Rating summary

Movie		1.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.0

Dream House Blu-ray Movie Review

A rundown shack haunted by the ghosts of two better films...

Reviewed by Kenneth Brown January 22, 2012

Dream House came within a hair's breadth of being an Alan Smithee production. That's how horrified six-time Oscar-nominated director Jim Sheridan (My Left Foot, In the Name of the Father, In America) was with the film producer James G. Robinson reportedly wrestled from his grasp and had recut, retooled and reassembled. Without final cut, though, Sheridan's only real course of action was to petition the Director's Guild to remove his name from the final product. When that didn't work, he took his protest public, this time with stars Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz by his side; the three of whom banded together and refused to promote the film in any way. The drama only seemed to intensify from there. A poorly conceived theatrical trailer shamelessly revealed House's mid-movie twist (which, in fairness, doesn't really come as much of a surprise anyway), and the eventual film was met with scathing reviews, disappointed at the box office, and proved to be the mangled monstrosity Sheridan, Craig and Weisz warned it would be. So how bad is bad? Honestly, I was riveted. Not because it was any good, mind you. Dream House is one of the worst movies of 2011; it's a clunky, fundamentally flawed, hopelessly disjointed mess that comes up short in every regard. And yet I couldn't shake the morbid but irresistible urge a person feels when passing by a gruesome thirteen-car pileup. Much as I wanted to, I simply couldn't look away.

"There's something out there..."

Craig plays Will Atenton, a dutiful husband and devoted father who moves into a charming little house nestled in a quiet suburban neighborhood. His wife, Libby (Rachel Weisz), and his daughters, Trish and Dee Dee (sisters Taylor and Claire Geare), take an immediate liking to their new home... until, that is, they realize a strange man is stalking the property and staring through their windows each night. To his mounting horror, Will begins to suspect the man in question is Peter Ward, a deranged mental patient who, five years earlier, killed his family before his dying wife ended his killing spree with a bullet to the head. Other eerie discoveries -- a secret playroom among them -- lead Will to research the macabre history of his new house, to investigate the Ward family murders and, ultimately, to search for Ward himself. Although what he finds is far more sinister than he could have ever imagined.

But not just sinister. Ridiculous. Contrived. Half-baked. The stuff of B-movie dreams and direct-to-video nightmares. A brainless twist wrapped in a tastier turn that -- surprise! -- involves two characters who appear almost as if from nowhere. A plot twist so ludicrous that I have serious doubts even Sheridan, had he been given full control and final cut, could have made it work. And I'm not even referring to the plot twist needlessly spoiled by the film's theatrical trailer. That crooked left-hook hits much earlier and lands with more power, despite the fact that you can spot it coming from a mile off. It's next to impossible to explain how Sheridan's first and flashiest magic trick delivers (to an extent) while its mind-numbingly stupid successor fails so miserably (without giving away the entire film, that is). But credit goes to Craig's deliberate performance, screenwriter David Loucka's decision to drop the film's biggest revelation at the end of the first act, and Sheridan and cinematographer Caleb Deschanel's subtle lighting cues, practical sleight of hand, and visual storytelling. Unfortunately, that's about as complimentary as I'm prepared to be. The rest of the film -- at Sheridan's behest or no -- is an exercise in squandered potential. It isn't a horror film; that would require something, anything remotely chilling. (The only scare comes, I kid you not, when a branch smacks a window.) It isn't a thriller; that would require something remotely thrilling. (The only thrill to be had is visual, and comes when Craig first realizes what's actually going on.) And it isn't a mystery; that would require a sensible mystery that could feasibly be solved. (Instead of stumbled upon.) Dream House suffers from an identity crisis, and we're forced to share in its delusion; no matter how dull or disconnected it may be.

It only gets worse as Dream House limps toward its hastily manufactured endgame. Craig tries to carry the entire House on his shoulders but comes away with little to show for it (other than Weisz, now his wife). Naomi Watts (as the Atenton's sweet-natured neighbor, Ann) sleepwalks from one scene to the next with little passion and even less purpose. I would say she's wasted in the role but, really, she just looks wasted. Marton Csokas (as Ann's bipolar ex-husband) is given little to do other than fire off a few nasty quips and sport a clinically furrowed brow. Elias Koteas runs on set from time to time, popping up so briefly yet so routinely that it's all too clear he had something to do with the Ward family's grisly end. Meanwhile, the rest of the supporting cast seems to have wandered in from a variety of lesser films, which is odd considering Sheridan's knack for casting and drawing fascinating performances out of everyone on set. It doesn't help that poor Weisz looks perpetually lost, that Craig and Will aren't a match made in heaven, or that the Geare girls seem distracted by the dust-ups Sheridan and Robinson are having behind the camera. Not that the cast has much to work with. Ghostly happenings and psychological fallacies give way to slippery character arcs and slipperier plotting, much of the dialogue reeks of first-draft ink, the structure of the film doesn't support the weight of Loucka's best ideas and, again, the ending undermines everything that comes before it. Even those who whisper "It's not that bad" midway through the film will soon find themselves thinking, "Never mind. Yes, yes it is." (So bad that my first reaction was to hop online and bump my score for The Thing up half a point.)

Without a tell-all interview, an all-access documentary or a candid commentary -- none of which are included, all of which would have made the disc worth owning -- it's tough to assign blame. Sheridan? Robinson? Morgan Creek? Lack of direction? Shoddy screenwriting? Meddlesome management? Creative differences? Those who know aren't talking, while those who don't aren't all that interested in watching anyway. It's a shame too. There are at least two solid films buried in the muck and mud of Dream House -- a supernatural horror flick and a dark psychological thriller -- but Robinson and his team fail to unearth either one. Would Sheridan's cut have fared better? I'd love to see it and find out. If nothing else, it would be interesting to compare the two versions. Studios tend to sweep behind-the-scenes battles and production woes under the rug, but that doesn't fool anyone. I say flaunt your film's faults. Turn opposing forces like Sheridan and Robinson loose in a craftily edited commentary; commission a documentary that examines what comes of a volatile production; show the thirteen-car pileup in all its gruesome glory and watch people gawk at the carnage. None of it would make Dream House a better film, but all of it would help its Blu-ray release earn a place in my collection. As it stands, Dream House will make the Redbox rounds and little more. And where's the fun, value or profit in that?

Dream House Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Dream House creeps onto Blu-ray with an at-times soft but always exacting 1080p/VC-1 encoded transfer that, through sickness and in health, till death do us part, stays true to Sheridan and cinematographer Caleb Deschanel's intentions. Craig and company look a little worse for the wear -- a bit pudgy and a bit smudgy, thanks to Deschanel's dreamscape photography, a variety of filters and, yes, some minor filmmaker-initiated DNR -- but skintones are beautifully saturated, primaries pop, blacks are deep and foreboding, and detail ranges from passable to satisfying. While fine textures are sometimes lost in the film's diffuse, sometimes murky atmosphere, edges remain clean and refined on the whole, a number of closeups are given the opportunity to flaunt their wares, and the subtlest shifts in Carol Spier's production design are showcased nicely. Moreover, significant artifacting, banding, aliasing, crush and other ghostly anomalies don't haunt the image, and slight noise spikes are about the only things that seem out of place. This may not be the final cut of the film Sheridan wanted audiences to see, but Universal's high definition presentation is faithful to his original vision.

Dream House Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Universal's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track isn't as absorbing as horror fans might expect. But, then again, Dream House isn't the terrifying frightfest or intense psychological thriller its trailer suggests. Like Craig's performance, the film is a quiet, almost somber affair; heavy on hushed conversation and light on sudden outbursts. The very beginning and very end stand out -- when Will first realizes someone is watching his family from the darkness and when he finally pulls back the curtain on the Ward family murders, respectively -- but only because these scenes loose John Debney's score, ratchet up the scare tactics, and flex their genre muscles. The LFE channel booms and the rear speakers shriek, allowing the mix to deliver some much-needed jolts and shivers. Not that either one is useless in other stretches of the film. Low-end output may be restrained, but it lends an ominous atmosphere to the proceedings. Rear speaker activity may be subdued, but transparent pans and devious directionality transforms the soundfield into the interior of the Atenton family dream house, infuses Sheridan's more stylized scenes with unsettling chaos and fitting uncertainty, and supports the film's already convincing soundscape regardless of how reserved the sonics become. Through it all, dialogue doesn't drift off course, save those intermittent instances when tinny ADR and thin voices cast an all-too-stark light on some of the seams of the post-Sheridan crew's patchwork edit. All things considered, Dream House's lossless audio mix doesn't disappoint, even when the film does.

Dream House Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Burning Down the House (HD, 4 minutes): Forget House's spoilerific trailer. Just reading the title of this behind-the-scenes practical effects featurette will spoil part of the ending for anyone who has yet to brave the film.
• Building the Dream House (HD, 5 minutes): An overview of the house as a character and the thought and design that went into creating multiple versions of the film's chief set piece.
• The Dream Cast (HD, 6 minutes): A clip-heavy look at Dream House's cast and performances.
• A Look Inside (HD, 2 minutes): This short EPK is more of an extended trailer than anything else.
• Theatrical Trailer (HD, 2 minutes): Available in the event you'd prefer watching a 2-minute version of the film.

Dream House Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

It's easy to see why director Jim Sheridan wanted his name removed from the version of Dream House that landed in theaters. It's easy to see why Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz distanced themselves from the final product as well. What isn't so easy to see is what Sheridan's film might have been. Dream House is a mess, from top to bottom, and I can't imagine how it could have been much better, especially with that ending. Ugh. Still, there are fragments of a more fascinating character-driven genre pic lying everywhere, for those who are interested in searching them out, and curiosity will almost certainly keep you watching, if only to find out how far off the beaten path Robinson drags Sheridan's film. And while the scant few extras included on its Blu-ray release offer little insight into Sheridan's original vision, Universal's AV presentation makes watching Dream House less of a chore. My advice? Stick with renting this dilapidated shell of a psychological thriller and save your money for a movie that turned out the way its director intended.