Contrary to the literally shite reviews that �Dreamcatcher� has been unlawfully getting around the globe, this is truly a fucking wicked movie. Sure, it is damn long (especially with the special �Ani-Matrix� promo for the �Matrix Reloaded� movie forming part of the trailers), but the atmosphere is perfect, as the sub-zero suspense focuses largely on a snowbound hut in the middle of a forest in which four middle-aged mates are staying together for a weekend away. Since their adolescence, these guys have shared a special telekinetic gift and yet even their talents bewilder and perplex them�
So when a random stranger bloke stumbles upon their isolated hut in the teeming snow and proceeds to inexplicably bleed to death (which isn�t a pretty sight), Jason Lee � who�s also starred in �Mallrats� and �Vanilla Sky� � and friends duly get a little freaked. As if that wasn�t bad enough, instantaneously an army charter headed by Morgan Freeman is flown in from nowhere and the area is quarantined, leaving the men to lose their poor little minds as they dual with what ultimately turns out to be alien life-forces milling around in various guises in the trees.
Pity then that when the aliens and monsters appear they do let the side down and the tension goes to shit because they look so preposterously over-the-top. Terror is at its most effective when left to the imagination, though this story doesn�t suffer that much from the visual inclusion of the aliens who are here on earth in this immediate instance to infect the entire population. Which is nice of them. Especially when we perpetually presume, �hey � of course they�re here �in peace!��
Moreover, pity the fact that Jason Lee is killed off so soon after he gets his big butt bit on the bog to bloody SFX. Lee is like Jim Carrey, who straddles seriousness - and his role in �Vanilla Sky� as Tom Cruise�s best-mate - and comic endeavours (as in the immature teen-flick �Mallrats�) simultaneously.
Still, it�s the quality story that was originally penned by Stephen King that�s the star. Another story in seemingly an infinite series of well-executed adaptations from his novels to the big screen. And in light of that silver-screamed fact� boy, this man who would be called King must be a very rich man.
(STEVE RUDD)