Dream House [2011]

Is it a haunted house horror, is it a stalker horror, no it’s Dream House! Again with the misleading trailers and posters, you say, and I say can’t help it. The twists in the story are something that should be mildly hinted before watching the movie, if at all. But as we can plainly see, this cheap trick is more and more utilized in Hollywood. Still this cannot spoil the movie, but if the entire movie is that twist then I should say no more. Instead of the emphasizing the characters and their intentions, Jim Sheridan focuses on a slowly unfolding story with very few scary or suspenseful moments. Ultimately I did not care about the characters (except Rachel of course) or the story, and sort of waited out the end. Still this is not a complete rubbish, mostly because of the actors and relatively interesting story. I must point out the scene towards the end of the movie where Daniel is hugging his children that seems utterly surreal.

Successful publisher Will Atenton decides to move to a small town in order to spend more time with his beautiful wife and two daughters (hmm, this seems familiar). They move into a new, slightly neglected house and decide to turn it into a perfect family home. But soon after their arrival strange things start to happen as the neighbors seem reluctant to talk to the Atenton’s  and the police seem to have no interest in the delinquents that have been holding rituals in one part of the house. The only person that seems to show some signs of hospitality is Ann Patterson, their neighbor.   All this is very disturbing to Will Atenton who is bent on finding the truth about this house and the events that unfolded there, but will the answers be much worse than the not knowing?

Director: Jim Sheridan

Cast: Daniel Craig, Naomi Watts, Rachel Weisz, Elias Koteas, Marton Csokas

Fun Facts: During the shooting of this film, actors Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz fell in love and started a relationship, which was publicly announced months later. The actress later married Craig in a discreet ceremony.

Rating:

IMDb Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1462041/