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Cold Creek Manor

Cold Creek Manor

List Price: $19.99
Your Price: $13.99
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Terrible simply terrible
Review: This was the most predictable horror film ive seen in a while. The script for this movie was poorly written which might explain that sub par acting (except for Stephen Dorf). It was just terrible! I rented it because it was always out of stock why I have no idea this is one of the worst horror films I have ever seen.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Don't waste the two hours of your life like I did!!!!
Review: I thought, hmm Sharon Stone, hadn't seen her in a while. Obviously, she needed the work, and the paycheck. In fact the whole cast in here looks to be collecting a check from the suckers who rent, or god-forbid, bought, this horribly cliche-ridden trash. This film was not scary, not suspenseful, full of
more holes than a block of Swiss cheese, and a waste of most of the 'talent' gathered for it. Basically, a tragic event drives an affluent New York family to seek shelter in the quieter countryside, where they just happen to discover an abandoned mansion that they choose to purchase. It's not long before it's former tenant(Stephen Dorff) shows up on their doorstep unannounced, and does his best redneck creep impression. The cliches in here are laughable, the characters are weak and extremely stupid for such urban sophisticates. Basically, this film is a cheap version of a much, much better film, 'Cape Fear,'
by Martin Scorsese, although a re-make of an earlier work, excellent none the less, with Nick Nolte and Robert DeNiro.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Scary movie for Stupid people
Review: I really wanted this to be a great movie. I was soooo looking forward to it. I counted the days till it was released.
Well, the only thing scary about it was my devotion to it.
My devotion was not completely wasted. I did get to see Sharon on screen again. That was worth it, but nothing else was.
Like everyone else has said, forshadowing was the key force in the movie. Everything that was going to happen was handed to you on a silver platter many scenes before it did. Not only was everything foretold, most of the story was completely unbelievable anyway.
First off, there is this huge run down mansion out in the country. It comes with 1200 acres and all the contents of the house, which include numerous antiques and personal family momentos. It comes with a pool, horse stalls and what appears to be a guest house. The house is in move in condition, but requires a bit of work. They buy all of this for $210,000. WHAT? In New York? I don't think so. It is also unbelievable that they would move from their affluent New York life to become hillbillies. Well, maybe a little bit believable, but not very. They also move to a place that seems to be millions of miles away from New York. Everyone there acts like this is the first time they have seen big city people.
When you first see the house and its interior, it is obvious that it was a showplace. It is obvious that whoever lived there had money and knew how to spend and show it. It is obvious that the family from which the house came was affluent.
You then meet the last person to live in the house from the family and it is obvious that they were white trash. They were people who would have lived in metal trailer houses with tin foil over the windows. The house and the family do not match each other. The house and the family are soooo mismatched it is almost ridiculous. You are then given the idea that the others homes and land in the area are very similar to this one. Then you see the people who live in this area and they are just as much white trash as the Massey family. It just does not add up.
The scene where there are snakes taking over the house is so overdone. Most of the snakes look like Boas. Since when do Boas run wild in New York? They even have a rattlesnake. ummm, did someone make a trip down south just to collect some snakes for this?
I feel like I am rambling on now, but I just don't know how to get out everything in this movie that does not make sense.
Another thing that does not work is the music. The music makes you feel like you are watching some crime thriller from the past. It does not work with this movie at all.
There are also a few scenes that could have been scary, but they just let them float into nothing.
The acting is split. Dennis Quaid is horrible. Sharon Stone is wonderful. The kids are good. Stephen Dorf (sp?) is questionable. He does look good walking around with no shirt, but beyond that, it is a toss up.

If you really want to watch the movie, then by all means do, as I know that none of the bad reviews kept me from watching it. But just be warned that this is one time that the reviews are right on.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: What a dud. Make that with a capital "D".
Review: Don't bother watching this movie. It's another one of those movies that has a great hyped-up trailer only to find out that the trailer is the best thing it has going for it.

You want foreshadowing? Why didn't you say so?! This movie should be used in film schools across the country as an example of classic, cookie-cutter, Hollywood foreshadowing.

The plot is the tired, used-before script of the guy that comes back (from jail!) to reclaim his house. Oh, and the town doesn't like the "city folk" that just moved into the house. Hmm, let me guess, they're not going to help out in any way.

Pros: Juliette Lewis plays a good town hussie (what else does she do?).
Cons: Shoddy, mismatched camera work (like they used two different cameramen). Weak, predictable plot. DVD doesn't include the trailer so you could go back and see why you wanted to rent/buy this movie in the first place.

Don't bother with this one; Abbot and Costello's "Hold That Ghost" was scarier.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Two stupid city folk have an even stupider psycho after them
Review: For all of us who have complained about trailers that have all the best parts of the movie, not to mention end up being better than the movie itself, "Cold Creek Manor" is a painful reminder that there are worst things in this world. The trailer for this 2003 film sure makes it look like this is a haunted house movie in the tradition of both schlock like "The Amityville Horror" or classics like "The Haunting of Hill House." However, that proves not to be the case. This is not a haunted house movie; it is one of those films where a relatively normal family crosses a psycho and he comes after them (and their little horse too).

This film was directed by Mike Figgis, who also co-produced the effort. This becomes important because wearing one of those two hats Figgis should have realized that the use of music in this film (composed by Figgis as well) is overused. Even before you figure out what sort of movie this is you know that bad things are coming to be happening because the forboding music cues come early and often. There is not even a pretense that when Cooper (Dennis Quaid) and Leah Tilson (Sharon Stone) move their family to the titular house out in the country that there are going to have a moment of happiness in this film. When you check out the deleted scenes on the DVD and see the alternative ending you have to wonder what Figgis thought was happening with this film, because the reason that what ended up on the cutting room floor was wrong is still wrong with the finale, albeit on a lesser level of wrongness.

Anyhow, the Tilson family, with daughter and son in tow, seek refuge from the hectic pace, high pressure, and crazy car drivers of the big bad city to find peace and quiet in the country. They get the house known as Cold Creek Manor for a song, including all of the contents, because the former owner could no longer pay the bills. The script by Richard Jefferies then has the Tilsons express a death wish by hiring the former owner, Dale Massie (Stephen Dorff), to help fix up the place. He is an ex-con whose family is missing and he acts weird from the get go, but that is no reason to be suspicious because it is not like the Tilsons can hear that ominous music. Besides, only a few of the locals warn them they are heading into trouble, so they are blithely heading towards disaster.

Cooper is working on a documentary film about the Massie family because when they bought the contents of the house they got all the old family photographs, letters, and whatnot. You think that this is going to have a really big payoff, but not really, because that honor is reserved for those big metal hammers on the wall that Dale's grandpappy made for killing a thousand sheep each year without buying all those bullets. I sort of liked the son in this film, pretty much by default, because everybody in this film is pretty stupid and he at least had his youth in his favor. Over and over again it seems that whatever would be the wrong thing to do, these people do it and do it with enthusiasm. Ultimately, "Cold Creek Manor" has the worst quality of your standard splatter flick, where you really do not care if every single one of these characters ends up dead. I know that Stone is trying to come back from cinematic oblivion, but Quaid just had "The Rookie," so what was his excuse?

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Weak
Review: This highly derivative thriller offers little to a fan of this genre. The movie is often predictable with only a few moments of chills. Many of the intended chills are boring and even occasionally laughable. Furthermore, plot holes abound and by the end of the movie you finally hope for it all to end rather than for any plot resolution.

Cooper Tilson (Dennis Quaid) and Leah Tilson (Sharon Stone) live in New York City. Leah has a serious shot at an executive position, with the drawback that her boss is pushing for her to sleep with him. While Leah is on a business trip, Cooper attempts to get the kids off to school. His city-raised son manages to nearly get run over on the way to school, and Cooper decides it's time to pack up the family and move to the sticks, in this case upstate New York.

Cooper and family soon locate a run-down mansion on hundreds of acres and decide it's perfect. Unfortunately, the house has a psychopathic former owner, Dale Massie (Stephen Dorff), just out of prison determining he'll get the family property back. While we are briefly misled by Dale's visit to his father, played by Christopher Plummer, we soon find that Dale has a very big reason for regaining his former home.

Unfortunately, the real moments of suspense and tension in this movie are too few to hold a viewer's attention. Dale's moves are generally predictable, and his appearances are more tedious than threatening. The plot plods along too slowly, and the ending can be seen coming long before it arrives. Avoid this movie and get the much scarier "The Ring" or "The Stir of Echoes."

This movie was needless. The trailers were more exciting than the movie, and I can't even recommend this movie as a rental. Pass this one by.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: "Cold Creek Manor"
Review: Yea, it has it problems believe me! Like a horrible begining. The film is set up so bad you really do not know what is going on. Add some bad acting and your down in the dumps for the first part of the movie. (Plus the snakes in the house scene was so funny, even though it was ment to be scary.) After you get past the horrid begining the movie takes up speed and starts to become actually good. The plot really thickens and the tension builds. I like how the film came out in the end. I am also pleased with the DVD. It has some nice features. In the end, I would give "Cold Creek Manor" a try, you might enjoy it.
(P.S.: This is not a ghost story, it is about a crazy man who murdered his family in the house this family bought and the family is starting to uncover some of the facts, thats why he comes after them.)

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Not Worth It!!
Review: This movie was a joke! Take every element from any other "scary movie" and you will find it here. It wasn't even close to being a thriller! Save your money and your time for a better movie cause this is not it!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: What evil lurks at Cold Creek Manor?
Review: Horrid acting, that is what! Sharon Stone, a confirmed nutter, is in career tail-spin and this film only proves it. The film probably would have made more money if she had just videotaped her ex getting his foot bit by a gila monster & charging admission for that.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Cold Creek Manor
Review: Although Cold Creek Manor was not at all what I expected it to be- it was still a good film
I expected it to be all centering around the manor (which looks nothing like the manor on the poster) and have the old owner doing creepy things- instead it went into the town and past crimes and all that stuff and in the end was quite thrilling.
Although it is somewhat by the book Cold Creek Manor is still a good film that should be recognized not only for the plot but for the creepy atmosphere and lead cast members (Sharon Stone & Dennis Quaid)


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