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If you think back, there was a time when you couldn't enter a multi-plex without seeing an addition to the newly created genre of "watch out for the psycho you wouldn't expect" film. But like all horror/thriller villains, it's never dead when you think it is.... |
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What's the Plot? Cooper Tilson (Dennis Quaid) and his wife, Leah (Sharon Stone) are part of the rat race. Leah's job takes her away from her family on business trips, leaving Cooper to take care of the kids', Kristen (Kristen Stewart) and Jesse (Ryan Wilson) whilst working on his TV documentaries. That changes when Jesse is nearly run down by a car in the city and Cooper decides that they must leave for somewhere safer for their children to grow up. Luck appears to be on their side when they come across a recently repossessed mansion in the sticks of New York State. The once grand and elegant Cold Creek Manor is in a state of disrepair, but Cooper and Leah currently have nothing but time on their hands to renovate it back to it's former glory. Then a stranger appears, introducing himself as Dale Massie (Stephen Dorff) - the former owner of Cold Creek Manor, recently released from prison. Reluctantly, Cooper offers him a job in helping to fix up the house to get him back on his feet but Cooper soon begins to regret his decision. Whilst going through the left possessions of the Massie's, and talking to the locally-feared Mr Massie (Christopher Plummer) , Cooper begins to piece together the story of Dale and realises that his family could be in worse danger now
than before.
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The Review The likes of Wild River, Pacific Heights and Unlawful Entry gave audiences the dubious ability to fear the ordinary: fellow holiday-makers, tenants, local cops, heck, even Rebecca De Mornay gave babysitters a bad name. As is custom, the genre became saturated and those films were stopped as audiences interests waned, until now. For some reason, director Mike Figgis believes that the time has come to fear... the original house owner ! Now the decision to do a thriller with the old "but you wouldn't suspect little ol' him, would you?" premise may have worked and started a revival of the genre, if only Figgis could do suspense.
His casting is impressive, if not spectacular. Quaid, the Harrison Ford "could have been", showed his acting talents in the recent Far From Heaven, whilst Stone has proven that directors can get an eye brow -raising performance out of her if they're real good - Scorsese's Casino. Lewis and Dorff have had more lows than highs recently but have shown attention-worthy turns and Plummer is always dependable in whatever he lends his hand to. So, with all that in mind, why is Cold Creek Manor the worst film of the year, and it's only January! Well, there's no shocks, jolts, scares, surprises or anything that should be the basic ingredients of a thriller. |
Despite having the worst phobia of snakes, I could still watch the heaps of them that "mysteriously" appear throughout the house after Quaid's Cooper has a fall out with Dorff's Massie. Their reaction to the appearance is comical, to the point of slapstick, where their screams should have only added to the rising terror and make me hang my head in fear and not in embarrassment. The plot is unfortunately paper-thin which doesn't help, especially since it makes the journey as dull as the destination which is predictable beyond belief. If you know the ending all you can hope for is that the traveling is good and you don't get that here. Embarrassing for all, approach this only if you have a sick, weird or nasty streak in you. You have been warned.
STEVE'S SCORE
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Copyright © Steve Murphy 2004
