Dream House

A family moves into their suburban home to live their dream but it turns out that they bought a murder house that is famous and toxic. The local teenagers tend to congregate in the basement to reenact the most famous crimes in their town's history. The one when the father of the household killed his wife and two girls in that very home. They find out that the killer has been set loose on account of a lack of evidence. This flick is well told; it comes complete with a great house as a main character. We have to go back and forth in time in order to tell the story with suspense, this conceit is never my favorite, but still and all, this is a competent movie.

I was certainly interested in seeing "Dream House," since I just got back from seeing this couple in "Betrayal." Let me tell you, from a strictly visual point of view, both of them are gorgeous, not to mention both wonderful actors on stage and on screen.

I gather from reading a few reviews that this film suffers from the director having the final cut taken from him, a bad trailer, and being incorrectly advertised.

I had never heard of it until I rented it. It's a thriller about a man named Will Attenton (Craig) who quits his job in order to spend time with his wife (Weisz) and two daughters. They have bought a place away from the city, but they didn't know that three of the previous four inhabitants of the house had been murdered by the husband and father.

After some strange happenings, Will tries to find out what happened, which includes going to the institution where the father, Peter Ward, was sent after the murders. He was incapable of standing trial. What Will finds out is a huge shock.

I actually liked this film, and I would have liked to have seen the director's cut, since apparently the actors were all up in arms about Jim Sheridan not being permitted to do what he wanted with the final product.

I think for that reason, it's a tad confusing, nothing that a second viewing wouldn't solve. It's not as bad as it's been reviewed to be, and I think one poster was right - people were expecting a horror film and were disappointed.

Well, I will never be disappointed about not seeing a horror film. And I'm a sucker for Daniel Craig.

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.

Am I the only one that really liked this movie? Am I the only one that thought it was insanely clever, with a sick double-twist ending? Maybe not, but from the other reviews it seems like I'm one of the few! I agree with the other review - I watched this because I thought it was a horror movie, and it is much more of a psychological creepy awesome movie. But it's good, enough said.

Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz are great, enough said.

Written really well, and directed well. Once you think 'ah, nice, cliché, I see the ending' - nope! Give it a shot, it's a really great movie. I feel like with a few modifications it could've been even better, on par with The Sixth Sense, but it was still great. I'd watch it again.

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.