A Haunting in Georgia

01/04/2017 16:33

Film: A Haunting in Georgia

Year: 2002

Director: Jeffrey Fine

Writer: Michael Ray Brown

Starring: Mary Barclay, Anthony D. Call and Michael Patrick

 

Review:

This documentary is about what happened to the family that was the basis of A Haunting in Connecticut 2: Ghosts of Georgia. The family consists of a mother, a father and two daughters. The haunting they experience begins before the birth of their second child. The documentary is narrated by Anthony D. Call.

It all begins when the family buys a home in Georgia. The house was abandoned by the previous owners and the family doesn’t ask why they left. They move in and their daughter Heidi, reenacted by Kelsey Lowenthal, meets a man named Mr. Gordy, played by Robert Suhr. Lowenthal asks her mother if she can go swimming at his place and she freaks out, afraid that he is trying to kidnap her. The father is alerted and he comes home. They do not find anyone.

There are no children in the neighborhood, so Lowenthal spends most of her days speaking with Suhr. Her mother doesn’t mind it, thinking it is a little bit odd, but that this is her imaginary friend. The family does become concerned when Lowenthal is terrified of an entity she calls the ‘Faceless Man’. Lowenthal also meets someone with a bloody shirt on the porch.

A house becomes available next to the mother’s sister, so they move there. They meet the former owner of this house. It is through her that we learn that Mr. Gordy was a real man that handled the business affairs of the former owner’s mother. The man with the bloody shirt was also her uncle. The problem is that both have been dead for sometime. The mother even takes Lowenthal to see the grave for Mr. Gordy. The cemetery has quite a few in it, but Lowenthal goes right to where his grave is, almost like she had been there before.

In this new house, the haunting becomes even worse. Lowenthal wakes up in the middle of the night with her face burning. She goes into her parent’s room and she has three cuts on it. The next night the same thing happens to the father’s side. The night after that there are some more on his back and it continues to attack him. They decide to call in a professor to see if he can help them.

William Roll is the man they call in. He takes readings and tells the family that they are not experiencing ghosts, but that there is a fault line by the house. The change in magnetic energy is causing them to hallucinate, but of course, he cannot account for the cuts on them.

The family continues to live their life though without any major issues. They have another daughter and then she begins to be visited by a little girl. The mother is even more concerned. A psychic is called in as well as Roll. The family leaves to not influence what she finds. It turns out that she describes the spirits in the house the same way the two daughters have.

Heidi also begins to be bullied at school for her ability. A reporter comes, played by Michael Patrick Larson, but he sees something in the window and never enters. This helps get the story around.

A new minister comes to town and the mother also seeks out a psychic who is also a Christian. He tells her that there is a demonic presence in the house. She then asks the minister for help.

Will these people be able to rid the house of the spirits or is this something they will have to deal with for the rest of their lives?

Now a film like this is hard to critique, because it is documentary. They do not add anything for entertainment value and it is just the facts. I will say that this would be a scary ordeal to deal with. Mr. Gordy and the little girl that visit the two sisters are good presences. This would be scary as a parent, but in the end, it can just be played off as imaginary friends. They actually are more of a protective spirit which is a good thing. The scary part comes from the voices the mother hears, the faceless man that Heidi sees as well as the attacks that occur to the family.

Now my issue that makes me question if this is real. We get three different ‘experts’ in the house and they all come up with a different explanation. Now they all describe the same entities in the house, but one thinks they are just spirits, some good and some bad. While the other believes that some are demons, which are much different than ghosts. The other expert doesn’t see or feel anything, because he’s a man of science yet he does give a possible solution. I know this isn’t an exact science, but I wonder if some of these people are taking advantage of the families who are experiencing something that they feel is real. It can also be explained that the story had gotten around, which is how they could describe the spirits that are supposedly in the house.

With that said, I would only recommend this if you are interested in the truth behind The Haunting in Connecticut 2: Ghosts of Georgia. This film and the true story are not as exciting as the one in the film. If you like ghost stories and their haunting, then you might be interested in giving this a viewing. This is a documentary that is going to give the facts, so keep that in mind as well.

 

My Rating: 6 out of 10