connecticut, directed by Peter Cornwell. The second documentary, A Haunting in Georgia, examined the case of the Wyrick family who, upon moving to an isolated house in Georgia during the early 1990s, also began to experience paranormal phenomena – most of which seemed to revolve around their four year old daughter Heidi, who was often found in conversation with her ‘imaginary friend’, Mr Gordy. When another spirit seemed to appear on the property, frightening Heidi, the Wyricks became increasingly concerned. The activity intensified, and both Heidi and Andy seemed to be physically harmed by the ghosts in the house, who left both of them with deep scratches. The film under discussion, A Haunting in Connecticut 2: Ghosts of Georgia, uses the Wyricks’ story as a springboard for its own narrative: the setup, up to Heidi’s interactions with Mr Gordy, and some of the imagery is heavily predicated on A Haunting in Georgia, but the film takes the Wyricks’ story in a very different direction. In this film, the Wyricks – Lisa (Abigail Spencer), Andy (Chad Michael Murray) and their young daughter Heidi (Emily Alyn Lind) – all move into a house that Andy has bought at a heavily reduced price. Joyce (Katee Sackhoff), Lisa’s sister, inhabits an abandoned trailer that sits next to the house. Shortly, Heidi begins to see the spirit of Mr Gordy (Grant James), later revealed to be the house’s former owner. Andy is perplexed, but Lisa is troubled: both she and Joyce have inherited a ‘gift’ of psychic visions, passed down through the women in their family, and it seems that this ‘gift’ has also been passed to Heidi. Where Joyce has embraced her ‘gift’, Lisa has suppressed it through medication, believing it to be the manifestation of a mental illness. The Wyricks experience heightened paranormal activity. Soon, they learn that their house sits near the site of the home of a ‘station master’ on the infamous Underground Railroad. The station master would harbour fugitive slaves as they fled to freedom, helping them to pass from one ‘station’ to the next. However, as the frightening activity escalates, the Wyricks come to realise that the station master, a taxidermist, may have been less saintly than he is believed to have been, and Mr Gordy, who they initially took as a troubling presence, may in fact be there to help them. The film begins with a fairly straightforward account of the Wyricks’ experiences, as documented in A Haunting in Georgia, but after half an hour or so the narrative deviates from the Wyricks’ story and focuses on the spectre of the station master and the ghosts of several fugitive slaves. As the film progresses, it becomes increasingly indebted to the films of Lucio Fulci. The spectre of the station master – who was lynched by other members of the community, a sackcloth placed over his head and his belly filled with sawdust in a perverse echo of his role as a taxidermist – seems to appear and disappear in the blink of an eye, shown largely in silhouette and framed by a strong backlight. The station master’s appearances are like those of the ghost of the suicided priest of Dunwich in Fulci’s Paura nella città dei morti vivent/City of the Living Dead (1980), who similarly appears and disappears through jump cuts and is also accompanied by a strong backlight (and copious use of a fog machine). In Fulci’s City of the Living Dead, the appearance of the priest’s ghost causes characters to vomit up their internal organs; here, the station master’s appearances cause characters to vomit up sawdust and maggots (clearly intended to be symbolic of the circumstances of the station master’s death). The climax of the film – with Lisa’s realisation that in order to save her daughter Heidi, who has been abducted by the station master, she must embrace her psychic ‘gift’ rather than suppress it through medication – involves Lisa descending into a cavern below the Underground Railroad station. To some extent, this recalls the descent of the protagonists of City of the Living Dead (Catriona MacColl and Christopher George) into the catacombs beneath Dunwich’s graveyard. However, as Lisa finds herself struggling to rescue her daughter and escape from the cavern, the station master grabbing her ankle, the sequence develops increasing similarities with the climactic sequence of Fulci’s Quella villa accanto al cimitero/House by the Cemetery (1981). In that film, Lucy Boyle (Catriona MacColl) descends into the basement of her house in order to rescue her young son Bob (Giovanni Frezza). Bob has been captured by Dr Freudstein (Giovanni De Nava), a scientist who, through rebuilding his body with the flesh and organs of his victims, has apparently found the secret to extending his lifespan indefinitely. Lucy and Bob try to escape from Freudstein by climbing some ladders and breaking their way through a tombstone that leads from the basement into the nearby cemetery. The structure of the sequence in Ghosts of Georgia has similarities with the climax of Fulci’s film (a mother descends into a subterranean nightmare in order to rescue her young child from a malevolent spirit/’zombie’) and some of the imagery does too (Lisa and Heidi’s attempt to escape from the station master by climbing a ladder; the station master’s grabbing of Lisa’s ankle). Most strikingly, the station master – with his silent demeanour and the sackcloth over his skeletal face – resembles the ‘patchwork’ Dr Freudstein. The film is uncut and runs for 100:58 mins.<
Video
The film is presented in its intended aspect ratio of 2.40:1. The 1080p presentation uses the AVC codec. Benefitting from some good photography (especially during the night scenes, which are presented here with strong contrast and deep blacks), the film has the clean aesthetic of a film shot on digital video. Some sequences – notably analepses/flashbacks or those sequences shot from the perspective of the Wyrick women as they experience their psychic visions – are ‘filmised’ (ie, given a fake layer of grain to simulate the look of high speed 35mm film) and given a strong sepia tint.
Audio
The film’s sound design is clichéd (lots of ‘stings’ to accompany quick scares) but, given this, effective. A lossless 5.1 track (presented in DTS-HD Master Audio) offers a rich soundscape that comes alive during the more frightening sequences. Optional English subtitles for the Hard of Hearing are provided.
Extras
The disc includes a featurette entitled ‘Seeing Ghosts: The True Story of the Wyricks’ (HD, 10:18), in which the Wyricks, writer David Coggeshall and director Tom Elkins offer discussion of the events on which the film is, very loosely, based. Deleted scenes are available, with optional audio commentary by director Tom Elkins (HD, 17:47). A number of these are simply early edits of scenes that already appear, in a slightly different form, in the finished version of the picture. The scenes include: ‘Original opening to [the] movie’, ‘Heidi explores the property’, ‘Andy looks for Mr Gordy’, ‘Early version of Lisa/Heidi discussing Mr Gordy’, ‘Pastor Wells arrives’, ‘Andy and Lisa discuss Heidi’, ‘Feeding Chief’, ‘Hospital conversation’, ‘Andy and Lisa pillow talk’, ‘Joyce offers to help’, ‘Lisa makes a decision’, ‘Heidi gets a taste of mom’s medicine’, and ‘“A bad place”, extended version’. Outtakes (HD, 4:00). This is a collection of ‘bloopers’.
Overall
Burdened by a ridiculous title, The Haunting in Connecticut 2: Ghosts of Georgia is actually a reasonably good supernatural horror picture, albeit one that treads very familiar ground. The tension escalates as the picture progresses, although the characters commit the same frustrating errors that have become de rigueur for pictures of this kind: leaving their pet dog alone outside, or leaving Heidi in the car by herself whilst the spirits attack the family. There’s a curious moment that doesn’t quite ring true, when after Heidi almost drowns in the bathtub, a doctor at the local hospital tells Andy and Lisa, ‘I suggest you consult a psychiatrist… or a priest’. Additionally, although the film is set in 1993, there is little to no attention paid towards period detail, and the film could just as easily be set in the present day. As with so many American horror films made since the early-2000s, many of the scare sequences seem to draw on the conventions of ‘J Horror’ pictures like Ringu (Hideo Nakata, 1998). However, as noted above the climax of the film seems heavily indebted to Lucio Fulci’s City of the Living Dead and The House by the Cemetery. The film is an interesting, although unremarkable, horror picture. The presentation here is pleasing, although the US disc (locked to region ‘A’) contains a commentary track that is sadly missing from this UK release. Nevertheless, there’s a fairly good supply of contextual material here: the short featurette is interesting in its examination of the Wyricks’ experiences, and in particular Heidi’s reflections on what happened to her as a child, and the deleted scenes (with optional commentary by Elkins) are a welcome addition. Although The Haunting in Connecticut 2: Ghosts of Georgia will not reinvent the horror genre, it’s an effective and occasionally creepy horror picture that may have been better marketed as a ‘standalone’ film, rather than being saddled with such an unfortunate title.
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