The Cottage

I must have written that summary a good 50 times attempting to keep a straight face before (somewhat) succeeding.. But even looking past the... inventive casting, this movie about a romance novelist who might not be who he seems, is a hopelessly muddled mess. Poor direction, abysmal writing, nonsensical characters. No character really has any rhyme nor reason to do anything that they do in the film. The movie feels horribly disjointed like they wanted to make a Lifetime-esque thriller but even failed at those 'lofty' goals. It's also one of the tamest movies of the 'bad tenant' sub-genre that I had the misfortune of subjecting my eyes to.

So disappointed in this movie. Scripting is bad, story line doesn't match up. Acting is poor camera angles not interesting. They should made a documentary instead. Looks like amateur movie that went wrong. With the caliber of known actors involved, it's very disappointing . I recommend a remake. Write a proper script Use effects and create illusion . Even if your lighting is poor, still , use effects to patch up.

I think the movie has potential to become something good. Just rewrite the script .

Good things about the movie Good location Few good actors

This movie kept me interested but at the same time the acting wasn't great but most of all the story and events were all very unbelievable. Kind of seemed like a group of teenagers made the movie rather than adults. That said, I watched it all way through and despite most things about this movie being very bad, it somehow kept me interested, whether it was the astonishment of how bad it really was and wondering whether it could get any worse or wondering where the story was going, I'm not totally sure.

One of the oddest films I have seen. What started out as a TV movie of the week just went bonkers!!! David Arquette did look hot in it though but that's not enough to recommend this mess.

A romance novelist (David Arquette) moves into a "cottage" behind the home of a composer and his family. He seems sweet, but what do they really know about him?

I have no idea how this was botched, but it was. You have a pretty decent story of a man living in a guest house and the family is slowly getting creeped out by him. That seems easy enough to build suspense for, find good actors and more. But somehow, no, it just does not happen. And I do not want to blame the actors, because they were fine. I want to blame the person who wrote the script (Nick Antosca). So much of what Arquette's character does makes no sense whatsoever. He could achieve his goals in ways that are less absurd.

The cinematographer, Zoltan Honti, needs to be singled out. Maybe his work is sometimes good -- he has done a number of films -- but it just is not worth a darn here. He does not frame things well, the camera is jostled all over when it should be steady... it is a mess. I recently watched "Last Exorcism" and do not recall it being so bad... For what it is worth, though, "Zoltan" is a pretty awesome name.

Lastly, I have to take issue with the box. First, it says the film is "based on a harrowing true story". I hate it when films claim that, especially when it is so blatantly false. The events in this movie did not happen. And second, it says the family does not know about "depraved secrets of his past" (referring to Arquette). That is just misleading -- his past is never the issue, and I do not know what secrets he has. What matters is the present, which may or may not be "depraved".