Dream House

You can safely say that this movie certainly didn't start the Home Automation business. The movie utilized knife wielding dishwashers and a female computer to control and threaten the residents of an automated home. The results: I'm not sure, since I started hitting my head on the wall in attempt to dumb myself up in order to enjoy the movie. A must see!

Great fun if you've ever felt a prisoner of your own home, except this one actually talks back, is real jealous, and has a homicidal streak. They don't show you this stuff in those "Own your piece of America" bank comercials where the idyllic young couple works out the financial details with the oh so nice bank manager.

Although the movie was without a huge budget, star actors or even a fascinating plot, the presentation alone is enough to intrigue even the most skeptical of people. The cinematography, scenery and dialogue are in a league of their own. It is, without doubt, the best movie since "Plan Nine from Outer Space".

I got this movie as it sounded like a cool movie, a bit on the scary side. Well, I was not amused.

For starters, Timothy Busfield's character was as shallow as they come. He is a computer geek and builds this computer that will run their home and they are the Guinea pigs. I won't go into it but I will say this much. He does spend lots of time working on it and little time w/ the rest of the family. That is pretty much all you see him do and he wears shirts and ties all the time even though you never see him leave the house. His acting here doesn't live up to his acting on Thirtysomething.

The rest of the cast of characters aren't any better. Jenny (the daughter) is the best character of them all and that isn't saying much. You get a hint of what the back history is on the parents (how they met in high school), but hardly anyone or anything else.

The acting was superficial and shallow to say the least. The premise has some plausibility, but in the end, was totally unrealistic and on the verge of farcical.

Basically, to put it mildly, it's one of those made for TV movies that's as bad as most. I actually thought it was an actual movie, but seeing how it was edited, I realized it was a made for TV movie.

I ended up fast forwarding through parts of it and basically wasted an evening watching this dumb movie.

Don't waste your time on it.

At last...a '90s-era TV movie that doesn't suck? Well, not quite, but at least DREAM HOUSE is a mildly interesting movie - and better than the recent Daniel Craig movie of the same name. The simplistic storyline, which is set entirely within a rambling house, involves a family who install a super duper security system with AI at the heart. Before you can say 'HAL 9000', Helen (as the computer is known) is manipulating and controlling the family for her own ends.

Yes, the film is as ridiculous as the premise sounds, and it's also hugely dated - more so than films made years earlier. The 1990s era technology is a hoot, though, and the stilted acting and dated fashions are also entertaining. It's fun to see how the filmmakers manage to avoid putting any suspense or purpose into their film whatsoever. The computer character is a lot of fun, though, especially with those sarcastic comebacks, and the film seems to fly by even though nothing much happens. It could be worse (and frequently is)...