Cold Creek Manor

Cold Creek Manor [DVD] [2004]

Synopsis
After a succession of films boldly exploring the possibilities of digital video (TIMECODE, HOTEL), Mike Figgis returns to more traditional narrative terrain with this atmospheric thriller. Dennis Quaid and Sharon Stone star as Cooper and Leah Tilson, a New York City couple who decide to move to the country in order to provide their children with a safer life (Kristen Stewart and Ryan Wilson). But they get more than they bargained for when they purchase Cold Creek Manor, a gigantic, crumbling house that has a murky, dangerous past. That past shows up at their front door one day in the form of Dale Massie (Stephen Dorff), an ex-convict who lost the house while incarcerated. At first, Dale's presence is a comfort to the Tilsons, but Cooper begins to sense that something is amiss after studying home videos and photographs that were left behind. Sure enough, his attempts to keep Dale off his property only anger the bitter psychopath, triggering a relentless assault that endangers the lives of the entire Tilson family. Figgis' taut thriller features solid lead performances by Quaid and Stone, as well as standout supporting turns from Dorff, Juliette Lewis, and Christopher Plummer.

Nothing special, but not altogether worthless
I agree with the previous reviewer on a number of points, but not with his overall evaluation of "Cold Creek Manor":
(a) The story line is conventional and predictable. The 'false leads', a prime convention of the genre, are there, but they remain perfunctory and never succeed in creating 'alternative plots': the Pinskis appear suspicious in their normality, but their story is never developed. Even the guilty man himself fails to appear ambiguous, despite all the efforts.
(b) I also agree that for a film called after a house, you would expect the house to be a character in its own right. Again, there are gestures towards this direction, but they remain unvindicated. Nothing indeed derives from the house itself in terms of plot or theme. If one remembers the Shining, one sighs with exasperation.
The film, however, is saved by two things: first, the excellent performances by Dennis Quaid and Sharon Stone, and, of course their young co-stars. Second, the fine metacinematical invention of a protagonist being a director himself, even if this had a lot of potential which remained untapped into.
Overall, "Cold Creek Manor" is nothing special, but it not overall worthless.

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