Genres

Visitors Review

Sherazade 2012-05-25 01:13:24

There just ain't no way....

Not after all the films just like this (Identity, The Univited, heckeven Bollywood's Madhoshi) should a movie like this be presented to theviewing public in 2011/2012. I figured out the plot nearly half way inand it was virtually unwatchable from that point on. Also, this filmwas marketed wrong....while I agree that the plot falls under the'horror story' genre, there are very little scares. The casting of thefilm was also a bit off even though I think Daniel Craig did anexcellent job. Rachel Weisz and Naomi Watts were horribly wasted intheir roles(Watts more than Weisz), we used to seeing them tacklegrittier material that appearing in such minimal effort required fluffsuch as this almost seems like a waste of talent.

slntreader 2012-05-24 12:57:07

There are better suspense thrillers out there

I go to the movies all the time with my cousin and we lovesuspense/thriller/horror (even the bad ones).This movie was okay, butdon't expect much. The story (for me) was a little bit AmityvilleHorror, an iota of Shutter Island, a taste of the Wicker Man, etc. etc.Even though we stayed for the entire movie, while I was sitting in thetheater watching, I didn't really care about the characters or what wasgoing to happen. Also, there appeared to be plot holes in the story,which were explained by the end of the film, but I couldn't get over acouple of scenes where what was taking place didn't seem plausible orrational.If you are just looking for fun and like the cast: Daniel Craig, NiaomiWatts, etc. then you might enjoy this flick. If you don't have themoney to blow on just any movie, go rent a great suspense thriller, orwait until a better one comes out.

compmend 2012-05-17 18:18:49

Not a bad movie

I liked this move, kind of. The pace of the movie is slow and I foundit hard to concentrate a few times also Daniel Craig is a great actor,but, his accent is a little thick sometimes and it was difficult a fewtimes during the movie for me to make out what was being said over thevolume of the music.The plot was decent, and there was a nice twist in the movie to keep itinteresting. The only problem was that the movie dialog, cinematicpresentation, and pacing, seemed a little like a cookie cutter approachto moving the plot along. It would have been nice to have an occasionalominous music score, an upbeat tempo, a loud outburst, etc. to break upthe monotony. Instead the plot flowed along like a lazy river, the highpoints mere ripples instead of splashes.I enjoyed this movie, but, it is the sort of movie, at least for me,that I can only sit through once.

David Ferguson 2012-05-17 04:22:06

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.

japonaliya 2012-05-17 09:11:21

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!!!

thomasjwilliams 2012-05-16 18:01:52

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 ...

del91 2012-05-16 11:42:11

Either the studio got in the way or the screenwriter must be really lucky to have all this talent working on a mediocre script

"Dream House" is marketed as a horror/thriller film. There are twothings wrong with this. Firstly, it is not a horror film, it is apsychological mystery drama/thriller. Some people will no doubt getturned off by this. Another thing is, a vital plot point was given awayin the trailer. This is unacceptable as it ruins the film for theunsuspecting audience.There's something that doesn't feel right about the film. Maybe itsbecause the screenplay is a pastiche of psycho thriller clichés anddoesn't go further than that. Maybe director Jim Sheridan lost himselfafter directing a string of great dramas that he decided to take abreak by lazily making this apparently by-the-numbers thriller, ormaybe producer James G. Robinson somehow tinkered with the final cut ofthe film - against Sheridan's wishes. Indeed, because the plot startsoff interestingly and subtly, before careening off the cliff of logicand common sense. Maybe it's because that vital plot point that Imentioned earlier was placed in the middle of the film instead of theend, thus losing much of its intended power.As much as I would like to complain about the film, it has its ups.Daniel Craig is great and really convincing in his role while RachelWeisz also gives out a good, solid supporting performance. Naomi Wattshad quite little screen time but she was okay. The rest of thesupporting cast are okay but by-the-numbers. The production value isgood and the cinematography by the great Caleb Deschanel is, as usual,very good. I liked some touches of the film, like when Craigcommunicates with his hallucination of his dead wife Weisz even afterboth of them know that she is a hallucination, you don't see that everyday.Overall, the film felt uneven and incomplete. I suspect executivetinkering, and hope that an extended edition or Sheridan's director'scut of the film will be released so that perhaps a better, longer andmore fleshed out version of the movie. As it stands now, its an averageHollywood thriller with great performances out of three A-list actorsand competent direction by an A-list director working their way arounda ludicrous script. Quite disappointed, but at least it was interestingto watch.Like I said, either the studio got in the way, or the screenwriter mustbe really lucky to have a cast and crew this talented working on hismediocre script.Overall rating: 58/100

Christian_Dimartino 2012-05-15 14:33:58

Dream House could have been better if it were better edited.

Daniel Craig, Rachel Weisz, and Naomi Watts star in Dream House,another one of the year's worst reviewed films. Maybe a lot of criticsmissed out on it, that's why it did so bad, but really I didn't thinkit was as bad as I read. But it needs work.Craig plays a writer who has just moved into a new house with hiswife(played by Craig's actual wife, Weisz) and kids, and across thestreet from a mysterious woman (Watts). But what they don't know, butWatts does, is that a family was murdered in the house.Apparently when the production ended, nobody was pleased with theoutcome. And after seeing it, I finally see why. Dream House isn'texactly a bad movie. It's fun, thrilling, and has a good twist. Butthere has to have been a huge problem in the editing process. BecauseDream House is a mess in that sense. A lot of the story doesn't quiteadd up.Director Jim Sheridan, who has directed such great works as My LeftFoot, In the Name of the Father, and Brothers, could have had a reallygood movie. But what they needed was more plot attention. Do theyreally expect us to believe it the way it turned out? Overall, goodtwist, okay movie.B-

vitor-fernandes1983 2012-05-15 01:50:07

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.

Katie Sirles 2012-05-14 18:47:59

Everybody who lives in this house dies... OF BOREDOM

Synopsis: Will Atenten (Daniel Craig) has just moved into a new houseafter leaving the company he's worked at for five years. He wants towrite a book and live at home with his beautiful wife, Libby (RachelWeisz) and their two perfect children Trish (Taylor Geare) andcutie-pie Dee Dee (Claire Geare). To the untrained eye, this is theAmerican dream. Libby paints and dotes lovingly upon her husband andthe two girls are mostly seen and not heard. Only, something isterribly wrong here. Everyone is treating Will as though he is somehownot welcome. Perhaps he had a bad dinner party and offended all of hisneighbors. If only it were that simple. The truth lies deep within thenooks and crannies of the small community in which Will once lead ahappy life.What a promising story! A mysterious psychological thriller istypically a big crowd pleaser. While this movie sort of leaves theaudience guessing until the end, I was not on the edge of my seat. Infact, I was sitting – head in hand – wishing for this movie to end. Ididn't care if everyone in the film lived or died. I just wanted it tobe over. How can a plot like this one fail so miserably? The wordsaggressively bad come to mind when I am asked what I thought of DreamHouse. Let's take a look at where this movie went wrong. First off, Ibelieve that a movie can have too much story. When a filmmaker tries tocram in too much detail, the whole thing can come off the rails veryeasily. In the way that Nightmare on Elm Street keeps the viewerguessing as far as what's real and what is a dream, this movie had theright idea in doing the same sort of thing. The only problem is that itdidn't do it right and therefore became a failure from the get-go. As aclever movie-going public, we are trained to weed out the unnecessarybits in films like this one. If I were to do that, I'd say that themovie was approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes too long.The characters were another problem. Ann Patterson (Naomi Watts) isWill's neighbor. She is the only person outside of his house who isnice to him when he returns. Her perfectly shaped eyebrows spend mostof the film furrowed and she often looks worried, but it doesn't comeacross as sincere to me. None of the characters in this movie do.Everyone seems confused more than anything. And even though we knowthat Ann is the key to uncovering Will's troubled past, it is still allso hard to swallow.Possibly the biggest problem for me was the soundtrack. If you've readmy blog before, you know that I am a soundtrack enthusiast. I love agood score and when the music in a movie matches up in that perfectharmony with what is happening on-screen it is some sort of magic. Themusic for Dream House is offensive. The idea of the soundtrack is tocapture the moment. Hearing that music later takes you back to theemotion you felt. It sounds cheesy, but it's so true. I don't know howthey screwed that part up so badly, but they did it. Boy oh boy, didthey do it.Save your money, readers. It won't be long before Dream House hitsNetFlix 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 wretchedmistake and know that you didn't miss a thing.****See more of my reviews at www.mssilverscreen.com****

JTVelez 2012-05-10 23:10:12

Trailer misleading...still enjoyed the movie!

I'm not going to say anything about this from what everyone else hasstated. BUT instead of going by the trailer and with just an open mind,enjoy the chemistry between the actor and actresses, and she what thisghost story unfolds. If I went by most of the reviews and trailers, I'dprobably stick with only the classics and give the rest of Hollywood'scinema rejects they put to film. If you enjoy Daniel Craig, RachelWeisz and Naomi Watts performances in the past, you will enjoy theirinteractions with each other on the silver screen. The little girlswere adorable, and the story tragic. Everyone can always be a critic,but it is what each person interpret what they see or understand is notalways the same. I truly enjoyed this movie!

moonfull 2012-05-10 17:18:19

So predictable...

I watched this movie thinking it was a horror story. I never read theplots before seeing but do check the genre and the rating. This time Iwasn't able to... So my expectations for horror were gone when I sawthe man driving his car in a huff at he beginning (the neighbor). So Ichecked the genre and there it is a mystery, thriller. Then I thoughtthat was something about the neighbor and no supernatural thing. Stillchanging the point of view, the movie could be nice! Mr Bond was acting so solid, so I was thinking, "What's the problemwith you man?" When he came to his house, a lovely wife and twoadorable children were waiting for him. Everything was perfect. Tillthey began to figure out there was a massacre there. So what canhappen? A mysterious man came ahead, a man who killed his whole family!Spying on them? That wasn't a thriller at all. I never scared when Isaw the foot prints and etc. Still trying to understand, what about the neighbor woman? Why iseverybody acting weird? Why did the neighbor bring food? So it allbecome clear when he went to the ward (and Peter Ward) and saw hisfamily's photo there. Oh, "Shutter Island" type! They actually wantedus to believe that Peter Ward went to their home and took theirpicture? I hope not! Afterwards the movie was clear but still whatabout the neighbor? Did they kill the family? Was he having an affairwith her? Oh, I got it, brilliant idea! It was a misunderstanding! OK,I didn't like the movie at all. Could be good with unpredictable ideas,twists etc. Would prefer a dream house with scary ghosts or "ShutterIsland" was really good...

Gordon-11 2012-05-08 14:21:39

An engaging thriller

This film is about a man who moves into a beautiful house in thesuburbs with his wife and two children. His dream house soon turns intoa nightmare when the secrets of the house is unfolded."Dream House" is a well made thriller. Initially everything seems to beperfectly clear and straightforward. When the twist comes, things areconfusing in the sense that you still don't know whether the twist isreal or not. I think that is good film making, as it makes you thinkwhat event in the film is real and what is not. Both Rachel Weisz andDaniel Craig are captivating on screen, and they make a convincing onscreen couple. I enjoyed watching "Dream House".

Nysa11 2012-05-08 04:57:49

A decent thriller that was advertised wrong

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

Claudio Carvalho 2012-05-06 23:51:42

Good Mystery that Deserved a Better Screenplay

In New York, the successful editor Will Atenton (Daniel Craig) quitshis job in the GPH Publishers to move to the suburb New Ashford anddedicate more time to his beloved wife Libby (Rachel Weisz) and hisdaughters Trish (Taylor Geare) and DeeDee (Claire Geare) and to startwriting a novel.The family is frightened by a stranger watching them through the windowand Will decides to investigate and finds teenagers in a satanic cultin his basement. Sooner he discovers that the family man Peter Wardkilled his wife and his two daughters in that house five years ago.Will goes to the police but the officers do not give attention to him.He also learns that Peter Ward spent five years in the GreenhavenPsychiatric Hospital but was recently discharged. Will tries to get more information about the murder with his neighboron the other side of the street, the divorced Ann Patterson (NaomiWatts), but she refuses to give any information to him. Will decides togo to Greenhaven to get information about Peter Ward and he discloses adark secret about the former intern that will affect his life in hisdream house. "Dream House" is a good mystery that deserved a better screenplay. Thestory has a great potential and a surprising plot point but does notdevelop well important characters and situations after the revelationof the mystery. Usually this type of twist happens in the end, like in"The Others", or "Ghost", or "Identity", or "The Sixty Sense". In"Dream House', the mystery is disclosed too early and the last twist isvery weak and predictable. Daniel Craig is one of my favorite contemporary actors and Rachel Weiszis impressively gorgeous. Naomi Watts is effective, as usual, and therelationship of Ann with her husband deserved a better development. Myvote is seven.Title (Brazil): "A Casa dos Sonhos" ("The Dream House")

cmoyton 2012-05-06 09:32:46

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

jmarinko925 2012-05-05 21:11:31

I expected a horror film but was surprised by this thriller

Really got a kick out of this one. Thought it had potential as a bigscare horror film. The beginning definitely gives that feel. Iappreciated Daniel Craigs performance it was very convincing. The moviekept me guessing from beginning to end. Naomi Watts was effective but Ifelt somewhat underused. Definitely lets the anxiety build up as youwatch. Keeps you guessing throughout and I don't want to give anythingaway. Good suspense and a good story I felt entertained and was able toderive good conversation with others that have seen it. I kind of feltlike I missed out on a horror film but the film had suspense and wasintense moves quickly with very few lulls a good watch.

dalelawson-1 2012-05-05 19:23:08

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.

capone666 2012-05-03 05:39:49

The Vidiot Reviews...

Dream HouseThe best thing about buying a murder house is you won't need to put anyHalloween decorations up to scare trick-or-treaters.Unfortunately, the new owner of the infamous crime house in this horrormovie refuses to acknowledge that benefit.Shortly after Peter (Daniel Craig) moves his wife Elizabeth (RachelWeisz) and their daughters in to their new home, he learns from thelocals that the previous resident had killed his wife and children.His frustration turns to confusion when Peter begins to notice cracksin his reality that suggest he may have been more involved in theslayings than he'd care to admit.While the ending does offer salvation for those able to wade throughthe convoluted storyline, Dream House is ultimately primed forforeclosure.Besides, during this economic downturn, it's more beneficial to stopsnooping for the truth and just open your home up to busloads of murdertours. (Red Light)vidiotreviews.blogspot.com

cassandrafatgrl2 2012-05-02 22:50:38

dirty nails...Alfred would be so proud!!!!

I don't like horror movies. But I do like to think. I watched this filmfree off the internet. Someone filmed it on a cam. (sorry I'm broke)Theaudience in the theater talked the whole time and I also heard childrentalking who were bored.(um, why bring your children to a movie aboutdead children?) Then in the last 30 minutes or so someone was snoringreally loud. I suspect it was the person filming it. I know why theCraig's made this movie. It's just to bad that while they were filmingat a stoplight, someone carjacked them and drove them tocrazy-ending-ville. That is not their fault. See this film in a quiettheater, and pay attention, you will not be disappointed. Since it wasa cam, I could not read what was in that e-mail.But I did enjoy whatwas in the neighbors bathtub!!Today's audience would not likeHitchcock, or the Twilight Zone. Too bad for them.