Dream House

Dream House-S1E39

source: Dream House

Synopsis: Will Atenten (Daniel Craig) has just moved into a new house after leaving the company he's worked at for five years. He wants to write a book and live at home with his beautiful wife, Libby (Rachel Weisz) and their two perfect children Trish (Taylor Geare) and cutie-pie Dee Dee (Claire Geare). To the untrained eye, this is the American dream. Libby paints and dotes lovingly upon her husband and the two girls are mostly seen and not heard. Only, something is terribly wrong here. Everyone is treating Will as though he is somehow not welcome. Perhaps he had a bad dinner party and offended all of his neighbors. If only it were that simple. The truth lies deep within the nooks and crannies of the small community in which Will once lead a happy life. What a promising story! A mysterious psychological thriller is typically a big crowd pleaser. While this movie sort of leaves the audience guessing until the end, I was not on the edge of my seat. In fact, I was sitting – head in hand – wishing for this movie to end. I didn't care if everyone in the film lived or died. I just wanted it to be over. How can a plot like this one fail so miserably? The words aggressively bad come to mind when I am asked what I thought of Dream House. Let's take a look at where this movie went wrong. First off, I believe that a movie can have too much story. When a filmmaker tries to cram in too much detail, the whole thing can come off the rails very easily. In the way that Nightmare on Elm Street keeps the viewer guessing as far as what's real and what is a dream, this movie had the right idea in doing the same sort of thing. The only problem is that it didn't do it right and therefore became a failure from the get-go. As a clever movie-going public, we are trained to weed out the unnecessary bits in films like this one. If I were to do that, I'd say that the movie was approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes too long. The characters were another problem. Ann Patterson (Naomi Watts) is Will's neighbor. She is the only person outside of his house who is nice to him when he returns. Her perfectly shaped eyebrows spend most of the film furrowed and she often looks worried, but it doesn't come across as sincere to me. None of the characters in this movie do. Everyone seems confused more than anything. And even though we know that Ann is the key to uncovering Will's troubled past, it is still all so hard to swallow. Possibly the biggest problem for me was the soundtrack. If you've read my blog before, you know that I am a soundtrack enthusiast. I love a good score and when the music in a movie matches up in that perfect harmony with what is happening on-screen it is some sort of magic. The music for Dream House is offensive. The idea of the soundtrack is to capture the moment. Hearing that music later takes you back to the emotion you felt. It sounds cheesy, but it's so true. I don't know how they screwed that part up so badly, but they did it. Boy oh boy, did they do it. Save your money, readers. It won't be long before Dream House hits NetFlix instant or drops into a $5 discount bin at a Wal-Mart near you. One night when you've had too much to drink and there is absolutely, positively nothing else on, you can fall asleep to this wretched mistake and know that you didn't miss a thing. ****See more of my reviews at www.mssilverscreen.com****

Luckily, I didn't read the reviews before watching this, or I may have THOUGHT I was watching a horror story, as one reviewer suggested. So, I went into this based on the talented people in the cast. I was not disappointed. I was very surprised by the twist at the end, though I did figure one part out, which I won't address here. For those who like thrillers, I think I can honestly say that you will enjoy this film. I know I did, and I'll watch it again!

First what you should know up front: "Dream House" is not a horror flick. Also it's rated PG-13 which means it's pretty tame (no gore, no explicit violence, etc), so if you're looking for something along the lines of The Exorcist you might wanna stick with The Exorcist. In lieu of buckets of bile and terrifying demons, we get a really clever and tense story about a family in a remote house slowly uncovering the details of a bizarre unsolved mass murder that happened under their roof 5 years earlier. Strap on your seatbelt because the plot has more twists and turns than the Grand Prix, and there are a few total 180 turnarounds that might lose you if you're not paying attention. But overall I thought it was a great story. My only criticism is, due to it's somewhat tame PG-13 presentation, the film loses some of its edge. At times it can feel almost like a "family film" which is totally at odds with its otherwise creepy vibe. Imagine if The Exorcist had been directed by Steven Spielberg, and maybe you'll catch my drift. In fact, "Dream House" does indeed have a Spielbergesque quality to it (as in the original "Poltergeist"), which may be to your liking, but for a lot of horror/thriller fans it's too clean and perhaps ties things up in too neat of a bundle in the end. Acting is great all around, and I have to mention the GREAT job by the 2 sisters (and real life sisters) Taylor Geare and Claire Geare. They were ages 10 and 5 respectively and did a really convincing performance, particularly in a few scenes where they bring out an otherworldly element that's hard to describe. I recommend this movie for its original story which digs deep into psychology and the twists of the human mind. No chainsaws or blood sucking vampires here, just a really interesting thriller that should captivate any mystery fan.

I've read a lot of reviews for Dream House and there's a lot of talk about the film originally being a lot different that the finished product, I would love to know what the differences would have been because wowee this was a letdown and just a plain old bore fest. The marketing, trailer etc all make this film seem like a smart horror film that is obviously aimed at adults, however after sitting down to watch it you quickly realize that it not the case. This film has a rather good plot and the performances are great, it's just lacking any scares or great scenes that make you really enjoy it. I agree with a lot of other reviewers when they say that it borrows a lot from other films, I found a lot of similarities to The Sixth Sense and Amityville Horror amongst others. Another big problem with it is the pacing, it's too slow, than fast, than slow again and it all ends with a really uneventful conclusion, and the twist is given away a tad too early. Daniel Craig is OK I suppose, he doesn't do very well on the accent scale though, is he American or English? Rachel Weisz is spectacular as usual, but she is wasted, she is far to superior of an actress to be doing roles like this, same goes for Naomi Watts, she is good with the small amount she is in the film but all the way I was just saying "more Naomi less Daniel, more Naomi less Daniel", I'm guessing they both thought the film was an easy quick film, but they are both stellar actresses so this won't harm their career at all. Fans of the horror genre, steer clear, no horror here, just cheap and boring drama about a boring character.

For the entire first half of the movie I kept finding myself thinking, "This really isn't that bad." Yes, the trailer ruins the movie (it's not the only twist but it is the major one, and is the primary reason that I've stopped watching trailers unless I'm unsure if I want to see the film) and so in the back of my head was always the knowledge of what was going to be revealed; I love that the producers tried to say that it doesn't spoil the movie, so stupid. Still though, it was a relatively interesting story and Daniel Craig is almost always a commanding actor who can keep my attention. I was interested enough to keep going, despite some of the more obvious clichés of the horror genre, like building up suspense then dropping it and then having a loud noise to make the audience jump. Then the trailer twist was revealed and everything goes downhill after that. The tone of the film entirely shifts from this horror setup to a drama about an unstable man. The middle act was incredibly dull, despite Craig's best efforts it just felt like nothing was running well at all. I kept waiting for the film to end before it got worse, but boy it got to a level of bad that I was not expecting at all. The producers kept saying that the twist in the trailer "wasn't the big twist" and they were right, but damn I wish they had been lying. When the "big twist" comes it all feels so rushed, underdeveloped and absolutely absurd. My mouth almost dropped open from just how hilariously stupid it was. As a huge fan of Craig, Rachel Weisz and horror, this ended up being a major disappointment. No wonder the two of them and Jim Sheridan refused to do any promotion for it.

Wow, I am so sick of these types of "thrillers" that have replaced actual horror movies, or even scary movies. It reminds me of the equally crappy "Woman in Black", with no real scares, no originality, formulaic by-the numbers plot, cliché filled, rated PG-13 bore-fest. Also, the actual plot is created by the monumental stupidity of more than one character. Let me illustrate: EVIL money grubbing husband and father wants to kill his wife really bad, for the insurance money or whatever. Well, he is a puss so he hires a convenient bad guy gun for hire. Here is where it gets beyond stupid. The EVIL husband never bothers to show the hit-man a photo of his wife, or even describe what she looks like (blonde hair would have helped!!!). And on top of that, he doesn't even give the gunman his home address! He says something like, "oh it's the third house on the left, or maybe the fourth, I forget..." WOULDN'T THESE DETAILS BE IMPORTANT TO ANYONE WITH MORE INTELLIGENCE THAN A FLATWORM?!? The rest of this crap is just another typical boring ghost movie, with nothing scary to be found. A good antidote would be "A Ghost Story", 1980. That at least had some adult themes and was truly intelligent and scary!

What if, as in "Jacob's Ladder" and "Siesta", the ending changes everything. In "Jacob's Ladder" we learn at the last moment that what we have been watching has been the thoughts of a dying man. We learn in "Siesta" at the last moment that Claire was murdered, and what we have been watching is her remembering the events of the last few days. In "Dream House" we learn that Will has just returned from a stay in the country where he wrote the book "Dream House". If this is true, what we have been viewing would appear to be the creative process that goes through the writers mind as he is writing his novel. The film, to be sure, has not been constructed as well as it could have been, but viewing it again with the ending in mind may help.

For those in tune with tabloid fodder, this is the film that brought Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz together, and this closeness got translated on screen as they play husband and wife with two beautiful children who have uprooted themselves from the bustle of the city and settled for a quiet suburban area. From the poster alone you may think you're in a for one heck of a creepy supernatural horror film given the creepy looking kids blending in with the wallpaper of the titular house, but this was one great misnomer, coupled with the fact that director Jim Sheridan and his leading cast have boycotted what was the final cut of the film when it was wrestled from the director's control, so as with all troubled productions, the final film bore the brunt of that falling out, and it tells. If you are really keen to watch the movie anyhow, then do yourself a favour and skip the trailer. You have to, because this poorly made trailer committed two grave mistakes in imagining things not in the film such as its relentless focus and edit in making one think it's a horror film complete with boo scares at every turn, and worse, revealed a crucial plot point of the story, which made it extremely plodding for those waiting for that particular reveal to show itself so that the film can then continue on for them. Granted there were a little bit more twists and turns in store for the final act, though now they become an exercise of futility just waiting to happen, and didn't come off as much of a surprise anyway since the bulk of the game was already out of the bag. Daniel Craig plays Will Atenton, an aspiring writer who leaves his day job in order to relocate with his family to spend more quality time with them, as well as to work on his greatest novel. And what more can a man ask for with a perfect wife Libby (Rachel Weisz), perfect children Trish and Dee Dee (Taylor Geare and Claire Geare respectively) and a perfect, beautiful house to live in. And the narrative really took a lot of pain to paint this picture of the perfect life, that is until a shadowy figure started appearing in the front lawn, with inexplicable situations like a car trying to run Will down starting to increase in number and frequency, leaving Will no choice but to do a little bit of personal sleuthing that led to the discovery of just who he really was, with the narrative then switching gears to discover whether Will was insane, or wrongly accused. Like many shows that featured spirits in them, Dream House follows the mold of having a whodunnit mystery placed into its story, for the viewer to be actively engaged during the sifting through of red herrings, and the protagonist either having to encounter spirits that inevitably assist him in his quest for truth, or impede him by scaring everyone away. Or at least that was the intent and the potential. What happened was a sad state of affairs with a very ordinary narrative void of any scares promised, and came off as more of a mystery, not even a thriller, that took its time to unfold. And with the small number of characters, you'll be able to guess in a jiffy just who the guilty party is. You can probably see shades of Jim Sheridan's intent for a montage of sequences that probably got included by way of being already shot, but alas, that vision he had was not to be. Which is a pity, since this film boasted a strong cast of Craig, Weisz and severely underutilized actors in Elias Koteas who had so much promise to be so much more menacing, and in Naomi Campbell who stars as Will's neighbour who seemed to be ever so interested in Will's state of affairs and may hold they key to the secret he is looking for. Ultimately it is not that bad a film, if one can consider a pretty average fare with ruined twists done in by its own promotional reel, which held so much prospect in being a psychological mind-bender under a proper director's hands, rather than to become a by product of what could have been no thanks to politicking.