Trama

A family relocates from the city to a dilapidated house in the country that was once a grand estate. As they begin renovations, they discover their new home harbors a secret and may not be completely free of its former inhabitant.

Wanting to escape city life for the countryside, New Yorkers Cooper Tilson (Quaid), his wife Leah (Stone) 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 (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...—Gavin Nelson

Leah Tilson (Sharon Stone) gets out of bed on a busy morning in New York City at 4:30am. Her husband, Cooper Tilson (Dennis Quaid), reminds her to reset the alarm clock to wake him up in time to get the kids to school and go to work. Leah and Cooper have a 13-year-old daughter named Kristen (Kristen Stewart) and a 12-year-old son named Jesse (Ryan Wilson).

Next, Leah is on an airplane for a business trip, all dressed like an executive, and she's talking business with her boss, Dave Miller (Peter Outerbridge). Dave tells her that he'll give her a promotion to company vice president if she spends the night with him.

Meanwhile, Cooper awakens, very startled. He has overslept because Leah forgot to reset the clock to wake him up like he asked her to, and now he's rushing for Kristen and Jesse to get ready for school.

They get dressed for school, and they are worried about being late. On the way to school, they're in a traffic jam when Cooper's cell phone rings. It's Leah. Things are very hectic, with horns blasting from the cars behind them, and the kids are arguing while Cooper is trying to talk on the phone.

Kristen and Jesse decide to walk to the nearby school building from the car, and on the way, Jesse runs into the street and gets hit by an impatient driver who had swerved around the other stopped cars after spending a few minutes honking his horn while sitting behind the Tilson family's Jeep Cherokee.

Later that evening, Leah returns home, and is relieved that Jesse is okay. Cooper and Leah decide that they've got to move out of the city, because the city is becoming too much to handle. With the decision to move, the Tilsons start getting ready for the move.

Later, the family is driving down a dusty road in their Jeep Cherokee, and in Bellingham, New York, they stop at Pinski's, a gas station that's also a diner and small supermarket.

A provocatively dressed attendant named Ruby (Juliette Lewis) comes out and refills the gas tank. Cooper gets out to walk around and stretch out, and he eyes Ruby a little bit. Kristen and Jesse ask Leah how many houses they have to look at before they decide on one.

Ruby asks where the Tilsons are from, and where they're going. They tell Ruby that they're from New York City, and that they're looking for a repossessed house called Cold Creek Manor. They ask Ruby if she knows where it's at.

Ruby looks a little puzzled and worried, and she tells them that Cold Creek Manor is about 1 mile down the road. When they get to the house, it's all boarded up and locked up, but they find a way onto the property, and they take a look around out of curiosity.

The house is a huge old brick mansion with overgrown shrubs and trees, and a broken down swimming pool filled with dirty old rainwater. The Tilsons find a way inside the house, and they look around.

Pretty much everything from the previous owners has been left behind, including beds unmade, and dishes in the sink. There are also lots of family photos and books, and some weird tools in cabinets.

The Tilsons are startled in their snooping by Sheriff Annie Ferguson (Dana Eskelson). The Tilsons apologize, and Sheriff Ferguson comments that she didn't know that the house was on the market. The Tilson family decides to buy the house.

Later, the Tilson family is moving in and rummaging through the things that they want to keep, and the things that they don't want to keep. Obviously, they bought the place with all of its contents included. There are pawnbrokers outside, offering prices for what the Tilsons don't want to keep.

Cooper has started a collection of the things that he's found, such as old newspaper clippings about the house, the people who lived there, and the property's history. Cooper is a documentary filmmaker, and he has a very high-tech Macintosh computer to do all his movie editing and the other high-tech work required by his job.

Cooper uses his computer to make digital copies of everything. Cooper has also found some photos of a young boy, a teenage girl, and a woman. There are also pictures of the woman topless. Cooper hides those pictures from Leah.

Jesse finds the bedroom of the young boy who used to live there, and Jesse looks around. He finds a camouflaged hat in the closet, and a silk baseball style coat with the boy's name, Grady, on it. Jesse puts the coat and hat on.

Jesse also finds Grady's construction paper book with a scary poem that includes the line "Hammerhead will bash in your face, and throw you down devil's throat." It's written in kid's handwriting. Presumably Grady's. Jesse reads it over and over.

The Tilsons later go to Pinskis's for lunch, where Ruby is the family's waitress. There, the Tilsons befriend the Pinskis. Ray Pinski (Simon Reynolds) and his wife Ellen (Kathleen Duborg) have a daughter named Stephanie (Paula Brancati), who is the same age as Kristen, and Stephanie loves horses.

As the Tilson family is settling into their new home, they give Kristen a horse named Chester for her birthday, and she is very happy about that surprise. The Tilsons seem to be doing well. Until Jesse sees a stranger snooping around Cooper's den, looking at all the clippings on the wall, and messing with the computer.

Jesse runs to the kitchen and tells Cooper that there's a weird man looking through Cooper's things. Cooper runs to the den, and the man introduces himself as Dale Massie (Stephen Dorff). Dale explains that he used to live in Cold Creek Manor, and that Cold Creek Manor was his house until his wife and kids left him and he went bankrupt.

Dale wears a trucker hat, and he's unshaven and dirty. Dale eats dinner with the Tilsons. He's very loud and noisy, and he burps, and the Tilsons are disgusted. Dale says that he doesn't want anything but help.

Dale explains that he just got released from prison, and he is looking to better himself and would appreciate a job, and maybe he could start on getting the pool working again, because it used to be a beautiful pool back when his grandparents had it built on the property.

The Tilsons reluctantly agree to hire Dale for the job. Kristen comments that Dale seems creepy. Later, it turns out that Dale is in a sexual relationship with Ruby, and he's rough with her.

Within a few days, Dale and some hired help are working on the pool, and Dale needs some money for parts that are needed for the pool's pump, so he goes into the den and asks Cooper for the money. Cooper asks him about the weird-looking tools in the cabinet, and Dale tells him that they're sheep hammers, and that the sharp end is used for hitting sheep on the head and killing them instantly.

Back when Cold Creek Manor was in its heyday, there were 20,000 sheep on the property. With the help of a blacksmith, Dale's grandfather designed the sheep hammers to slaughter sheep with.

Cooper says that one of the hammers is missing from the cabinet, and Dale agrees that there's one missing. Dale also notices that Cooper has found the nude photos. Dale is not exactly pleased by that, but he walks away.

Some time later, the pool is all fixed up, and the kids are out swimming in it. Dale is constantly walking around with his shirt off, and is very muscular, tanned, and sweaty. He watches from behind the bushes as Leah joins the kids in the pool.

Later, the kids start screaming, and Cooper runs to the pool and finds that Dale has caught a snake that slithered into the water. The kids think it's cool that Dale's not afraid of the snake, but Cooper flinches when Dale shows it to him.

Cooper later sees Ferguson, and asks Ferguson why Dale was in prison, and Cooper also asks what happened to Dale's father Theodore Massie (Christopher Plummer). Ferguson says that Dale had an accident with his car 3 years ago -- he ran a guy over, and the guy was killed.

Dale was convicted of manslaughter, and Theodore now lives in a nursing home in Greensville. Ruby is with Ferguson, who is Ruby's sister. Ruby says that Theodore is not a good guy, and that it'll be a local holiday when Theodore dies.

Cooper goes to the nursing home and tells the nurse that he's making a documentary of Cold Creek Manor. The nurse leads Cooper to Theodore, who is talking in his sleep. He is very old and frail, with a thick white beard. While talking in his sleep, Theodore calls Dale a good-for-nothing, rotten little b*st*rd.

Cooper tells Theodore to wake up, and that Cooper is not Dale. Cooper explains who he is, and that he wants to ask Theodore a few questions. After waking up, Theodore explains to Cooper that Cold Creek Manor used to have 20,000 sheep on the property, until hoof-and-mouth disease led to the use of the sheep hammers to kill half of them.

Theodore tells Cooper that Dale didn't have the guts to kill the sheep, and that Dale was weak because his mother was a wh*re, and that because of Dale, Dale's wife Lorna, daughter Tammy, and son Grady are all gone. Then Theodore starts to get angry, and Cooper leaves.

The whole time, all of this was being videotaped by Cooper, who had brought his video camera along with him. The nurse tells Theodore that the Tilsons have bought Cold Creek Manor, and Theodore is shocked by the news.

At the house, the kids take Chester for a ride, and play hide and seek in the woods. Jesse is constantly repeating the same creepy poem that he read in Grady's book, and Jesse starts acting and dressing more and more like Grady. Kristen hides in the woods, and finds a piece of wood on the ground...with the word "EVIL" carved out on it.

Kristen gets scared, and she and Jesse take Chester back out of the woods. The next morning, everything is normal. The family wakes up and goes about their business...until they find that the house is filled with snakes.

All different species are all over the house, under beds and in the closets, even on the ceilings. Including rattlesnakes. No one notices at first, but Cooper gets bit by a snake, and everyone freaks out when they do notice.

The Tilsons run screaming up the stairs to the roof, and Dale drives up in his pick-up truck. He helps remove the snakes, and assures the Tilsons that the snakes are all out. All of the Family, except Cooper, is grateful to Dale. Cooper obviously doesn't trust Dale.

The family is inside having lunch while Dale is talking to some of the other hired help outside. He looks angry, and he comes in and tells Cooper that a real man would've fired him face-to-face.

That night, Cooper goes to Pinski's to buy milk, and sees Dale and Ruby inside. Ray tells Cooper that it would be a good idea if Cooper bought everyone a round of drinks to save face, and show that there's no hard feelings between Cooper and Dale.

Cooper reluctantly agrees, and a very drunk Ruby comes up to him and orders 4 shots of Vodka. Cooper and Ruby drink two shots each. Dale's in the back, playing pool -- and eyeing Cooper.

Ruby whispers in Cooper's ear, and tells him not to f**k with Dale because Dale's a bad*ss, then she licks Cooper's ear. Then Dale walks up to Cooper, and they do a shot together. Cooper tells Dale that he knows that Dale put the snakes in the house. Dale dares Cooper to prove it, then Dale warns Cooper that Cooper, Leah, and the kids had better get out of Cold Creek Manor.

Cooper tells Dale that if he ever messes with the house or threatens Cooper's family, then Cooper will kill Dale. Ferguson is in the store, and she hears the threat. Dale sees Ferguson, and asks if she heard the threat. Dale then goes back to playing pool. Dale and Ruby get into a fight, and Dale punches her in the face. Dale also punches several people who try to restrain him.

Cooper runs over to help Ruby, and Dale and Cooper get into a fight. Ferguson runs over and pulls her gun on Dale, as Ruby tells her to relax, that Dale didn't hit her, and that Ruby's nose is bleeding because she fell. Dale leaves, and then Cooper leaves.

Cooper is now drunk, and he's driving home on a dirt road. Dale starts his pick-up truck behind Cooper, and starts chasing Cooper down the road. Along the way, something jumps out in front of Cooper's SUV, and he hits it. He stops, and sees a family of deer.

A shaken Cooper continues home, and Dale stops following. When Cooper wakes up, the family sees that the SUV is all dented and bloody, and Cooper explains about the deer. Then Kristen screams that something is in the pool. They all run to the pool, and find that Chester's body is floating in the pool, which is clouded with Chester's blood.

Kristen freaks out, and she thinks that Cooper hit Chester while driving drunk. Cooper calms Kristen down, and the family agrees with Cooper's suspicion that it was Dale who killed Chester.

In town, Dale runs into Theodore's nurse, and he asks how Theodore is. The nurse says that Theodore's fine, but he's not happy knowing that someone else has bought Cold Creek Manor. Dale freaks out, now knowing that Cooper went to visit Theodore.

Dale goes to the nursing home to visit Theodore. Theodore asks if Dale fixed the gate, and Dale says yes. Theodore calls Dale a worthless liar and a son of a wh*re. Theodore says that Dale lost the family house, Cold Creek Manor, because Dale is garbage, and that he couldn't even keep his wife and the kids. Theodore says that he knows that Dale murdered Lorna, Tammy, and Grady, and that Dale was not Tammy and Grady's father.

Theodore then says that Dale wasn't able to have kids of his own, because Dale was such a failure. Dale starts crying, and asks Theodore to stop talking, but Theodore keeps going on. Dale gets a wet washcloth and fatally suffocates Theodore, while Dale says through clenched teeth that Lorna was a wh*re who screwed everyone in town, and that's why Dale killed Lorna, Tammy, and Grady.

The Tilsons go to dinner at Pinski's, and Dale walks in and interrupts them to try start a fight. Dale tells all the locals in the diner that the Tilsons stole his property. Dale tells Cooper that he wants Cold Creek Manor back, or else.

The family is freaked out when Ruby walks up and tells Leah that Cooper hit on her, and Ruby wants to start a fight with Leah. Dale tells Ruby that he doesn't have a beef with Leah or the kids, just Cooper.

On the way out, Jesse yells at Dale the scary poem from Grady's book, "Hammerhead will bash your skull and send you to devils throat." Dale is stunned and taken aback, and he stops his threatening.

Cooper decides that Leah and the kids should go back to the city for a few days to be safe, while Cooper gathers evidence to use against Dale, so the Tilsons can get Dale to stop terrorizing them.

Cooper asks Leah why she agreed to move out to the country anyway. Leah admits that her boss, Dave Miller, offered to give her a promotion to company VP if she slept with him.

Leah could've done it too, but Jesse got hit by an SUV, and that was a wake-up call for Leah, who decided to reassess her priorities. Leah and the kids leave to go to New York for a few days like Cooper suggested.

As Cooper is seeing them off, out on the driveway, he finds a plastic blue thing. He picks it up and investigates it. It's a retainer that Tammy used, and there are about 4 or 5 teeth in it. Cooper comes to the correct conclusion that Lorna, Tammy, and Grady didn't leave Dale, but that Dale murdered them.

Cooper finds some maps of the property, and goes on a search for the spot known as Devil's Throat. In the woods, Cooper finds an old rusted car, and takes the license plates. Cooper takes all of his evidence, including the tape of Theodore Massie saying that Dale made the kids go away, to Sheriff Ferguson.

Ferguson takes all of the evidence to heart, but she freely admits that although Dale is a jerk, she doesn't want to believe that Dale would commit murder, and she also says that the evidence is circumstantial, and that's why none of it would hold up in court. Ferguson agrees to give Cooper a walkie-talkie, set on a secure channel, to use as a private line to her if he finds anything else.

Later that night, there is a thunderstorm, and Cooper calls up Leah and tells her to ask Jesse where he learned that poem that he screamed at Dale over at Pinski's -- and then the phone goes dead. Kristen and Jesse overhear the conversation, and they show Leah the poem in Grady's book.

Later, Ferguson is in her office talking on the phone when Cooper calls her on the walkie-talkie and tells her that he might've found more evidence.

All the lights go out in the house as Cooper is digging for more clues in the basement. He hears someone approaching, and he punches blindly in the dark, clearly not knowing who he's hitting. But he's thinking that it might be Dale.

Cooper pushes the drape aside, and sees that it was Leah. She wakes up from the punch, and he apologizes. Leah tells Cooper that she got two speeding tickets driving back to Cold Creek Manor so she could tell him that she knows where Devil's Throat is.

Ruby is at the sheriff's station looking for Ferguson. The secretary tells Ruby that Ferguson must've stepped out, and to just wait for her. Now the storm is really going full force, and Leah and Cooper are in the woods, where they find a well that's called Devil's Throat.

They tie the video camera to a rope, and lower it into the well. When they pull the camera back up and watch the tape through the eyepiece, the tape clearly shows human remains...the remains of Lorna, Tammy, and Grady.

Cooper and Leah freak out and call Ferguson on the walkie-talkie, but no one answers. As Ruby is waiting for Ferguson back at the station, Ruby notices something odd in Ferguson's office and takes a closer look -- only to find Ferguson on the floor, twitching and bleeding...another victim of Dale.

As Cooper is trying to get better reception on the walkie-talkie in hopes of contacting Ferguson, Leah is at the well, and she sees Dale dressed in a sheriff uniform. Dale pushes Leah into the well.

Leah lands in the water at the bottom, and sees the bodies. Cooper hears the screaming, and runs to rescue Leah. Cooper pulls Leah out of the well, while Leah reminds him that Dale is still out there.

Cooper and Leah run toward the house where the lights are out, and on the way, they see the Jeep Cherokee go up in flames, because Dale has set it on fire. Cooper and Leah go inside the house, and hide from Dale. Dale smashes a window and breaks in -- and he's holding the missing sheep hammer.

Dale chases Cooper and Leah up to the roof. It's raining hard, and Cooper throws some large roof tiles at Dale, with one striking him on the head, leaving him bloody. Dale tries to hit Cooper, who blocks those attacks with a ladder. Dale and Cooper struggle with each other. Dale hits Cooper with the hammer, and comments on the sound of a bone breaking.

Dale screams that he wants the house back, and that the Tilsons are going to go into Devil's throat, just like Lorna and the kids did. Cooper and Leah clothesline Dale with a rope, and then tie him down to a skylight. Dale drops the sheep hammer.

Cooper grabs the sheep hammer, and smashes Dale in the groin with the sharp end of it, and then he hits Dale with it again. Cooper gets the okay from Leah to hit Dale one more time with the hammer, so Cooper hits Dale, sending Dale through the glass skylight. On the way down, Dale falls through a lower skylight, and Dale is killed when he lands hard on the floor.

Later on, Ruby is putting a flower on Dale's headstone in the Massie family cemetery on the property of Cold Creek Manor. Kristen and Jesse are having fun in the pool, and Leah is looking out the window, smiling at them. The house and yard are all fixed up, and Cooper goes inside the house.