Review: Cold Creek Manor (* 1/2)

COLD CREEK MANOR
A film review by Steve Rhodes

Copyright 2003 Steve Rhodes

RATING (0 TO ****): * 1/2


If you've ever wanted to own a house with some history to it, COLD CREEK
MANOR tries to disabuse you of that notion. By director Mike Figgis, who
hasn't had a hit since LEAVING LAS VEGAS, the movie is a slow and plodding
would-be thriller. The first two acts are fairly lifeless, leaving the last
act to provide most of the punch. But at two long hours, the movie has long
since lost our interest by the time it finally decides to come alive. The
ending is not only predictable; it is also so clichéd that it keeps almost
lapsing into parody.



The main part of the story begins when the Tilsons, father Cooper (Dennis
Quaid), mother Leah (Sharon Stone) and their two children, trade their tiny
place in the city for a large and dilapidated country manor. They pick the
house up for a song in a foreclosure sale. All of the movie's performances
are unconvincing but none more so that of Stephen Dorff, who plays Dale
Massie, a redneck slob and the story's villain. Just out of prison, Dale
used to own the house. Dale's father (Christopher Plummer), who now lives
in a nursing home, is a killer -- a sheep killer. The old man's claim to
fame is that he once used a custom-made hammer to slaughter ten-thousand
sheep in just three days. This Babe Ruth of butchers is an evil dude whose
barbarism must have somehow affected his son.



As the film's score, which can only find notes on the lowest register of the
piano, plays loudly, the Tilsons go about the business of remodeling their
new place. Ominous signs are everywhere, but the director has little
success in making us jump or care. If Figgis has any gift for crafting
thrillers, COLD CREEK MANOR doesn't show it. Don't be surprised if you want
to cry out to the characters as they engage in one stupid action after
another. Actually, you won't cry out because you simply won't care.



COLD CREEK MANOR runs 1:59. The film is rated R for "violence, language and
some sexuality" and would be acceptable for teenagers.



My son Jeffrey, age 14, gave it ** 1/2. He thought it was too predictable
but nicely frightening nonetheless. He especially liked the acting by Quaid
and Dorff and their characters' rivalry.



The film opens nationwide in the United States on Friday, September 19,
2003. In the Silicon Valley, it will be showing at the AMC and the Century
theaters.



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