Cold Creek Manor

Rating:
Summary: Wasted Potential
Review: This movie started off very well, with a lot of suspense. In fact, I was interested until the last 30 minutes when the smart characters, as played by Sharon Stone and Dennis Quaid, started doing REALLY DUMB things.

I mean, If you have just run across your expansive property in the rain and lightning, and you have reached your house and notice your Jeep is on fire in the front yard, do you run inside the house to hide? Hmmm, where's the bad guy? Also, why not spend a little money on security (locks, gates, etc.) to keep the bad guy out? This couple could have easily afforded some security when they got the house for nothing.

Juliette Lewis is now definitely type-cast in my mind. Can she only play the white ..., stupid [woman of the night]?

... It really did start out well. I only think that the audience ... could have picked a more appropriate ending! ...

Rating:
Summary: Manor Care
Review: The haunted house thriller, Cold Creek Manor, was touted as a comeback of sorts for actress Sharon Stone. She had been away from the medium for quite some time, after a few health concerns and problems. In the film, she got the chance to work with actor Dennis Quaid, who really impressed me in the movie Frequency. Even though the it didn't generate much buzz in theaters, I was still looking forward to seeing it anyway, as a rental.

Finally putting an end to their days as slaves to the hustle-and-bustle of city life, both Cooper Tilson (Quaid) and his wife, Leah (Stone) pack up their kids and all their belongings and move into a recently vacated mansion in the backwoods of upstate New York. Once considerd a crown jewel, grand and elegant, the Cold Creek Manor is now a shambles, but Cooper and Leah have plenty of time to renovate. All's well until a series of unexplained incidents at the house lead the Tilsons to wonder who used to live in their new house. The invesigation leads them to discover that a former convicted felon, named Dale Massie (Stephen Dorff), used to live there. Now, he will do anything to have it back.

While it's great to see Stone and Quaid together, and Dorff doing another quirky character, the film could have been better. Director Mike Figgis uses a very tired bag of tricks to tell his tale. Some of the film's plot borrowed from another thriller, the "clunky" What Lies Beneath and shows itself well worn here. Playing the Tilson children, Kristen (Kristen Stewart) and Jesse (Ryan Wilson) respectively, Stewart calls upon her Panic Room days and Wilson Goes for a Signs/Sixth Sense vibe Poor Juliette Lewis is wasted in the film. Cold Creek Manor just wasn't all that scary--just predictable fluff basically culled from other sources.

The DVD extras are a mixed bag. The audio commentary with director Mike Figgis is ok. He is well spoken and provides in depth information about the making of the film. Although, this can be very interesting at times, like the movie itself, the commentary does begin to drag and there are few surprises along the way. There is a "bonus" alternate ending that may have actually worked better, if it had been attached to the film--but I'll let others decide for themselves. There are also a handful of deleted scenes, complete with optional commentary from Figgis. Unlike the alternate ending though, these scenes, were wisely left on the cutting room floor, and don't really add much to the film. The "Rules of the Genre" featurette includes the writer-Richard Jefferies , director and actors letting us think they do, in fact, know what elements must be present to be able to put together a thriller. The fact that they tried a too hard to make it different and Cold Creek Manor came out as contrived as it did is kinda weird considerng the talent involved. "Cooper's Documentary" goes into the making of the documentary footage seen briefly in the film. As most of the documentary angle was cut from the final version of the plot, this featurette though a nice idea, comes across as padded material. Also, much of the information here and in the other featurette can be heard in the in the commentary track.

What a disappointment all the way around. See this DVD only if there's nothing else to rent

Rating:
Summary: GODAWFUL!
Review: This boring waste of film and time does not deserve a review...

Rating:
Summary: Very disappointing. :-(
Review: STORY: Family moves out of the big city to be in an area "safer" for the kids. But when the previous owner of the home they just bought gets out of jail, they discover the country can be more dangerous than the city.

MY FEEDBACK:
1) It is always a pleasure watching Quaid and Stone. They are quality actors who have a charisma about themselves.

2) The movie takes what seems an eternity to get going. Once it does get going it seems like it is over way too quick.

3) The suspense scenes were telegraphed way in advance so they weren't suspensful after all.

4) Plot holes galore. Too many unanswered questions. A lot of potential that just went to waste.

5) The ending was dumb! The very last shot seemed to be the director's effort to leave you guessing if things are really resolved or not but it was so haphazzardly done that it felt out of place vs. a natural progression of the story.

OVERALL: If it was any actors other than big names ones like Quaid and Stone, this movie would have recieved a 1 star. Not worth renting unfortunately.

Rating:
Summary: SLOW BUT SEDUCTIVE
Review: COLD CREEK MANOR is not an awful movie...just seems like it could have been better. Dennis Quaid does a little bit of overacting, and at times, underacting. Some of his facial expressions are way overboard, and there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of synergy in his performance. Sharon Stone looks well, but her character seems to react more than act. Stephen Dorff is excellent as the demented Dale Massie, smooth, but with a smoldering evil boiling underneath. Juliette Lewis does well as Dale's love, and an unrecognizable Christopher Plummer hams it up as the senile Massie's father. There are some tense and chilling moments, but it's pacing is so slow in the beginning, you wonder where Figgis is taking the film. I like Quaid very much, but was disappointed in his performance in this movie. The extras are interesting, including one called "Rules of the Genre" in which director Figgis tries to explain those rules for a thriller; unfortunately, I don't think he followed them. Also the deleted scenes are rightfully deleted, especially the long pool game, in which Quaid's mimicry of Dorff's father is extremely distasteful.
All in all, not a bad rental. Buy if you're a Quaid collector.

Rating:
Summary: High Hopes
Review: When you rent this DVD you can't help thinking your in for a treat. Adapted from a NY Times bestseller, starring Dennis Quaid and Sharon Stone plus a whole bunch of DVD extras. Sadly, not the case.
This is not a bad movie. Just disappointing and a little confusing. There is so much that could have been accomplished re character development and storyline to keep you in a "thriller" genre. Unfortunately after 2 hours your just left wondering: "is this a happy ending?
Quaid and Stone, terrific actors in their own right, just don't come across as husband and wife, with two loving children. Stephen Dorff is good and crazy. Juliette Lewis is good and sexy. But they can't carry the show by themselves. You won't recognize Christopher Lee. They probably tied him to the bed till he finished his role. And the townspeople are totally incomprehensible.
There was a lot of potential here but never properly administered. If the ending leaves you a bit perplexed try the "alternate ending" in Bonus Features. That will really get you thinking.

Rating:
Summary: Good acting, bad script
Review: For anyone who has explored the thriller genre to any extent, the premise behind Cold Creek Manor will be familiar territory. A family moves to an idyllic country home in search of a peaceful life. A charismatic, vaguely suspicious character unexpectedly enters their lives. Through a series of gradually building incidents, they come to realize that the stranger is actually a homicidal maniac. Tensions between the two sides escalate, and the family is finally forced to confront the stranger in a kill-or-be-killed battle.

Cold Creek Manor doesn't fail just because it tells a story that has already been told many times. (A movie can succeed with a familiar plotline if it addresses the old story from an innovative angle.) Cold Creek Manor fails because there are simply too many credibility gaps in the movie's plot. As a result, the viewer is never able to completely suspend his or her disbelief.

As I watched the movie, I found myself thinking again and again: No reasonably intelligent person would take these actions under these circumstances. In several scenes, Dennis Quaid's analytical, timid main character takes actions that are incongruently foolhardy. Moreover, there a number of places where the cause-and-effect relationships simply don't add up. (I can't be more specific without adding spoilers; but you'll recognize them if you watch the film.) For example, there is one scene where the killer has a clear chance to finish off the main characters, but he inexplicably fails to take advantage of the opportunity, in what is an obvious and artificial means of extending the action.

Cold Creek Manor is also an odd mishmash of genres. The first part of the movie dwells on the sinister, gothic atmosphere of the house, leading the viewer to think that Cold Creek Manor is going to be a haunted house story of some sort. However, the atmospheric elements of the house are immaterial to the final evolution of the plot. I ultimately wondered why the director went to so much trouble to foreshadow the occult at the beginning of the film.

The bright points of Cold Creek Manor are the actors. Stephen Dorff is especially skillful in his portrayal of the tough-yet-clever villain. Juliette Lewis also does a commendable job as the abused girlfriend who doesn't want to see the dark side of her love interest.

I can't help thinking that there was a potential for a good movie here. However, Cold Creek Manor is far too loosely plotted to rate more than two stars, despite the competent efforts of the actors involved.

Rating:
Summary: What a Pile!
Review: Reviewer Eric Mehta from Canada is an idiot. This movie absolutely blows. Sharon Stone and Dennis Quaid should be ashamed of themselves. They are incredible talents and to have actually participated in this low end pile of #%*&! is very disappointing. Do they really need the money that bad? I'll be happy to give them a buck or two just to stop making trash like this.

Rating:
Summary: One of the WORST Movies that I have see.
Review: I usually don't even write reviews. I read them though and I sure as hell wished I read the ones for this movie. This is by far the worst, boring, waste ridden movie out there now. I wasted good money on this piece of garbage. The whole cast is so talented, were they in a coma when they signed to do this movie.

Rating:
Summary: Fire the screenwriter
Review: This movie is hoorible. It's long, tedious, badly written and run of the mill thriller. The acting is ok, but there's nothing there to act with. The climax is nothing at all. A really bad movie.