Cold Creek Manor

Amazon.com

Turn off your brain and Cold Creek Manor just might turn into an entertaining thriller. Taking an uncharacteristic detour into nonsensical plot mechanics, director Mike Figgis expertly pushes buttons with this nerve-jangling but ultimately hackneyed story (by Richard Jeffries) about a documentary filmmaker (Dennis Quaid) who moves his wife (Sharon Stone) and two kids into a run-down rural mansion once owned by the family of a simmering ex-convict (Stephen Dorff), who's got secret reasons for wanting Quaid's family to leave. This rote potboiler wants to be as thrilling as Fatal Attraction, but it's more like Pacific Heights--fun to watch as the tension escalates with Dorff's violent behavior, but seriously flawed as plot holes proliferate. With a few good shocks and slinky support from Juliette Lewis, it's perfectly enjoyable as a popcorn distraction, but maybe they should've called it Cold Creaky Manor instead. --Jeff Shannon

Description

COLD CREEK MANOR is a heart-pounding thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat in tension-filled suspense. Wanting to escape city life for the saner, safer countryside, New Yorkers Cooper Tilson (Dennis Quaid), his wife Leah (1995 Golden Globe winner Sharon Stone, Best Actress, CASINO), and their two children move into a dilapidated old mansion still filled with the possessions of the previous family. Turning it into their dream house soon becomes a living nightmare when the previous owner (Stephen Dorff) shows up, and a series of terrifying incidents lead them on a spine-tingling search for clues to the estate's dark and lurid past.

Customer Reviews:

Does not quite get there.......2007-08-03

Cold Creek Manor had some potential, with Dennis Quaid and Sharon Stone I was hoping for a great thriller of a film. Unfortunately it just does not quite connect in all the right places to make it a classic. I like to use the word classic because I am always looking for a film that will leave an impression on me, and one people will be talking about around the water cooler years from now.

For starters, it would take a great effort to boost a film like this up out of the tank because there have been a great deal of films like this produced and released, whether theatrical or just to DVD in the past few years. An old house, a new family and a secret past waiting to be revealed to the unsuspecting tenants is nothing new. In fact, it is getting quite old, so somewhere in the story there has to be a couple of great scenes or a really good plot twist.

There really isn't, but the fact Quaid and Stone are in it help give it a more professional feel than most that are like it. Stephen Dorff plays the part of Dale Massie, a local hood complete with white t-shirt and long bangs who has been in jail for a spell. The home belonged to Massie and now he wants it back, but there are other strange things going on that lead you to believe there may be more going on in the background with the history of the old dwelling.

Dorff does a great job of being the young bad boy who seems to be catching the eye of Tilson's wife (Stone) and in the end there are some great scenes of revealing truth. It is okay, it is far from terrible but I have to say I think it could have been better.

A disaster beyond words, which is sad because I was expecting more..........2007-07-16

I expected a little more out of `Cold Creek Manor'. It had the potential to be a decent thriller. The plot is spine tingling, but then again it's executed so comically that it turns into a spoof before you have a chance to be scared. The script is full of corny dialog, clichéd sequences of events and predictable plot twists, and the direction by Mike Figgis is horrid. The acting for the most part is awful and don't get me started on the music which is so obnoxious it kills any ounce of tension. The snake scene alone is so over the top it made my laugh. I'm getting ahead of myself though, so let me at least get the plot rundown for you first.

Dennis Quaid and Sharon Stone play Cooper and Leah Tilson. When an accident almost cost their youngest son his life they decide to leave the city life and move out into the country. That's when they find Cold Creek Manor, a beautiful house just bursting at the seams with secrets, secrets that Cooper, a documentary film maker, is just itching to expose. One of those secrets, Dale Massie, shows up in their home with a proposition. Dale was the previous owner of the home and lost possession while he was serving a three-year stint in prison. He offers to help restore the property for a small fee so he can bounce back on his feet. The Tilson's reluctantly agree and soon they wish they had stayed in the city as Dale gets creepier and more dangerous with each passing day.

Dennis Quaid is so detached from his character it almost appears as if he realizes the movie is a disaster and is regretting ever signing on in the first place. Sharon Stone is a wreck. I've come to realize that this woman can only act maybe ten percent of the time, maybe less. In fact the only film I've ever seen her turn in a good performance was `Casino' but aside from that she's nothing more than laughable. Stephen Dorff is the only redeeming factor here. His performance as Dale Massie, while nothing original about it, is at least wholly believable and creepy. Dorff is good at playing the villain. Too bad he's never really broken out into the main stream, even after his turn in `Blade'. Juliette Lewis is forgettable as Ruby and Dana Eskelson comes off stupid as Sheriff Fergusun.

In fact just about everyone in this film comes off a bit stupid. When Ruby starts pushing Leah around in the bar it's so childish looking it's laughable. Kristen Stewart and Ryan Wilson disappear into the background unless they're screaming obnoxiously or, worse yet, trying to act. When Kristen frantically calls her parents over to the pool uttering the words "there's something over here" or something like that it sounds so phony it's, yet again, laughable. I only wish Christopher Plummer's character would have garnered more screen time. As the Massie father he's creepy and intriguing, but only lends his helping hand briefly and thus can't save the film from the wreckage.

The film flops around and becomes tired fast. The tense scenes, as I mentioned, are completely ransacked by the ridiculous score, and the overacting is so atrocious its cringe worthy. The ending is probably the best part of the film, while it's also quite predictable and frustrating. The film could have gone a much better route with the material. With the use of hand held camcorders and creepy home videos it could have capitalized on its potential and delivered a chilling good time but instead it sticks to the same ol' same clichés and delivers nothing more than a waste of time. The house isn't even all that creepy, and with better lighting and MUCH better music that problem could have been dealt with quick.

Great study of manipulation.......2007-06-27

This is a dark, don't-see-this-one-to-feel-good movie. But it is highly instructive of how manipulators can get across other people's personal boundaries and play the situation (and create it) in order to feed their own agendas.

I actually refer to parts of this movie in seminars and a workbook on avoiding harmful relationships, especially the scene where Dale strolls right into Cooper and Lea's home, an invasion that would normally been seen and reacted to as such, and yet Dale twisted it around so adeptly that he was invited to stay for a meal! This is a classic example of how manipulators cross boundaries (and how often we don't set solid limits of what we will and will not tolerate).

Mundane non thriller.......2007-01-17

Kept waiting for something to happen, Dennis Quaid is so overrated, his idea of dramatic acting is a furrowed brow, actually his brother Randy is a better actor. Sharon is always good, and in this case the child actors weren't as obnoxious as most child actors are. But, the story had no tension or drama. Don't bother with this one.

Flawless thriller!.......2006-12-17

When a family decides to leave NYC in search of a major privacy and distress, will acquire a very beautiful but mysterious manor, hovered by dark memories, awful atrocities and unsaid secrets. So everything seems to aware us they didn't make the better choice.

This solid thriller counted with the skillful direction of Mike Figgis and an impressive cast where Stephen Dorff
as the distorted bad guy, Denis Quaid ( how he has enhanced as actor since the film "Far from heaven!) and Christopher as his ruthless father will surprise to many people due the memorable suspenseful sequences and the extraordinary camerawork fluidness.

Recommended without hesitation.

Average customer rating:

Does not quite get there
A disaster beyond words, which is sad because I was expecting more...
Great study of manipulation
Mundane non thriller
Flawless thriller!

Cold Creek Manor [Region 2]
Starring: Dennis Quaid , Sharon Stone , Stephen Dorff , Juliette Lewis , and Kristen Stewart
Director: Mike Figgis
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Thrillers | Mystery & Suspense | Genres | DVD | Video

( C ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
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ASIN: B0001XLY92

Amazon.com

Customer Reviews:

Does not quite get there.......2007-08-03

A disaster beyond words, which is sad because I was expecting more..........2007-07-16

Great study of manipulation.......2007-06-27

Mundane non thriller.......2007-01-17

Flawless thriller!.......2006-12-17

Average customer rating:

Extraordinary Visitor

Manufacturer: CustomFlix
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

( E ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
ASIN: B000BYADI4
Release Date: 2006-07-13

Product Description

Nova Pictures Presents "Extraordinary Visitor" After a problematic millennium, God decides to have a swift and final end to the human race, unless a visitor from heaven can find a hopeful sign in seven days. St. John the Baptist, cousin of Jesus, is given the task. Unfortunately he is a little shy and not a charismatic communicator. St. John is sent to Newfoundland where he immediately finds friends and lives with a tinkerer/rebel and his budding talk show host wife. Although he hides the truth, John is touted as a prophet on television. John gets a crash course in humanity and learns of the waste and greed that permeate modern civilization.

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DVD

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