‘Dream House’ Review

Release Date – 9/30/2011

Will Atenton just quit his job in the city to work on his novel and also moved into a quiet neighborhood with his wife and two kids. But weird things start happening in his house and he discovers there was a heinous triple murder 5 years earlier by a man named Peter Ward. As he starts digging through information on the murders, he finds out he may not be the man he claims to be. For a movie with a big twist halfway through, it makes me wonder why the trailers ruined it. Of course that’s not the only twist in the film but still a major factor that makes you not care about what’s happening in the beginning. It blows my mind that it was spelled out for you in every preview. But even if it wasn’t spoiled, it was still a pretty crappy movie.

Daniel Craig plays Will. He seems very odd from the get go and eventually we find out why. Rachel Weisz plays his wife who is glad he is home on a more permanent basis to be with her and the kids. Naomi Watts plays a neighbor who knows all about the murders in the house because she was close to the man accused of the crime. And OK I’m going to say this because its ALL OVER the trailers. But just in case you haven’t seen any. SPOILER WARNING! Will Atenton is Peter Ward, the man who is accused of the murder of his wife and kids. He spent 5 years in a looney bin and when he was released he went back to his house and saw visions of his family. But once he realizes this, he’s still out to clear his name because he doesn’t believe he could have killed them. All the while, he’s still interacting with the visions because he can’t let go of his family. Its absurd how a twist that happens halfway through the movie is ruined in the trailers. The whole time when you think maybe the house is haunted or maybe there’s some creepy people trying to break in, its really just his crazy mind. You already know this because of the trailers. Ridiculous. It was driving me bonkers.

Director Jim Sheridan made an awesome movie in 2009 called Brothers. Fine performances and an awesome story. It was actually on my Top 10 of that year. This is a far cry from that film. He couldn’t even get decent performances from some A-list actors. I shouldn’t say they were all bad, but they weren’t memorable. Daniel Craig did what he could when he was forced to carry a bad script. And I never was in a theater before where a child’s death scene made people laugh. Seriously. Multiple laughs. And other little things here and there that were just silly. I won’t spoil anymore in case my trailer spoiler was already too much. In the end, I was not pleased. They throw another twist at the end but by then you already don’t give a shit. Dream House? More like Shit House.

IMDB – 6/10
Rotten Tomatoes – 0%
Movie Wiseguys – 3/10