Dream House

Editor and author Will Atenton (Daniel Craig) quits a high power job in Manhattan to relocate with his wife, Libby (Rachel Weisz), and two girls to a quaint New England town. However, as they settle into their new life, they discover that their house was the murder scene of a mother and her two children. Will tries to befriend his neighbour Ann Patterson (Naomi Watts) and find out from her what happened but she is not too eager to talk.

Meanwhile, Will's younger daughter starts seeing someone lurking outside the window at night. As Will pieces together the haunting puzzle, he must find out who murdered the family in his dream house before the culprit returns to kill again.

"Dream House" is not a suspense thriller that will jolt you with sudden loud music and cheap scares. Instead, it plays games with your mind, keeping you guessing about what's happening and making you sort out the plot yourself. Now, if you like your thrillers done this way, then go for it. If not, this one is going to be a nightmare...

Director Jim Sheridan's plot build-up is almost by-the-book and he makes no apology for it. The opening scenes show Will as a devoted father and loving husband. At first, his daughter's visions of a shadowy figure are dismissed quietly, but when Will gets physical evidence of someone lurking around, our curiosity heightens. Sheridan, who gave us "My Left Foot" and "In The Name of The Father", is not delivering this thriller to his audience in a platter. He just dishes out the cards and lets his audience sort them out - at least until the closing sequences.

At first, it feels rather weird to see beefcake Craig as a domesticated guy. However, there is a good chemistry between he and Weisz who also lends a loving and tender touch to the proceedings. The kids, played by Claire and Taylor Geare, are also convincing and adorable. It would have been great to see more of Naomi Watts but her role is rather limited - and she acquits herself professionally. Fans of Rachel G. Fox, the Scarvo girl in TV's Desperate Housewives, will find her in a cameo as Ann's daughter Chloe. All in all, a thriller for the thinking viewer.

Will Atenton moves into a dream home with his lovely wife and two precious children. Weird things start to happen and the family discovers an ugly secret about their house. Neighbors are acting strange, the local police are no help, and investigating the house's history begins to unravel the family, and gives way to other supernatural dimensions.

This movie could have been a terrific ghost story in the vein of Shutter Island, The Others, or The Sixth Sense. Instead it loses focus and turns left into a formulaic and somewhat random "whodunnit". More like "who cares?". About halfway through it got boring and stupid and illogical. What a waste of Daniel Craig, Rachel Weisz, and a totally underused Naomi Watts. Recut and re-release it. There's a really good movie in there somewhere.

For the longest time I sort of refused to watch this, because I had heard that the theatrical release was cut to receive a PG13 rating ... so I was waiting for an uncut release on disc or streaming platform now. But this isn't or wasn't succesful enough to make anyone think about an "uncut" release.

Also now that I have watched it ... I don't think a couple of extra seconds of "violence" (the reason this was initially getting an R rating) would not have swayed my opinion in any direction ... still it would have been nice. Having said all that, the quite buff Daniel Craig (you will see him shirtless - steady ladies and fellas who are into this) plays the main role. And while it may feel a bit like a mystery, anyone who has seen a few thrillers will not be too surprised where the movie will take us.

Having said all that, a lot of suspension of disbelief has to be done ... for you to enjoy the movie. Because even while a many years long gap is somewhat explained .. it is not really sufficient to make sense ... anyway, you'll know once you watch and actually think about it ... if you don't think about it, don't worry! Stellar cast and an intriguing story make this more than worthwhile ...

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.

The previews and commercials for Dream House led one to believe it was a horror film, it is not, not at all. I think that is where a lot of the disappointment is coming from. It is a pretty good thriller, once you get used to the fact that that is what you are watching. The storyline, basically that horrible things have happened and we the audience have to figure it out along with the main character, is not the tired thriller standard, or at least the details are different enough to not seem tired. It's actually intriguing and the answer to the mystery is not obvious miles out, even if the climax sort of is. The acting is really quite good too. People who like mystery thrillers should enjoy the film, fans of scary movies will mostly not like it.