"The Haunting In Connecticut" Features An Orthodox Priest

The Haunting In Connecticut Features An Orthodox Priest

This past weekend I had the opportunity to see The Haunting In Connecticut. It is about a young boy undergoing experimental cancer treatment who has supernatural experiences with entities in his house (which used to be a mortuary). I've been familiar with the true account behind this fictionalized version for a number of years, which is why I anticipated seeing this film to analyze how much fact would be preserved in the story. I should be clear that I hesitate to use the word "fact" when it comes to this story, since the evidence seems to point to at least some fabrication in hopes of cashing in on the success of The Amytiville Horror released a few years before the reported incidents, though I don't doubt the house could have been actually haunted to a certain extent. And there is a connection between the two stories of Amytiville and Connecticut - famous quack paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren. When the Warren's are involved in a case, doubts start swirling in my head.

The movie itself is a good horror movie in its own right. The basic plotline is fairly accurate to the book about the haunting which is titled In A Dark Place, though the book took creative license with the actual story as well (the victimized family had no involvement with the book and acknowledge it is not really accurate to the reality of their situation). One particular character featured in the film however that has nothing to do with any real character to the story is an Orthodox priest.

This Orthodox priest is played by Greek/Canadian actor Elias Koteas who is meant to be a respectable replacement for the Warren's, who had a lot to do with the fabrications of the book but were not willing to sign off on the movie. In this movie Koteas plays the fictional Reverend Popescu who reunites with Virginia Madsen (who plays the mother, Sara) from The Prophecy. This brilliant actor first caught my attention in the movie Ararat in 2002 where he played as an actor in a movie being filmed about the Greek and Armenian Genocide in which he plays a Turkish military officer and has a crisis of conscience playing the role.

Producer Andrew Trapani had this to say about Koteas playing the role of an Orthodox priest, who in the movie is called upon to help in the family situation due to the fact that he is sensitive to paranormal activity by being sick with cancer, like the lead character Matt, and has spent years studying the occult. “He’s blowing everyone away with what he’s bringing to this character,” Trapani says. “It’s a very fresh approach to a familiar archetype of a priest or an exorcist coming into a supernatural situation and dealing with a family. So the character’s got an Old World mentality and is coming from an Eastern, Greek Orthodox philosophy, but is chronologically younger than the typical exorcist.”

Screenwriters Adam Simon and Tim Metcalfe are more reticent concerning Rev. Popescu's religious affiliation. At any rate, he's the hero of the piece, proffering Matt spiritual comforts as well as supernatural savvy, and Koteas embodies him with low-keyed intensity. His performance, along with the convincing bond between mother and son - deeply committed, yet subtly burdened by Matt's illness - give more human interest than is usual in the genre. However, his association as an Orthodox Christian priest to the occult is a bit lamentable and it would have been preferred that his religious affiliation were more obscure.