Dream House (2011)

This is a sweet, psychotic trip about a dad who was framed and who lives a schizophrenic second reality every time he's in his house, where there was a tragic accident, for which he was framed. It'll break your heart and make you think. This films draws a perfect picture that is heartbreaking and shows the extent of love, justice, and a broken, but beautiful love story.

I loved this movie so much. It was so sweet and exquisite, like gourmet food, in the beginning and then the story folds out as you normally think it would, being a thriller; but there's an unexpected twist that is so freaking brilliant and the every event that follows will make you roll out one tear at a time. It's definitely worth a watch and I've already made plans to re-watch. With a bit of romance, mystery, and definitely suspense, this is one of the best films I've seen in the past twenty years. The casting could not be any better and with a plot that is just as freaking amazing, you have this amazing underrated film.

Fmovies: Editor and author Will Atenton (Daniel Craig) quits a high power job in Manhattan to relocate with his wife, Libby (Rachel Weisz), and two girls to a quaint New England town. However, as they settle into their new life, they discover that their house was the murder scene of a mother and her two children. Will tries to befriend his neighbour Ann Patterson (Naomi Watts) and find out from her what happened but she is not too eager to talk.

Meanwhile, Will's younger daughter starts seeing someone lurking outside the window at night. As Will pieces together the haunting puzzle, he must find out who murdered the family in his dream house before the culprit returns to kill again.

"Dream House" is not a suspense thriller that will jolt you with sudden loud music and cheap scares. Instead, it plays games with your mind, keeping you guessing about what's happening and making you sort out the plot yourself. Now, if you like your thrillers done this way, then go for it. If not, this one is going to be a nightmare...

Director Jim Sheridan's plot build-up is almost by-the-book and he makes no apology for it. The opening scenes show Will as a devoted father and loving husband. At first, his daughter's visions of a shadowy figure are dismissed quietly, but when Will gets physical evidence of someone lurking around, our curiosity heightens. Sheridan, who gave us "My Left Foot" and "In The Name of The Father", is not delivering this thriller to his audience in a platter. He just dishes out the cards and lets his audience sort them out - at least until the closing sequences.

At first, it feels rather weird to see beefcake Craig as a domesticated guy. However, there is a good chemistry between he and Weisz who also lends a loving and tender touch to the proceedings. The kids, played by Claire and Taylor Geare, are also convincing and adorable. It would have been great to see more of Naomi Watts but her role is rather limited - and she acquits herself professionally. Fans of Rachel G. Fox, the Scarvo girl in TV's Desperate Housewives, will find her in a cameo as Ann's daughter Chloe. All in all, a thriller for the thinking viewer.

Generic and predicable thriller made somewhat bearable by the undeniable chemistry and acting chops between Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz, even though both actors involved deserved better than what they were giving with the material. Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz work very well together on screen ( and supposedly in real life as well) but they should have waited for a better film to showcase their chemistry and acting chops then this film, which not only does not respect their efforts in trying to bring humanity and credibility to a badly written script but does not even try to at least capitalize on their efforts in bringing more to the movie. Instead, the movie goes into several different unnecessary directions that goes no where and drags this film down. Naomi Watts is good as well but i just did not think much about her character and found her an unnecessary, forced inclusion to the story that ruins the film by making it even more predictable than it already is. The film also feels like it was two separate movies before it became one. Its a ghost story then it moves into a mystery with out it making much sense, not to mention the fact of how predicable the whole structure is. Let's just say that you have in fact seen this story before.

Its alright for what it is but it could have been much more, especially with two great actors (Weisz and Craig) having great acting chemistry on screen.

Dream House fmovies. This begins to look like the story of a successful publisher that decides to quit his job and retire to the house of his dreams to live there peacefully with his wife and children. But the story gets complicated while it develops itself and the dream house soon becomes a nightmare one after husband and wife know that terrible murders had taken place there five years before and strange events still related to it are still happening there and scaring them. But from then on the story loses itself in a lot of loose ends making it very confusing although most of them get tied up in the end in a somewhat fanciful outcome. After a certain time we understand that the story mixes up reality and imagination or even dream. The end of the movie may be considered an open ending, happy or unhappy according to the viewer's interpretation of the surprising final scene. The acting is good, the thrilling scenes are good enough and the plot confusion doesn't spoil the movie whole after all.

In New York, the successful editor Will Atenton (Daniel Craig) quits his job in the GPH Publishers to move to the suburb New Ashford and dedicate more time to his beloved wife Libby (Rachel Weisz) and his daughters Trish (Taylor Geare) and DeeDee (Claire Geare) and to start writing a novel.

The family is frightened by a stranger watching them through the window and Will decides to investigate and finds teenagers in a satanic cult in his basement. Sooner he discovers that the family man Peter Ward killed his wife and his two daughters in that house five years ago. Will goes to the police but the officers do not give attention to him. He also learns that Peter Ward spent five years in the Greenhaven Psychiatric Hospital but was recently discharged.

Will tries to get more information about the murder with his neighbor on the other side of the street, the divorced Ann Patterson (Naomi Watts), but she refuses to give any information to him. Will decides to go to Greenhaven to get information about Peter Ward and he discloses a dark secret about the former intern that will affect his life in his dream house.

"Dream House" is a good mystery that deserved a better screenplay. The story has a great potential and a surprising plot point but does not develop well important characters and situations after the revelation of the mystery. Usually this type of twist happens in the end, like in "The Others", or "Ghost", or "Identity", or "The Sixty Sense". In "Dream House', the mystery is disclosed too early and the last twist is very weak and predictable. But anyway I liked this film.

Daniel Craig is one of my favorite contemporary actors and Rachel Weisz is impressively gorgeous. Naomi Watts is effective, as usual, and the relationship of Ann with her husband deserved a better development. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "A Casa dos Sonhos" ("The Dream House")

Note: On 31 March 2012, I saw this film again on Blu-Ray.

First what you should know up front: "Dream House" is not a horror flick. Also it's rated PG-13 which means it's pretty tame (no gore, no explicit violence, etc), so if you're looking for something along the lines of The Exorcist you might wanna stick with The Exorcist.

In lieu of buckets of bile and terrifying demons, we get a really clever and tense story about a family in a remote house slowly uncovering the details of a bizarre unsolved mass murder that happened under their roof 5 years earlier. Strap on your seatbelt because the plot has more twists and turns than the Grand Prix, and there are a few total 180 turnarounds that might lose you if you're not paying attention. But overall I thought it was a great story.

My only criticism is, due to it's somewhat tame PG-13 presentation, the film loses some of its edge. At times it can feel almost like a "family film" which is totally at odds with its otherwise creepy vibe. Imagine if The Exorcist had been directed by Steven Spielberg, and maybe you'll catch my drift. In fact, "Dream House" does indeed have a Spielbergesque quality to it (as in the original "Poltergeist"), which may be to your liking, but for a lot of horror/thriller fans it's too clean and perhaps ties things up in too neat of a bundle in the end.

Acting is great all around, and I have to mention the GREAT job by the 2 sisters (and real life sisters) Taylor Geare and Claire Geare. They were ages 10 and 5 respectively and did a really convincing performance, particularly in a few scenes where they bring out an otherworldly element that's hard to describe.

I recommend this movie for its original story which digs deep into psychology and the twists of the human mind. No chainsaws or blood sucking vampires here, just a really interesting thriller that should captivate any mystery fan.