Save your money for something good and enjoyable

I'll tell you why so serious

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Some say that all homes have memories and once upon a time , there were two little girls who lived in a house . For one man, his home is the place he would kill to forget . The plot is simple and ordinary : a family unknowingly moves into a home where several grisly murders were committed only to find themselves the killer's next target and then things get worse . As soon after moving into their seemingly idyllic new home , a family learns of a cruel crime committed against former residents of the dwelling . As the hard-working publisher Will (Daniel Craig) quit a job in New York City to relocate his wife , Libby (Rachel Weisz), and two girls (Taylor Geare and Claire Geare, who act on-screen sisters, are real-life sisters) to a a weird mansion . But as they settle into their new life , they discover their perfect home was the scene of the murder of a mother and her children . And the entire city believes it was at the brutal hands of the husband who survived . After that , Will discovers strange happenings and his only lead comes from Ann Paterson (Naomi Watts) , a neighbour mistreated by his husband (Marton Csokas) who was close to the family that died . As Will and Ann find out that the story of the last man to leave Will's dream house will be just as terrifying to the one who came next . Later on , Will uncovers dark secrets about the former residents that will affect his existence in his dream house . And awful events ensue when they are mercilessly pursued by a strange stalker .Mystery thriller with terror elements , plenty of twists , turns and a suspenseful finale , dealing with a happy family who moves a quaint New England town , a seemingly idyllic new home , but they learn of a heinous crime committed against former inhabitants of the dwelling . The picture contains thriller , tension , suspense , unlimited excitement and plenty of plot twists . Hitchcock style psychological mystery , resulting to be surprisingly good and compellingly made , though has some flaws , being PG-13 rating for violence , terror , some sexuality, and brief strong language . The eerie as well entertaining premise about the strange home is overspread across the movie adding some brief conventional pitfalls . Exciting and ghostly writing credits written by David Loucka and Jim Sheridan himself . However , Production Company Morgan Creek took out the film of Sheridan's hands to re-cut it themselves ; after that , Sheridan re-filmed some scenes because they did not go down well with test audiences . That's why it had commercially a failure because Morgan Creek released it with advertisements that suggested it was a terror movie more than a thriller . Main cast is frankly decent . Daniel Craig gives an acceptable acting as the successful publisher Will Atenton who investigates a family tragedy to piece together the disturbing puzzle , then things go awry . Rachel Weisz is passable as Libby , the loving as well as suffering wife . During the filming of this movie , Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz met and began a love affair , in which their relationship was publicly announced several months later and they married in a discreet wedding ceremony . Support cast is pretty good , but really wasted , such as : Naomi Watts, Marton Csokas , Elias Koteas , Brian Murray , Gregory Smith and Jane Alexander . Suspenseful and mysterious original Musical Score by John Debney . Colorful and adequate cinematography by Caleb Deschanel . The motion picture was professionally made by director Jim Sheridan who fought with Morgan Creek's head , continuously on the set over the style of the screenplay and the production of the movie . As a result , and due to the movie being heavily re-cut , Sheridan refused to promote the film to the mass media and requested in the Director's Guild of America to have his name removed from the credit titles . Filmmaker/producer/actor Jim Sheridan , who was born in Dublín , has directed good films , being a great quality director , such as : ¨In the name of the father¨ , ¨Get Rich or Die Trying'¨, ¨The boxer¨, ¨In America¨, ¨Brothers¨, ¨The field¨ and ¨My left foot¨ . And he produced "Some Mother's Son" , ¨On the edge¨, ¨Doll house¨, ¨Bloody Sunday¨, ¨Agnes Browne¨, among others.

I noticed this in Netflix and immediately wondered why I hadn't heard of it before. I mean look at the cast and the director is a six time Oscar nominee, it's got to be good. And it was to a point, but after watching the movie I now understand why I hadn't heard of it.The setup and idea is great, but having also read that the movie was later edited without the director makes it quite clear that the production was a bit of a mess. Had the director had his way, this would probably have been a lot better. It's probably for the most part editing that makes this a dud, because the acting and atmosphere work quite well.Still this movie isn't completely ruined, but rather enjoyable. Only the ending is a bit so-so as the build up is not nearly as good as it should be. I wasn't also that sure about the whole outcome, but I was also getting a bit tired towards the end, so I may have missed a clue or two. But to me it seemed as if they kind of forgot the sub plot and concentrated too much on Daniel Craig and building up that part of the script.I don't know if I will ever watch this again, but this is one of those movies that _should_ make you want to watch it again after the movie ends, to catch all those clues.

I kind of wanted to like this movie a lot better than I really did. It started out pretty darn good, but it didn't follow through like it should. Or could.Daniel Craig in a horror movie.. Well mystery, thriller.. I had to see that! And Naomi Watts, and Rachel Weisz! That's three solid actors. And the acting is solid, too. The story is pretty good, not excellent, but better than many. It's always pleasant to watch this kind of movie with real actors. Unfortunately it's not that good. Can't really say what's wrong, I just wasn't that entertained. But the real reason I write this review, is that it has this one short scene, that almost brought me to tears. It was so warm and touching. And that my movie-seeing friends, is not often in mystery-thriller-horror movies. That one scene made me like the whole movie a lot better. I even get the feeling now, that I got from watching the scene when I did.So yeah. Not that good of a movie, but has it's qualities, and one really nice little scene.

In a bid to be all fresh and original on us, and to avoid predictable cliché, DREAM HOUSE turns out to be a right mess of a movie. The set-up is a familiar one indeed: Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz move to a rural dwelling with their kids, only to learn of sinister shenanigans in the neighbourhood. The house was the scene of a brutal massacre and the killer's still on the loose.So far, so predictable, but halfway through there's a big twist that you won't see coming. Unfortunately after this stage believability goes right out of the window with one muddled, nonsensical idea after the other. It becomes a pure fantasy film, one that bears no semblance to reality or indeed has a proper structure or plot either. We're supposed to believe in the dumbest character actions and the most ridiculous situations.Needless to say, nobody comes out of this looking good, particularly the interfering producers and the writers. Craig and Weisz turn in staid and dull performances and even reliable supporting stars like Elias Koteas and Martin Csokas are wasted. The less said about Naomi Watt's insipid turn the better. No, this turns out to be a godawful thriller and one to avoid at all costs.