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Download, Watch online Dream House (LQ) Movie.
| Genres: | ThrillerDramaMyst |
| Starring: | Naomi Watts, Elias Koteas, Marton Csokas, David Huband, Daniel Craig, Rachel Weisz, Gregory Smith |
| Director(s): | Jim Sheridan |
| Country: | USA |
| Year: | 2011 |
| IMDB Rating: | 5.7 |
Some say that all houses have memories. For one man, his home is the place he would kill to forget. A family unknowingly moves into a home where several grisly murders were committed...only to find themselves the killers next target. Successful publisher Will Atenton (Craig) quit a job in New York City to relocate his wife, Libby (Weisz), and two girls to a quaint New England town. But as they settle into their new life, they discover their perfect home was the murder scene of a mother and her children. And the entire city believes it was at the hands of the husband who survived. When Will investigates the tragedy, his only lead comes from Ann Paterson (Watts), a neighbor who was close to the family that died. As Will and Ann piece together the disturbing puzzle, they discover that the story of the last man to leave Wills dream house will be just as horrifying to the one who came next.
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Dream House (LQ) (DivX) | Resolution: 720x304 px | Total Size: 1226 Mb |
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Visitor Reviews: (20)
gradyharp 16 May 2012
Things are not always as they seem....
'Once upon a time, there were two little girls who lived in a house.'Entering into the ream of this film written by David Loucka anddirected by Jim Sheridan (In America, The Boxer, In the Name of theFather, The Field, My Left Foot, etc.) is more of a challenge than theviewer is ready to understand. The apparent story is so tightly writtenthat all of the elements of the real story are placed before our eyes,but as in so many life instances, what we think we see and understandis a mirage: the story being told is occult until the film is over.Similar films that use this technique include The Sixth Sense, ShutterIsland, and The Others. Sharpen your observational skills and this filmwill be extremely satisfying.Opening with a New York City farewell party for writer Will Atenton(Daniel Craig) who is leaving his high paying job to spend more timewith his family, we soon find Will in front of his dream house in theNew England where is beautiful and passionate wife Libby (Rachel Weisz)and his two young daughters Trish (Taylor Geare) and Dee Dee (ClaireGeare) are in the process of fixing up an old deserted house. Somestrange things happen - as in all good ghost thrillers - and soonenough Will learns that the house has been vacant for five yearsbecause of some heinous murders. A neighbor across the street - AnnPatterson (Naomi Watts), seemingly estranged from her husband Jack(Marton Csokas) who is attempting to gain sole guardianship of theirdaughter Chloe (Rachel Fox) - visits and shares with Will some of thegrisly details. At this point the story begins to unwrap the realsituation of Will's identity and the real history of the house ofmemories. To share more story would be unfair to the impact of theillusion of this film.Daniel Craig is superb as Will, and Rachel Weisz and Naomi Watts areexcellent, as are the supporting actors which in addition to Koteas andCsokas include Jane Alexander in a pivotal cameo role. What appears tobe an enigma at first is resolved with great skill. A thinking person'smovie, this. Grady Harp February 12
thomasjwilliams 16 May 2012
Ho-Hum and Humdrum
More psychological thriller than horror, Dream House goes EXACTLY whereone would expect it to go and that keeps the film from earning any kindof praise whatsoever. More-and-more we hear about a film's trailergiving away too much of a plot and NEVER has it been more TRUE thanwith Dream House.The only surprising thing here is the decent cast the film put togetherfor such an unremarkable story. Daniel Craig (Casino Royale, The GoldenCompass) and Rachel Weisz (The Constant Gardener, About a Boy) move toa small New England town with their young girls only to discover thattheir "dream home" was actually the murder scene of the house'sprevious inhabitants. As Craig grows ever-more-curious about the case,he finds a neighbor who has quite a bit of knowledge on the subject --played by Naomi Watts (Mulholland Drive, King Kong). And ... the story"develops" from there.Dream House is rather humdrum and ho-hum and I am not going to wasteany more time writing about it. There really isn't any reason torecommend this one as all three stars have been better and there arebetter films out there that tread in similar subject matter (you canalso click to watch the trailer here on IMDb ... and you'll saveyourself an hour-and-a-half of your life!).The entire film was a let-down to me; but that this came from master,Irish filmmaker Jim Sheridan (In the Name of the Father, My Left Foot,The Boxer, In America) REALLY saddens me ...
FlashCallahan 02 May 2012
I'd love a cup of tea please....
A family unknowingly moves into a home where several grisly murderswere committed...only to find themselves the killer's next target.Successful publisher Will Atenton quit a job in New York City torelocate his wife, Libby, and his two girls to a quaint New Englandtown.But as they settle into their new life, they discover their perfecthome was the murder scene of a mother and her children.And the entire city believes it was at the hands of the husband whosurvived.When Will investigates the tragedy, his only lead comes from aneighbour who was close to the family that died.....Believe me when I say this. If you have not read any reviews, but haveheard how dire the film is, and the fact that the two leads havedisowned the movie, watch it and revel in the fact that this is onegood movie.I can understand that this has been compared to 'The Shining;, thanksto the advertising, and the trailer makes this look like any otherhorror movie (insidious and the afore mentioned came into mind beforeseeing this), but it's something so very different, and the surprise isjust how well made the film is.Craig and Weisz are very god in their respective roles, and althoughWatts just spends the majority of the film leeching over Craig, sheplays a big part of the overall story.I was thinking that halfway through the film that this was mundane, andwhere was Sheridan going with it, and then something happens, and thefact that this film has been slated so much, it literally made me situp and take notice in what I was seeing.and from there, it turns into a completely different movie, and itbecomes evident it has more to do with 'The Jacket' than anything else.it's not worth spoiling, but there are two big twists in this film,that make it one of the most under-rated films of last year.See it, thinking it will be a piece of garbage, and you may enjoy itmore.
Anthony D'Andrea 01 May 2012
It sounded like a great storyline but the movie fell very short.
Promoted as a Drama, Mystery, and Thriller, Dream House dragged on witha bit too much drama, it lacked enough mystery, and it drastically fellshort to even qualify as a thriller on today's cinematic standards. Theacting was on par with most A-list movies, but the delivery of thestoryline left you feeling disappointed upon the ending of the movie.You will find yourself waiting for a twist and turn to occur atnumerous times in the movie only to be disappointed when the scenechanges and the movie continues to roll on to the next act without anoticeable climax to the scene that just passed. As a thriller, youwill experience more suspense and fear by looking at the promotionalmarketing for this film than you will ever experience by actuallywatching this movie.I'm giving this movie a 6 out of 10, due to the fact that the storylineactually had a lot of potential, so I actually wanted it to be good.Also, the acting was very good and the movie was only about 90 minuteslong, which did help a lot since it did drag on at times. Other thanthat, it wasn't very thrilling, some scenes tended to seem noticeablyunrealistic, and the lack of suspense during the movie, left you eagerto just get to the end of the movie.I'd save your new movie release money and just wait for Dream House toshow-up as a low-budget rental in a few months.
Sam Wanjere 30 April 2012
Dream House (2011)
An intense performance by Daniel Craig. He's one of my favorite actorsbut think he does well portraying Peter Ward.Alone and paranoid can be scary for a suburbia man without friendsother than a sympathetic neighbor in Ann Patterson. Sometimes ignoranceis bliss, in this case amnesia from his gunshot wound. I can't envy hisstate of having to reconcile the dreamworld in his mind with realityoutside.I love the lack of a love scene between Ward and Patterson. It wouldhave taken away from the overall story I feel. The director and hiswriters let us realize gradually that Ward is actually delusional.I would actually label this film both heartwarming and inspirational.It warms the heart to see that someone's care to those among us withmental disorders can actually do wonders for such persons. Wardreturning to New York as an author, part of his mental fantasy worldthat comes to pass is what I deem inspirational.
Filmfannlv-224-647305 29 April 2012
Want a solid foundation of a horror movie? Keep on dreamin....
The plot: Will Atenton (Daniel Craig) moves into a new house with hiswife; Libby (Rachel Weisz) and their two children; Dee Dee and Trish.Soon after moving in, their daughters begin to see a strange manlurking around, and after some research, Will finds out that theprevious owners will all murdered by someone in their family; PeterWard. Will begins to think that Peter Ward is back to get his familyand the rest of the movie is about his discovery about Peter Ward andwho the man lurking around is once and for all.The good: There's very little redeeming here, so I'm going to have tostart grasping at straws.....oh, Naomi Watts (who plays the Atenton'sneighbor) and Rachel Weisz perform well here with the bare, minimalmaterial they are given. Seriously...about 20 minutes total of speakingtime for the both of them. Way to take the good things and squish themlike a family of bugs.The bad: Oh boy, where the hell do I start? Listing the number ofthings wrong with this movie is like listing how many rocks arecurrently residing in the United States. Well, for one...the preview istotally misleading. It makes Dream House look like a scary,entertaining horror movie. The joke is now on you if you believed thatcrap. Dream House is easily one of the dullest and least chillinghorror movies of 2011. Not one scary thing happens and you're morelikely to give yourself goosebumps by cleaning underneath your fridge.Daniel Craig is also a big reason why I feel this movie drowns. Hedelivers such a bland and monotone performance. His voice never changesand there's never any sense of danger or peril in the way he behaves.Even in later (supposed to have been) emotional scenes where he findsout the true discovery of Peter Ward (which isn't surprising in theleast if you have watched the trailers) lack any sort of emotion orpassion at all. It's as if we're watching a movie about someone twodays after they received a lobotomy.And the twist? Well, I'll ruin it for the two people on Earth whohaven't seen the trailer. HE IS PETER WARD and his family is all dead.Yeah, big surprise. Even if you haven't seen the trailers, the clues tothis discovery are about as difficult to find as the clues in anepisode of Scooby Doo. Plus, this twist has been done several othertimes in better movies with better finishes (The Uninvited, ShutterIsland, The Others). At one point, someone even looks at "Will" andsays, "He's back!". How is that not obvious? After he discovers this,there's another lame twist about who else has insidious intentions, butby that point you don't really care at all considering the 90 minutesof soap opera disguised as a horror movie that you've been forced intowatching.Logic is another aspect of good filmmaking that takes a flying leap outthe window here. If Peter Ward was innocent and they had no proof tolock him up, why was he there in the first place? What made them thinkhe did it if there was no proof? Why didn't anyone else investigate thecrime to see if he wasn't guilty? Why would people who were trained towork with crazy people allow someone to make up an entire other lifewith completely different names? Why did it take him 5 years to getout? Why didn't someone else tell him that he was Peter Ward?Seriously, the people in this movie act like such idiots just to getthe plot to barely move from beginning to end.The lowdown: Dream House is an absolutely terrible movie from start tofinish. It's dull and thrilless, the main star is someone with theurgency of a potato, the twist is easy to figure out, and it's beendone so many times that the neat twist started many years ago by TheSixth Sense has now been flattened to a pancake thanks to movies thattake the formula of a ghost horror movie and flush it down thecinematic toilet. Next time anyone involved in this movie decides tomake another horror movie of equal quality...just say the butler didit.
george.schmidt 29 April 2012
Craig excels in this dismal ghost story with echoes of JACOB'S LADDER & "The Twilight Zone"
DREAM HOUSE (2011) ** Daniel Craig, Rachel Weisz, Naomi Watts, EliasKoteas, Martin Csokas, Taylor Geare, Claire Geare, Rachel G. Fox, JaneAlexander, Brian Murray. Ghost story about an upscale editor (Craig ina low-key decent performance) whose family's move into a new home inthe secluded country discovers some dark secrets about the abode (i.e.it's haunted) and whether or not if he may or may not have killed offhis family (!!) faces a moment of clarity when he learns of his realitynot being as he truly perceives. Shades of "The Twilight Zone" and"JACOB'S LADDER" and yet scribe David Loucka keeps you guessing untilthe dismal third act which feels completely pre-fabricated by committeehence veteran helmsman Jim Sheridan's 11th hour attempt to remove hisname from the credits (!!!)
cmoyton 29 April 2012
He sees dead people and they see him
Nine out of ten cats cannot be wrong ....and yet apologists aplenty onIMDb.com. Much as i hate jumping on the bandwagon to dislike this movieis like shooting fish in the proverbial barrel. An attempt to mergeelements of The Sixth Sense, Shutter Island and Jacobs Ladder, DreamHouse fails miserably. Craigs character was not even required toattempt an American accent so he turned up as himself - hey Danielstick to Bond.Even when the misdirection twist is revealed about one third of the wayin my interest was stimulated for about five minutes. Also what onearth is Naomi Watts doing in this movie? Has she succumbed to thepaycheck? The acting is just horrible and reflects the lousy script. Inessence the film boils down to the did he or didn't he do it scenariobut believe me you wont care. When the truth is revealed at the end thereal murderer mumbles his explanation which amplifies the sense of allround embarrassment
Tony Heck 28 April 2012
A very uninspired horror movie that is filled with great acting. The acting does makes the movie watchable though. I say B-
"You've been living here and you don't know about the murders?" Will(Craig) and his family have found the perfect house in the perfectneighborhood to move into. When a local teenager is caught in theirhouse she tells him about a murder that happened in the house 5 yearsago. Will starts to investigate what happened and his neighbor Ann(Watts) helps. Will finds out a horrifying secret that may change thelife of him and his family forever. This is a very strange movie in acouple ways. First, the acting and idea are great. All the main actorsdo a great job. The main problem with this movie to me is that nothingseems to happen. The acting keeps you watching and interested enough,but eventually you grow board with the lack of anything. For a horrormovie this is very slow and drawn out. This is not a bad movie, and thelast maybe 15 minutes is exciting, but as a horror movie it is veryweak. Overall, a very slow and drawn out movie with great acting. Ihave seen worse though. I give it a B- (because of the acting)
dalelawson-1 28 April 2012
Dream House Review
Dream House (Jim Sheridan, 2011) follows a father who quits his job inorder to spend more time with his family and work on a novel at home.This movie begins like any other horror film, where the protagonist,and in this case his family, live in a world of tranquillity. Thisequilibrium is however swiftly broken when one of the daughters sees afigure watching them outside the window.A "spoiler" is already leaked in the trailer where we find out that atsome point in the film, presumably the end, the protagonist will findout he is the man responsible for murdering the family in the house hehas been living in. The problem I had with this twist was not that thetrailer already showed it to me, but that it doesn't occur at the endof the film and instead actually appears about halfway through. Leavingme to wonder how an earth the film can possibly progress any further.In all my other reviews I concentrate heavily on actors' performances,but in this film there is not a single actor that stands out asfantastic or appalling. All I can really state about the actors is thatDaniel Craig and Rachel Weisz portray loving parents with ease and thetwo daughters seem sufficiently talented. They all provided realisticenough characters for me to feel empathy towards them and their plightthroughout the movie.The one film that I kept comparing the plot of Dream House to wasShutter Island (Martin Scorsese, 2010). In Shutter Island we seeLeonardo DiCaprio seemingly as a detective investigating a missinginmate, but as the film progresses we find out he himself is an inmatecreating a fantasy persona to escape the truth. It is a very similartruth to that in Dream House where Daniel Craig lives in a house wheredoctors say he murdered his family, which was discussed in the trailer.Both are still noticeable psychological thrillers, although Dream Housedoes contain more elements to that of a horror film than ShutterIsland.Another noticeable aspect of this movie was its lack of locations. Mostfilms, even horrors, contain multiple interior and exterior locationsand so it was a surprise to find this film only used the "dream house",the neighbours home and the psychiatric hospital. This lack oflocations restricts the characters, as the film progresses, from havingany safe haven, which in-turn increases our sense of horror.Dream House was a mediocre film. It was a very restrictingpsychological horror thriller where the plot stretched on for too longdue to an early twist. Daniel Craig, who I praised in my The Adventuresof Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn review didn't stand out so much inthis films, although my hopes are still high for The Girl with theDragon Tattoo which I hope to see (and review) soon.
estebangonzalez10 27 April 2012
A movie ruined from the get-go
¨Once upon a time, there were two girls who lived in a house¨I was really disappointed with the trailer of Dream House. It gave awaytoo much and I would've preferred not to know as much as I did goinginto the movie because the first 45 minutes of the film are totallywasted thanks to the trailer which gave away the twist that happensabout midway through the movie. I have no idea what the producers werethinking about when they did this. I don't know if it was because ofthe trailer, but everything was obvious and predictable from thebeginning which took away much of the suspense and thrills. If youhaven't seen the trailer going into this movie then I think you'rebetter off, but I still wouldn't recommend this film unless you are afan of any of the actors or Oscar nominated director Jim Sheridan.Sheridan is known for making hit or miss films; his latest filmsBrothers was great, but before that he directed the mediocre Get Richor Die Trying. One thing is for sure, he always works with sometalented actors; and that is perhaps the best thing about Dream House,its cast: Daniel Craig, Naomi Watts, and Rachel Weisz. The weakest linkis the script which could have been great if written by a talentedwriter, but David Louka isn't known for writing interesting scripts.The story had a lot of potential, but the delivery was just poor andeverything became predictable. The film was saved from disaster by thestrong cast, but I still wasn't pleased with the end product.Will Atenton (Daniel Craig) decides to quit his publishing job in thebig city and move to a quiet country house with his wife Libby (RachelWeisz), and two daughters Trish (Taylor Geare) and Dee Dee (ClaireGeare) and becoming a writer. They seem to be living a perfect life,but one night one of his daughters claims she's seen a man outsidestaring at the house. At first Will doesn't pay attention, but afterbeginning to see things himself he begins investigating the house.Someone is definitely outside stalking the place. He discovers thatabout five years ago a family was murdered in that very house: a youngwife, two daughters, and the father who became the prime suspect. Hisname was Peter Ward and police never seemed to gather enough evidenceto lock him in, but he was institutionalized at a mental hospital. Willbegins investigating and discovers that Peter has been released fromthe institution and is convinced that is the man who has beenthreatening his home. In the meantime his neighbor, Ann (Naomi Watts),seems to know what happened that terrible night but isn't willing totell him the whole truth. As Will continues to uncover the secrets thatthe house hides he begins making some unsettling revelations.Dream House is a very predictable film and in my opinion the cast waswasted in this film because they could have made a much moreinteresting thriller with a decent script. Instead the producers endedup making a movie we've seen hundreds of times before. It was a cheapimitation of Scorcese's Shutter Island. I couldn't help but comparewhat was going on with so many other similar films. Ever since TheSixth Sense, producers have tried to find better twists for theirthrillers, but have mostly failed to do so (with the exception ofShutter Island and The Others). Dream House is supposed to be athriller but it has little thrills, it's supposed to be a mystery butthe real mystery is why the producers decided to reveal so much in thetrailers. There are a lot of things that went wrong in this film, but Iguess Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz won't be complaining since they gotmarried shortly after working together in this film. I guess somemovies are much more fun to make than to watch. I am still waiting fora decent 2011 thriller, this was definitely not it. This isn't a scarymovie either, like some people might expect from a haunted house film.It's a plain suspense thriller that gives away a lot of the thrills inits trailer. Enough said.http://estebueno10.blogspot.com/
cloudbuster-309-223216 26 April 2012
Ludicrously unbelievable script
I actually got angry while watching this film that I'd wasted my timeand money renting it.The cast is excellent, as you'd expect from such a high-powered cast,but every single action, nearly every single line of dialog, was soutterly unrealistic and unbelievable in light of actual human naturethat it was painful to watch. The family, the neighbors, the police,the social workers. It was all as if the screenwriters have never dealtwith real human beings before.It's painful to watch people behave in an aggressively stupid orunrealistic manner just to advance the so-called plot, a plot so fullof ludicrous turns that it could only be held together by assuming thateveryone involved chose precisely the dumbest option available to them.I shut the movie off less than halfway through because I was just soangry at what a waste of time it was.
japonaliya 25 April 2012
This movie was never made!
The poster catch phrase says it all: "Once upon a time there were twolittle girls that live in a house"SPOILERS!!!!!Other than the fact that they were dead (along with their mother) thechildren had very little to do with the story/plot other than to lookcute. They were killed, they may have been ghosts, or hallucinations,but the plot didn't concern them at all. I really love the evil kid,child ghost genre, and the trailer and the poster seems to say that thechildren were the focus of the plot...NOT!!Even the two little girl ghosts in the Shining left more of animpression on me after 30 plus years...and those ghost girls were onlyon the screen for a minute or two at most!The film, as some have said, had potential, but this is one of thosemovies that should have been a Lifetime Channel program that you couldafter about 40 minutes, switch to a rerun episode of Seinfeld!!!I gave 5 stars because I did see it all the way through to theend...BIG MISTAKE!I watched the CAM torrent and I still want my money back!!!
vitor-fernandes1983 24 April 2012
Unexpected
Not a masterpiece in the likes of 'the shining', but still veryenjoyable, I had no idea where the movie was going and turned out to beso different than all the same haunted houses movies. I didn't watchthe trailer and had not read anything about it, maybe that's why Ienjoyed it. I really cant understand all the bad reviews about it. Ifyou liked 'shutter island', or 'the orphan' it's likely you'll enjoythis one. After being shocked at the movie 'in time', on my list ofworst movies ever, this was really a breath of fresh air. It could havebeen better of course, but nowadays any movie could be better. Ithought the movie could actually have been longer, as things happenedso fast at the end.It feels like a thriller from a book, much less predicable than 'TheShining'. It leaves viewers with unanswered questions, but thats abonus I think.
collipal-1 23 April 2012
A pathetic psychological thriller
Director Jim Sheridan's filmography includes various excellent films(The Field, The Boxer, In America and Brothers -2009-). That's thereason why it was very weird for me to see his name associated withsuch a weak and unsatisfactory film as Dream House. Sure, the conflictsSheridan had with the producers of this movie were recently revealed,as well as his disagreement with the changes made without his permit,which took him to the extreme of requesting his name to be retired fromthe credits (something which was rejected by the Directors Guild).However, none of that "industry gossip" decreased my enthusiasm forseeing what this talented director would do with a horror story.Nevertheless, I ended up hating the film, and besides, I would notconsider it from that genre.The screenplay from Dream House is absolutely tedious anduninteresting. In spite of that, Daniel Craig, Rachel Weisz, NaomiWatts, Marton Csokas and Elias Koteas somehow managed to bring decentperformances.Going back to the initial subject...What happened to Sheridan in here?I am not sure. I would like to think that the "suits manipulation" waswhat ruined the film, but I could not see even a remote trace ofSheridan's talent in Dream House. My theory is that Sheridan did notfeel himself very comfortable with the thriller genre, and as aconsequence, his work in Dream House feels like the one of an insecurerookie who limited himself to film what the screenplay says, butwithout any vision nor style. In conclusion, I genuinely wasted my timewatching Dream House, and I suggest you to avoid this psychologicalthriller completely lacking of any suspense at any cost.
changmoh 23 April 2012
This Sheridan Thriller is for the Thinking Viewer
Editor and author Will Atenton (Daniel Craig) quits a high power job inManhattan to relocate with his wife, Libby (Rachel Weisz), and twogirls to a quaint New England town. However, as they settle into theirnew life, they discover that their house was the murder scene of amother and her two children. Will tries to befriend his neighbour AnnPatterson (Naomi Watts) and find out from her what happened but she isnot too eager to talk.Meanwhile, Will's younger daughter starts seeing someone lurkingoutside the window at night. As Will pieces together the hauntingpuzzle, he must find out who murdered the family in his dream housebefore the culprit returns to kill again."Dream House" is not a suspense thriller that will jolt you with suddenloud music and cheap scares. Instead, it plays games with your mind,keeping you guessing about what's happening and making you sort out theplot yourself. Now, if you like your thrillers done this way, then gofor it. If not, this one is going to be a nightmare...Director Jim Sheridan's plot build-up is almost by-the-book and hemakes no apology for it. The opening scenes show Will as a devotedfather and loving husband. At first, his daughter's visions of ashadowy figure are dismissed quietly, but when Will gets physicalevidence of someone lurking around, our curiosity heightens. Sheridan,who gave us "My Left Foot" and "In The Name of The Father", is notdelivering this thriller to his audience in a platter. He just dishesout the cards and lets his audience sort them out - at least until theclosing sequences.At first, it feels rather weird to see beefcake Craig as a domesticatedguy. However, there is a good chemistry between he and Weisz who alsolends a loving and tender touch to the proceedings. The kids, played byClaire and Taylor Geare, are also convincing and adorable. It wouldhave been great to see more of Naomi Watts but her role is ratherlimited - and she acquits herself professionally. Fans of Rachel G.Fox, the Scarvo girl in TV's Desperate Housewives, will find her in acameo as Ann's daughter Chloe. All in all, a thriller for the thinkingviewer.
David Ferguson 19 April 2012
Ward. Peter Ward.
Greetings again from the darkness. The horror/thriller idealist in mejust never gives up. With three legit movie stars and a director who isresponsible for one of my favorite movies, I thought this might just bethe genre's rare gem. Instead, it's watchable, kinda fun, and mostlypredictable.Much of the predictability comes from the trailer, which inexplicablyspoils the key twist in the film. Because of the trailer, I actuallyexpected an additional twist to contradict the give-away. Instead, itplays out pretty much as expected, saved only by the efforts of DanielCraig and Rachel Weisz (now married in real life). Word is that theproducer of the film, wrestled control away from director Jim Sheridan(In America, My Left Foot) and edited the film into it's mostly banalfinished state. Such a shame.Basic story is that a NYC white collar professional quits his job andmoves his wife and two girls to their dream house in a quaint littlecommunity. Problem is, no one told them that a few years back a mom andher two daughters were murdered, supposedly by the husband who thenspent years in a mental institution. With the help of a neighbor (NaomiWatts), Craig starts assembling the pieces of the murder mystery andhis new home. On top of that, Elias Koteas is tracking his every moveand watching the house.The frustration with this one lies in untapped potential. So much morecould have been done with Koteas, Watts and Marton Csokas who playsWatts' intense ex-husband. For two days after watching this movie, Ikept coming up with new twists and turns that could have made the moviemore suspenseful and entertaining. It's clear that Craig and Weisz areunhappy with the final product as they have been noticeably absent onthe talk show circuit.It's not the worst suspense thriller you'll ever see, but there arebetter haunted house films on the market.
Robert Collins 18 April 2012
Not bad in the way most say, just terribly boring and lacking any scares.
I've read a lot of reviews for Dream House and there's a lot of talkabout the film originally being a lot different that the finishedproduct, I would love to know what the differences would have beenbecause wowee this was a letdown and just a plain old bore fest. Themarketing, trailer etc all make this film seem like a smart horror filmthat is obviously aimed at adults, however after sitting down to watchit you quickly realize that it not the case. This film has a rathergood plot and the performances are great, it's just lacking any scaresor great scenes that make you really enjoy it.I agree with a lot of other reviewers when they say that it borrows alot from other films, I found a lot of similarities to The Sixth Senseand Amityville Horror amongst others. Another big problem with it isthe pacing, it's too slow, than fast, than slow again and it all endswith a really uneventful conclusion, and the twist is given away a tadtoo early. Daniel Craig is OK I suppose, he doesn't do very well on the accentscale though, is he American or English? Rachel Weisz is spectacular asusual, but she is wasted, she is far to superior of an actress to bedoing roles like this, same goes for Naomi Watts, she is good with thesmall amount she is in the film but all the way I was just saying "moreNaomi less Daniel, more Naomi less Daniel", I'm guessing they boththought the film was an easy quick film, but they are both stellaractresses so this won't harm their career at all.Fans of the horror genre, steer clear, no horror here, just cheap andboring drama about a boring character.
Neil Doyle 17 April 2012
Weak, illogical script defeats an admirable cast...
I'm always in the mood for a good ghost story, so I assumed I wouldfind one in DREAM HOUSE--not to mention the fact that the cast washeaded by Daniel Craig, Rachel Weisz and Naomi Watts.On the plus side, the snowy New England effects work to provide theright atmosphere, as does an eerie background score that ramps up theshock factor at every possibility. Unfortunately, there are very fewgenuine shocks and the suspense stays at a very even level throughout.The performances are valid enough too. Daniel Craig does a fine job ofacting while keeping his shirt on for most of the film and Rachel Weiszhas some nice chemistry with him as his devoted wife. The children areplayed with simplicity and charm by two adorable youngsters.But that's not enough. There has to be some logic behind the hauntedhouse story and the discovery that a family had been slaughtered thereyears before. And when the final twist comes, the viewer will befighting off boredom to such a degree that the surprise factor in thefinal scene will be a mere blip on the film's radar. And then,abruptly, the film ends.Surely, something went wrong in processing the script and bringing itto a final resolution that bears close scrutiny. But with all the talkof Jim Sheridan wanting his name off the directorial credits, I shouldhave been forewarned that this would not be a good, coherent ghoststory. Somewhere, a good story is struggling to get out.To make matters worse, I viewed the film in a theater where two girlsin the row behind me never stopped chattering and laughinginappropriately at all the tense moments. If the story had been reallygripping, I would have told them more than to stop kicking the seat.Alas, they were immature and totally unaware that they were movie pestsof the first degree and spoiled whatever enjoyment I could get from thefilm.Summing up: The script for DREAM HOUSE was a muddled mess before JimSheridan ever chose to direct it. He deserves to have his name remainon the director's credits if for no other reason that he should haveknown better than to lay a finger on it.
jean0519 16 April 2012
Huge Potential, Huge Disappointment
Will Atenton moves into a dream home with his lovely wife and twoprecious children. Weird things start to happen and the familydiscovers an ugly secret about their house. Neighbors are actingstrange, the local police are no help, and investigating the house'shistory begins to unravel the family, and gives way to othersupernatural dimensions. This movie could have been a terrific ghost story in the vein ofShutter Island, The Others, or The Sixth Sense. Instead it loses focusand turns left into a formulaic and somewhat random "whodunnit". Morelike "who cares?". About halfway through it got boring and stupid andillogical. What a waste of Daniel Craig, Rachel Weisz, and a totallyunderused Naomi Watts. Recut and re-release it. There's a really goodmovie in there somewhere.