Lind recalls the “E.T.”-era Drew Barrymore with her poised and compelling performance as Heidi, and Sackhoff adds just the right touch of good-time-gal naughtiness to her vivid supporting turn as Joyce.Ĭicely Tyson appears briefly but effectively in a sequence that’s key to clarifying the backstory of the haunted house and the involvement of its original owner with the Underground Railroad.
Spencer hits all the right notes as Lisa’s maternal instincts gradually push her beyond her fears, while Murray persuasively plays Andy as a skeptical average Joe who winds up acknowledging the supernatural threat even before his wife does. Instead, the helmer generates suspense with shrewd pacing, deft emotional manipulation and efficient use of familiar tricks - jittery editing, flickering lights and unsettling sounds - common to haunted-house pics. To hear Lisa and Joyce talk, it’s simply something that runs in the family and requires routine preventive care.Įlkins shies away from explicit mayhem even when decaying corpses start to shuffle out of the shadows and make nuisances of themselves. The Wyricks come across as everyday working-class types (Andy clearly is employed as a prison guard, though his occupation has no bearing on the plot) who behave as though the ability to see ghosts isn’t so much a supernatural phenomenon as a troublesome malady. Even if one of those dead people seems hellbent on driving all the living folks off the property.įirst-time feature helmer Tom Elkins (who served as editor on the original “Haunting in Connecticut” and co-edited this pic) and scripter David Coggeshall do a fine job of grounding the story’s fantastical elements in something strongly resembling mundane reality.
But Joyce, who extends a surprise visit by moving into a decrepit trailer near the main house, thinks her niece should decide for herself whether she really wants to see dead people. Heidi is surprised - but, initially, not frightened - to find she can sense at least one of the spirits in their midst, because she shares with her mom and aunt Joyce ( Katee Sackhoff) an extrasensory perceptiveness known as a “veil.” For years, Lisa has tried to deny and/or muffle this dubious gift, often with pharmaceutical assistance. As Lisa (Abigail Spencer) and Andy Wyrick (Chad Michael Murray) explain to their young daughter, Heidi (Emily Alyn Lind), they couldn’t resist the new quarters because “the bank gave us such a good deal.” Unfortunately, they soon learn why the place is haunted by the ghosts of its original owner, the owner’s more recently deceased descendant, and several mid-19th-century slaves who visited the place back when it was a stop on the Underground Railroad.
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