I’m kind of surprised that The Haunting in Connecticut 2: Ghosts of Georgia was getting bad reviews from both critics and viewers. I must admit that I liked the original movie, released in 2009 by the same studio (Gold Circle) and thought that the sequel was a pretty decent horror flick.

Ghosts of Georgia is based on the true story of the Wyrick family, who move into a remote home near the woods in 1993 and encounter spirits of black slaves that are trapped in the property. Chad Michael Murray (One Tree Hill) plays the role of Andy, the father of the household, while Abigail Spencer takes on the role of Lisa, his clairvoyant wife who tries to deny her gift of communicating with the dead. The adorable Emily Alyn Lind plays Heidi, their little girl who shares her mother’s abilities to whom the spirits manifest, and Katee Sackoff  is Joyce, Lisa’s sister who can also see through the veil.

Ghosts of Georgia is very different from its predecessor in the sense that the original Haunting dealt with demonic possession whereas Ghosts was a pretty straightforward ghost story. While the story was admittedly predictable, I thought the execution was very good. It had a great set up leading up to the supernatural scenes. The pacing was good and there was ample time to prepare audiences for the shocking moments.

The casting was spot on, and despite the limited number of characters, the actors portrayed their parts well, especially Emily and Chad. They had great chemistry as father and child. On the other hand, I didn’t like the character of Lisa but I thought the rest of the characters pulled their weight.

All in all, I wouldn’t go on to say that Ghosts of Georgia shot up to my list of favorite horror flicks but like the original movie, it was not a clunker, especially for a limited budget release. I have seen way way worse. It was just too bad that people did not respond to the movie as well as expected.

Still, I would probably go see the third movie in the trilogy The Haunting in New York because of the strength of the first two features in the franchise. I just hope that it gets a better reception than this flick.