20 TERRIBLE Horror Movies That Were Huge Hits

15. The Haunting in Connecticut

The Haunting in Connecticut
Lionsgate

Hands up if you remember anything about The Haunting in Connecticut, a thunderously generic supernatural horror film which, despite solid performances from Virginia Madsen and Kyle Gallner, painted firmly within the lines of the cliched, jump scare-packed supernatural horror flick.

But none of this stopped the film from making away with $78.8 million - a sizable return on its $10 million budget.

This can be attributed to a few factors, first and foremost that supernatural horror enjoyed a resurgence in popularity around the 2010s, with movies centered around possession proving particularly successful. Elsewhere, the "based on a true story" framing is pretty much a cheat code for adding interest to a horror film, and with its permissive PG-13 rating, it evidently lured in teenagers likely to be less fatigued by its overfamiliarity.

Despite the picture's success, standalone sequel The Haunting in Connecticut 2: Ghosts of Georgia received only a paltry theatrical release, where it failed to recoup even its low $8 million budget.

Contributor
Contributor

Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.