Dream House was constructed on the solid foundation of a really interesting idea. Too bad the screenplay they built around it was so shoddy. The pages would probably make better wallpaper than they do a blueprint for a major motion picture.
Will Atenton (Daniel Craig, Cowboys and Aliens) and his wife Libby (Rachel Weisz, The Whistleblower) have just moved their family to a quiet suburban neighborhood in the hopes of slowing down and enjoying life together. The peace is short lived when they learn that the family that lived in their house before them was brutally murdered. The more that Will learns about the events that happened in their new home, the more he wishes they’d never moved there in the first place.
There are rumors that the studio hijacked Dream House from director Jim Sheridan (In the Name of the Father) and re-cut it until he wanted to disown it. It’s really not that bad, it’s just not as good as it should be. It feels like a really solid concept that was bombarded with clichés and poorly conceived coincidences until it lost sight of what made it worthwhile. It took an hour to become interesting where it had me glued to the screen for about 20 minutes before it fell apart.
Craig and Weisz have some really nice chemistry, which helps fuel the horror sequences because you don’t want to see anything bad happen to them. The same goes for the two little girls playing their daughters, who are actually sisters in real life, any tragedy that befalls them feels like the end of the world. Craig also does an exceptional job of navigating the emotional minefield that is Will Atenton. For all of Dream House’s shortcomings, there’s no mistaking that Daniel Craig is a fantastic actor.
My personal opinion: This was a movie by the numbers. Unfortunately, they were all the number one: one jump-in-your-seat scare, one interesting act, and one riveting scene, unfortunately, they all add up to one forgettable movie. –Jake Jarvi
