Just perfect...

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Back on its release in 2003, I remember thinking that COLD CREEK MANOR was yet another spooky supernatural flick about a family moving into an old home and being terrorised by its ghostly inhabitants – I imagined something like the diabolical remake of THE HAUNTING. Suffice to say, I never bothered watching it. Seeing it on television the other night, I decided to give it a chance – and I admit I had nothing better to do at the time.I was surprised. Not because this film was any good – it's not, it's just as bland and predictable as I'd feared – but because there's no supernatural stuff going on here whatsoever. Instead this is a pure psycho-thriller, harking back to those early '90s days when the likes of THE HAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE had audiences sitting on the edges of their seats as normal families were terrorised by crazies. The problem with COLD CREEK MANOR is that it's just plain boring.I didn't even go in wanting or expecting originality – so when I saw there was none, I wasn't disappointed. Some effective shocks and scares would have helped, but instead we get one or two silly moments, like the laughable 'snakes in the house' interlude which comes off like some lukewarm attempt to mimic ARACHNOPHOBIA. The script is mundane, dragging the straightforward, no-twists-here plot line out to what feels like an unbelievable length, and it's one of those films that had my mind wandering and my eyelids struggling to remain raised, especially in the second half.The film's biggest problem is the acting. Dennis Quaid, an actor seemingly stuck in a 'mundane' bracket since the 1980s, has a Harrison Ford haircut and that's all you'll notice. He's bland, dull, an utterly unlikable leading man – I was hoping something unpleasant would happen to him, but it never does. Sharon Stone doesn't seem to be putting much effort in playing Quaid's wife, and none of the supporting cast members stand out – Juliette Lewis is here, typecast as 'kooky' as per usual, while Stephen Dorff seems to be trying to channel Billy Zane's personality in DEAD CALM but he comes across as a laughable, non-threatening villain.Some bloodshed, some decent shocks and some atmosphere could have made this cheesy, scary or worthwhile. It has none of those elements, content instead to rehash the same old ideas, leaving plot holes wide enough for a 4x4 to drive through and generally being a pain in the backside. They could have had fun with this premise, but the po-faced seriousness of it all makes it a stifling watch. Leave it well alone...

Cold Creek Manor (2003): Dir: Mike Figgis / Cast: Dennis Quaid, Sharon Stone, Stephen Dorff, Juliette Lewis, Kristen Stewart: One of the worst haunted house movies ever filmed. Dennis Quaid and Sharon Stone play a married couple with two children who are tired of city life and decide to move into an oversize outhouse. They hire the former owner to touch up the place and continually scare the sh*t out of them. His name is Dale Massey and the mood swings unexplainably during the dinner scene. Then snakes infest the house, and Quaid sees Massey's true nature at a bar where he smacks his girlfriend who happens to be the Sheriff's sister. Then a dead horse appears in the pool. Quaid suspects Dale of killing his family, etc. If we waited patiently then perhaps the kitchen sink would have made a cameo. The climax regards one factor falling through a skylight because that was the best dimwitted solution the screenwriter could muster up. Director Mike Figgis previously made Timecode but provides none of that artistic talent here. Quaid is flat and Stone is reduced to cardboard. Stephen Dorff gradually shifts to overacting as he becomes more psychotic. Juliette Lewis plays Dale's airhead girlfriend. Kristen Stewart has an early role as the daughter and this memory is one she will hopefully erase. Pointless bore should be buried under a ton of rock. Score: 0 / 10

I am not used to horror thriller films and only watched it because it was starting on TV the moment I sat on the couch. It is rather good, a good surprise, and I'm used to watch Bergman, Godard, Hitchcock, Kubrick, etc... not that that matters.Everyone seemed to get the idea from the trailer that something supernatural was going to happen, I didn't get that idea.The scenarios and the props were realistic, didn't had bad camera angles, no major or noticeable flaws, one particular shot of a window was actually very good. The dialog wasn't bad. The psychological behaviors, actions and reactions give the proximity of the real emotions one must feel under serious pressure and fear. The personalities of the secondary characters correspond to those of cliché movie personalities, the kind that are really uncommon in real life and very common in other movies, so that's a down point. Another down point is the focus on the dark figure of Dale as soon as he appears, I think it is real, it is there, his psychotic personality is there from the beginning if one is paying attention but it shouldn't have been mystified. That way it would give the thinking viewer the realization that everyone can be a murderer or a crazy person.Some say there is meant to be a connection, a spark so to speak, between Dale and Leah and it is not well portrayed. Wrong! Dave gives her the sweet talk, the concern and the attention, he gives her dirty looks. She on the other way is completely innocent on account to her guilty conscience on saying yes to sleeping with her boss but never actually doing it and realizing she loves her family.It was surprisingly good and it left me tied to my chair. Some said the not having the supernatural haunted house factor took the scary part away. I think the fact that it might actually happen makes it more scary.

Cooper (Dennis Quaid) is a poor documentarian. Leah (Sharon Stone) is a successful executive. Together they have two kids (Kristen Stewart, Ryan Wilson) living in the city. However after a near miss, they decide to live in the country, and buy an old estate called Cold Creek Manor. The former owner Dale (Stephen Dorff) comes sniffing by and gets a job to fix the place up. It's obvious that he and his girlfriend Ruby (Juliette Lewis) are up to no good.Stephen Dorff comes in this like a ton of bricks. He might as well be wearing a hockey mask and wielding a machete. It's too much. The movie is so obvious that Stephen Dorff might as well wear a neon sign. Juliette Lewis plays yet another white trash character. And Sharon Stone is somewhat wrong as the mom. She's just not the maternal type. Director Mike Figgis is on a long slide to average with this predictable movie. He also makes a big mistake by leaving the kids out of the dangerous climax. That would elevate the tension so much higher. That's sort of horror 101.