Cold Creek Manor is an awful thriller that lacks originality and thrills. Putting an end to their days as slaves to the hustle-bustle of city life, Cooper Tilson, his wife Leah and their kids pack all their possessions, and move into a mansion in the 'sticks' of New York State. Cold Creek Manor is in shambles, but Cooper and Leah have unlimited time to fix the house up. All's well until Dale Massie, the house's former owner, gets out of prison, looking to reclaim his birthright place, by any means necessary. The plot doesn't sound too bad and the trailer was pretty creepy. Unfortunately, this was another case of good premise ruined by poor execution. Everything in this movie is below average and there is nothing worth recommending from this movie. The acting is surprisingly bad even with a talented cast. Dennis Quaid does a rather poor job as Cooper and doesn't really seem to be trying. Sharon Stone probably did the best but even her performance wasn't anything special. Kristen Stewart and Ryan Wilson play their two kids and give decent but ineffective performances. Stephen Dorff and Juliette Lewis round out the cast and both give decent performances. Mike Figgis has actually been nominated for an Oscar for directing. Why he decided to direct this mess is unclear but he did a poor job with this movie. The script is clichéd and weak and it also suffers from big plot holes. The film is very dull as this 118 minute feature seems to drag on forever. There are absolutely no scares to be found here. In fact, all the scary scenes will probably make you laugh. The ending is very predictable and nothing kills a thriller more then predictability. Its like they didn't even try to write a decent screenplay. The movie at least has a creepy mood to it, big house in a small town but they couldn't capitalize on that and failed to make an engaging thriller. In the end, this is a terrible film that fails to succeed in pretty much everything. Rating 2/10, avoid this movie at all costs.
Review of Cold Creek Manor
