You’ve probably seen the posters. The one with the guy pulling what looks like ectoplasm out of his mouth? It’s iconic. But when you look at the The Haunting in Connecticut cast, you aren't just looking at a group of actors hired to scream at shadows. You’re looking at a weirdly grounded ensemble that had to sell one of the most controversial "true story" claims in modern horror history.
Honestly, the movie is a bit of a trip. Released in 2009, it arrived right at the tail end of that mid-2000s obsession with "based on a true story" marketing. But while the actual Snedeker family (the real people the movie is based on) were dealing with what they claimed were demonic entities in a former funeral home, the actors had a different job: making us believe that a suburban kid with cancer was also being tormented by the dead.
Virginia Madsen as the Emotional Anchor
Virginia Madsen plays Sara Campbell. She’s the heart. If you don't buy her desperation as a mother trying to save her son from both Stage IV lymphoma and a haunted basement, the whole movie falls apart. Madsen came into this role shortly after her Oscar nomination for Sideways, which is kinda wild when you think about it. Most actors at that level steer clear of "creepy basement" movies.
She brings a specific type of weariness to the role. It’s not just "horror movie mom" scared; it’s "I haven’t slept in three weeks because my kid is dying" scared. That nuance is actually what makes the first act of the film work so well.
Kyle Gallner and the Physicality of Horror
Then there’s Kyle Gallner. If you were a horror fan in the late 2000s, Gallner was basically the face of the genre. He was in the A Nightmare on Elm Street remake, Jennifer's Body, and The Walking Dead. In this film, he plays Matt Campbell.
Matt is based on Philip Snedeker. The real Philip was a teenager when the family moved into the house in Southington, Connecticut, back in 1986. Gallner had to do a lot of heavy lifting here. He’s playing a kid who is undergoing experimental cancer treatments while simultaneously seeing visions of old-school morticians doing unspeakable things to corpses.
Gallner’s performance is haunting because he looks genuinely frail. There’s a scene where he’s scraping wallpaper off the walls—a classic horror trope—and the way he moves makes you feel the physical toll of his character’s illness. It’s a dual-threat role: he’s battling his body and the house.
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The Supporting Players: Elias Koteas and Martin Donovan
Elias Koteas plays Reverend Popescu. You might recognize him as Casey Jones from the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or from Chicago P.D. Here, he’s the guy who provides the "spiritual" explanation for the haunting. Interestingly, his character is a bit of a composite. In the real-life Snedeker case, the family actually reached out to the famous demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren.
The movie swaps the Warrens for a single priest who is also battling cancer. It's a smart narrative choice. It connects the "expert" to the protagonist in a way that feels less like a lecture and more like shared trauma.
Martin Donovan plays the dad, Peter Campbell. He’s the skeptic. Every horror movie needs one, but Donovan plays him with a specific type of recovering-alcoholic grit. He’s not just skeptical because he’s a "man of science"; he’s skeptical because he’s barely holding his own life together and can’t handle one more crisis.
What Most People Get Wrong About the Cast and the Reality
Here is where things get messy. When we talk about the The Haunting in Connecticut cast, we often forget the people they were portraying. The real Snedeker family has had a very complicated relationship with this story for decades.
Ray Garton, the author who was originally hired by the Warrens to write the book In a Dark Place (which the movie is based on), has gone on record saying the story was mostly bunk. He claimed that the family couldn't keep their stories straight and that Ed Warren told him to "just make it up" and make it scary.
- The Mortuary Angle: The movie leans hard into the idea that the house was a funeral home where the morticians were practicing necromancy.
- The Real House: The real house in Southington was indeed a former funeral home, but there is zero evidence that anything occult was happening there.
- The Ectoplasm: That famous scene with the ectoplasm? That’s 100% Hollywood. The real family claimed to see ghosts, but the physical manifestations in the film were dialed up to eleven for the "Discovery Channel" crowd.
Despite the skepticism, the cast treats the material with total sincerity. That’s probably why the movie has such a long tail on streaming services. They aren't winking at the camera.
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The Casting of the "Ghosts"
We should talk about the actors who played the spirits. It’s a thankless job. You spend six hours in a makeup chair having your skin made to look like it was etched with necrography (the writing on the skin seen in the film).
Erik J. Berg plays Jonah, the medium from the flashbacks. His performance is mostly silent, but he has to convey a massive amount of agony. The film’s climax hinges on his character’s backstory, and Berg manages to look both terrifying and pitiable. It’s a tough balance.
Why the Performances Still Hold Up
Even if you don’t believe a word of the "true story" claims, the movie works because of the chemistry between Madsen and Gallner.
Horror is usually about the "jump scare." But this film is actually a drama about a family being torn apart by medical bills and terminal illness, which then happens to have ghosts in it. That’s a very different vibe than something like Insidious or The Conjuring.
The cast had to play the grief first. If you remove the ghosts, you still have a pretty harrowing movie about a mother watching her son die. Adding the ghosts just externalizes that internal rot.
Behind the Scenes: The Canadian Connection
Funny enough, "Connecticut" was actually Winnipeg, Manitoba. Most of the movie was filmed in Canada for tax reasons. This is a common trope in mid-budget horror, but the production designers did a decent job of making the flat Canadian prairies look like the wooded suburbs of New England.
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The house itself was a character. The cast has mentioned in various older interviews that the set felt "heavy." Whether that was just the effect of the dim lighting and the fact that they were filming in a cramped, old house, or something more, it translated to the screen.
A Look at the Career Trajectories
After the film, the The Haunting in Connecticut cast went in very different directions.
- Virginia Madsen: She stayed busy in TV and film, recently appearing in the Swamp Thing series and Elementary. She remains one of those "prestige" actors who isn't afraid to do a genre flick.
- Kyle Gallner: He became an indie darling. If you haven't seen him in Dinner in America or the 2022 Scream, you’re missing out. He’s developed a reputation for playing intense, slightly offbeat characters.
- Amanda Crew: She played the cousin, Wendy. Shortly after this, she landed her breakout role in HBO’s Silicon Valley as Monica Hall. It’s a complete 180 from her role in a supernatural horror movie.
Practical Insights for Horror Fans
If you’re revisiting this movie because of the cast, keep a few things in mind. First, don't go in expecting a documentary. The "true story" label is a marketing tool used by the studio and the Warrens.
Instead, watch it as a study in how to ground a supernatural plot with high-level acting. Pay attention to the scenes in the hospital. Those are arguably scarier than the scenes in the basement because they feel real.
If you want to dig deeper into what actually happened in that house, I’d suggest looking up Ray Garton’s interviews. He’s incredibly blunt about how the story was constructed. It provides a fascinating contrast to the movie’s script.
To get the most out of your rewatch, look for the subtle ways the cast portrays "illness" versus "possession." Kyle Gallner’s performance is a masterclass in blurring those lines. He makes you wonder, at least for a while, if the ghosts are just a side effect of his medication. That ambiguity is where the real horror lives.
Take a look at the 2002 Discovery Channel documentary A Haunting in Connecticut as well. It features the real family. Comparing the real people to the actors in the 2009 film shows you exactly where Hollywood decided to "beautify" the tragedy. You’ll see that the movie cast brings a level of empathy to the roles that the sensationalized "re-enactments" in the documentary lack.
Focus on the performances, ignore the "based on true events" text at the beginning, and you’ll find a much more rewarding experience. The acting is what keeps this movie from being just another forgotten 2000s jump-scare fest. It’s a heavy, dark, and surprisingly well-acted piece of genre cinema that deserves a second look for the performances alone.