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DVD Dreamcatcher (Widescreen Edition)
Regardless of its critical roasting, Dreamcatcher is a must-see for Stephen King fans. In adapting King's epic novel (itself an amalgam of familiar King plotlines), director Lawrence Kasdan and cowriter William Goldman sacrificed much of the character depth that gave the story its crucial humanity, resulting in a tame frightfest about four longtime friends (Damian Lewis, Jason Lee, Thomas Jane, Timothy Olyphant) whose past--and a shared gift of telepathy--connects them to a present-day alien invasion in the snowy forests of Maine. Like an ambitious episode of The X-Files, this slick production offers slimy "weasels" that gestate in human bowels; ominous aliens who seize control of bodies and minds; a secret military strike (led by Morgan Freeman) against the invaders; and enough gross-out humor to satisfy jaded horror buffs. Unfortunately, it just isn't scary. Despite its A-list advantages, Dreamcatcher works best as a glorified B-movie, likely to benefit from lowered expectations. --Jeff Shannon
I can honestly say that along with Godzilla, this is one of the worst movies I have ever seen, and I am not even that picky when it comes to movies.
Read the book and save yourself two wasted hours
I enjoyed the book Dreamcatchers as a typical Stephen King thriller with its supernatural elements and strong childhood friendships guiding the way. Excited to see what how the movie brought the book to life, I was so completely disappointed by this mutilation of a film that I almost walked out in utter disgust.
Basic plot is four childhood friends have another, "special" friend, Duddits (special in that he's both retarded and absurdly gifted, as Stephen King does so well). As adults the boys use these friendships to combat an alien invasion that comes to earth. We have the additional military element trying to contain the invasion, complete with possibly insane general at the helm.
The book had great intertwining plot twists, woven together as only King can. I can only surmise that the movie suffered from massive editing, or that King was still on pain meds from being hit by that car and thus delusional as the screenplay was written. I know things sometimes change when adapted to the screen, but to change entire endings (not to give it away, but the whole Duddits ending was unbelievably ridiculous) drives me up the wall, particularly when that change turns a great pleasure read into some Hollywood-ized, special effect, big-budget alien mess. Unless you're a thirteen year-old boy with a vast collection of bad sci-fi and action movies, avoid this wreck of an enjoyable read. If I could give it half a star, I would.
So this Alien and four Hunters go into a bar...
(NOTE: I highly recommend preparing yourself for "Dreamcatchers" by eating a hardy Mexican dinner of bean burritos and perhaps some chili relleno before watching the film. It will heighten your viewing experience.)
Watching once-talented director Lawrence Kasdan's film adaptation of Stephen King's "Dreamcatcher" is like giving yourself a lobotomy. When the closing credits for "Dreamcatcher" rolled, I had three initial thoughts:
1) Morgan Freeman must *really* have owed Kasdan a favor;
2) "Dreamcatcher" is definitely *not* a chick flick;
3) I actually lost IQ points while watching "Dreamcatcher";
And that, for me, explains its perverse appeal---it's a kind of of manifestation of twisted alien evil genius. This movie may actually be Evil.
So here's my advice: go grab this ugly abomination of a thing, plop it in the ol' hopper, watch the first 35 minutes, and then you're all done. If you rented it, take it back. If you bought it, burn it.
But let's talk about "Dreamcatcher", which is based on Stephen King's novel (which, when I read it, seemed to positively scream out for a movie adaptation). I feel comfortable saying this: the movie is better than the book.
The Plot, very quickly: four old friends get together at a remote cabin in the Maine backwoods for their annual reunion, basically to hunt, drink, get bleary-eyed from drinking, and tell fart jokes. They are: a used-car salesman, a suicidal psychiatrist, a college professor, and a novelist. They all share a deep-dark secret, something to do with the---ah---severely intellectually challenged Duddits(played by Donnie Wahlberg in a method acting appearance).
It's not that deep or dark of a secret, and frankly it's really not all that interesting. Trust me, you won't care. Indeed, it was only when "Dreamcatcher" started to flash back to the friends' youth (all played by horrible, wooden child actors who scream out for instant obliteration) that I began to want to beat something to death with a stick.
Anyway, two of the friends make a beer run into "town", while the other two go hunting in the spooky wintry woods surrounding the cabin.
Jonesy (Damien Lewis) happens across a hunter, who introduces himself as Rick McCarthy (Eric Keenleyside in the role of a lifetime) and claims he's lost from his hunting party. Jonesy leads McCarthy back to the gang's cabin (called "Hole in the Wall", a name which has far deeper resonance as the flick progresses---you'll see). McCarthy is afflicted with reddish, suppurating flesh-wounds, a bloated stomach, and possibly gangrenous flatulence. Oh, and he needs to use the toilet. BAD. Fun ensues.
Indeed, the next 30 minutes of the movie are so horrific, so awful, so hideous, so gory, and so glorious (if you're a sick evil twisted gorehound like me), that they almost excuse whatever nonsense comes afterwards.
Basically: Rick McCarthy is about to serve as a handmaiden for one of the Galaxy's Deep Dark Secrets. I remember, years ago, that Alien 3 ran with the tagline "This time, evil is in the most terrifying place of all." Nope, I'm afraid they didn't get that right---but "Dreamcatcher" nails it right on the money. Evil *is* in the most terrifying place of all: right in the putooshta.
Naturally, this being a flick based on the work of Stephen King, Evil gets out---and boy does it get out. Again, the filming of the sequence where Beaver Clarenden (Jason Lee, who comes and goes) and Jonesy confront King Toilet, is so repugnant, so horrid, so putrid, that I actually watched the infernal thing through my hands. It's so deranged that I feel forced to tip my hat to "Dreamcatcher", and give this scene alone, red in tooth and claw and posterior as it is, two whole stars.
But that's as good as it gets. "Dreamcatcher" could have been a contender. It has top-drawer acting talent topped off with some competent unknowns. It has Kasdan at the helm. It goes off material by horror grandmaster King. It has monsters whose method of entry into the world alone makes you cringe. And that isolated cabin and those spooky woods---ah, what could have been.
Anyway, the rest of the movie is a pretty conventional by-the-numbers alien infestation/contamination/military quarantine movie, and the film gets stupider by the second. Just watching the thing after the Last Stand at the OK Toilet scene will cost you brain cells.
Tom Sizemore and Morgan Freeman are wasted on stock characters that are so wooden you wonder why Kasdan even bothered writing lines for them. I'm getting bored even writing about it. Just watch the first 35 minutes, quarantine the area, nuke the site from orbit, and *never* talk to strangers---to say nothing of letting them use your bathroom---when you're out alone in the spooky Maine woods.
With a plot that might've been lifted from The X-Files, nothing is quite what it seems in The Forgotten, a psychological conspiracy thriller with Julianne Moore doing fine work as a grieving mother whose nine-year-old son was killed in a plane crash. At least, that's what she's been led to believe, but when even her husband (Anthony Edwards) tries to convince her that she's delusional and never had a child, things start to get very spooky indeed. Dominic West (from HBO's superb series The Wire) plays a similarly traumatized father, and when they witness some very strange events--and a mysterious man (Linus Roache) who might be indestructible--this glorified B-movie potboiler directed by Joseph Ruben (best known for Dreamscape and The Stepfather)... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Julianne Moore - Dominic West Director(s): Joseph Ruben DVD Release Date: Released the 18 January 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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It's not the scary hit that The Ring was in 2002, but The Grudge makes a similarly convincing case for American remakes of popular Japanese horror films. Barely a year passed between the release of Takashi Shimizu's creepy ghost story Ju-On: The Grudge and the production of this American remake, set in Tokyo and starring Sarah Michelle Gellar in her first post-Buffy horror film. About the only significant difference between the two films is the importing of a mostly-American cast (including Bill Pullman, Clea DuVall and Grace Zabriskie), but The Grudge was reconfigured (by screenwriter Stephen Susco) to allow Shimizu to refine and improve the spookiest highlights of his earlier version, which enjoyed previous incarnations as a short film and two... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Sarah Michelle Gellar - Jason Behr - Clea DuVall Director(s): Takashi Shimizu DVD Release Date: Released the 01 February 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Even when his trademark twist-ending formula wears worrisomely thin as it does in The Village, M. Night Shyamalan is a true showman who knows how to serve up a spookfest. He's derailed this time by a howler of a "surprise" lifted almost directly from "A Hundred Yards Over the Rim," an episode of The Twilight Zone starring Cliff Robertson that originally aired in 1961. Even if you're unfamiliar with that Rod Serling scenario, you'll have a good chance of guessing the surprise, which ranks well below The Sixth Sense and Signs on Shyamalan's shock-o-meter. That leaves you to appreciate Shyamalan's proven strengths, including a sharp eye for fear-laden compositions, a general sense of unease, delicate handling of fine actors (alas, most of them wasted here, save... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Bryce Dallas Howard - Joaquin Phoenix - Adrien Brody - William Hurt - Sigourney Weaver Director(s): M. Night Shyamalan DVD Release Date: Released the 11 January 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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In delivering PG-13-rated excitement, Alien vs. Predator is an acceptably average science-fiction action thriller with some noteworthy highlights, even if it squanders its opportunity to intelligently combine two popular and R-rated franchises. Rabid fans can justifiably ask "Is that all there is?" after a decade of development hell and eager anticipation, but we're compensated by reasonably logical connections to the Alien legacy and the still-kicking Predator franchise (which hinted at AVP rivalry at the end of Predator 2); some cleverly claustrophobic sets, tense atmosphere and impressive digital effects; and a climactic AVP smackdown that's not half bad. This disposable junk should've been better, but nobody who's seen Mortal Kombat or... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Sanaa Lathan - Raoul Bova - Lance Henriksen - Ewen Bremner Director(s): Paul W.S. Anderson DVD Release Date: Released the 25 January 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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The 2003 version of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre adheres to the pure and simple slasher movie formula: Introduce a gaggle of sexy young people, make vague gestures to distinguish them--Jessica Biel (Summer Catch) wants to get married and doesn't like pot, so she's our moral compass--then start hacking them to pieces one by one. The visual palette includes grimy crucified dolls, fly-specked pig carcasses, body parts floating in murky jars, a tobacco-chewing redneck sheriff, and many slender beams of sunlight cutting through dank, dusty interiors. The camera lovingly photographs Biel's tank-topped bosom and sculpted abs as she's running in terror from a bloated, chainsaw-wielding, human-skin-wearing maniac. This remake lacks the macabre comedy of the original; it's all about... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Jessica Biel - Jonathan Tucker - Andrew Bryniarski Director(s): Marcus Nispel DVD Release Date: Released the 30 March 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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