Every movie review you read is going to say that “Dream House,” a psychological horror movie, is just awful – except for the relationship in real life that’s going on between Rachel Weisz and Daniel Craig. If you’ve seen a movie clip you pretty much know the entire plot of the movie already, more than you’re going to figure out if you actually go and see the movie. Craig has moved into a new house with his wife and two daughters and is very happy. Director Jim Sheridan, also the director of “My Left Foot” has done such an awful job that the new movie is very obvious and bad – in fact it’s so bad that there wasn’t even a screening for the press. Apparently there was fear that the reviews of “Dream House” would be so bad that nobody would come. Well, once somebody sees the upcoming movie word of mouth will be so bad that no one will come anyway.
There is plenty that’s possible in this film.
Sure, Daniel Craig may have left his job to spend more time with his family and he may be writing a book during the winter in which the new movie release takes place. Maybe his wife is redecorating the house and perhaps his children discovered a clubhouse haunted by the children who once lived in the house – a murder that nobody warned the new family about before they bought the house. It’s possible that there’s a strange man hanging around the house. It’s even possible that sexy Naomi Watts, the next door neighbor, has the hots for Craig. But then there’s the subplot.This subplot is seen through security cameras. Craig is institutionalized, has a name change, tosses furniture around, and more.
He has no idea why he’s in an institution. Then suddenly, while viewers are trying to figure out the first mystery (maybe – they may not care), there’s yet another mystery.For a short while the movie becomes an action movie and viewers may get the idea that the wrong man is being followed. Sheridan suggests that Craig is not the real good guy. Could the story belong to someone else, an explanation of why it’s so confusing? Might “Dream House” be a more exciting movie if viewers were led to follow some other protagonist?
It turns out that the only mystery involved in this mystery is how “Dream House” managed to snag such a great cast. All performances are good because the performers are so good. Technical merits are also state of the art and since the movie is so bad, viewers will have the time notice these things.
When people go to a movie that they know is a psychological thriller, they tend to memorize every detail at first because they know there will soon be a mystery that needs solving. But in “Dream House,” you may watch everything and every clue – and well – it might all mean nothing. The mystery means nothing, and the clues mean less than nothing.
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