Dream House

An edition of my review for the Huntingtonian about the movie "Dream House": “Why didn’t we go see ‘50/50’?” Inquired my good friend Grant Fitzgerald as we exited the theatre after watching the “horror” film, “Dream House”. It was an honest question that annoyed me at first but as I thought back on the film, I too was asking the same exact question, “Why didn’t we go see ‘50/50’?” It’s not that “Dream House” was a bad movie per say, but whilst watching the film I felt as if I had seen this all before. There was nothing original about the film. I also am a little irked at the fact that the trailer literally gives away most of the film’s twists and plot turns. The film was put together very well. There was a clear rise of action and of so called “suspense” to an interesting climax that drew this story to a satisfactory yet disheartening end. Now, I love suspenseful films. I love to be scared, and as fall rolls in and Halloween looms ever closely, I find myself craving to be scared or thrilled. I was excited for “Dream House”, I thought that it would be an eerie psychological thriller. I have to say that myself and the four other people in the theatre (All HU students) were sadly disappointed in every sense of the word.

“Dream House” follows the story of Will Atenton, a family man who has just quit his job as an editor for a publishing company to spend more time with his young family. His life appears to be returning to him, however strange things begins to haunt his family’s lives. As the assaults, break ins, and mysteries continue to surface about Will’s life, so does the dark secret about the murder of his wife and children and the fact that Will is imagining them.

“Why didn’t we see ‘50/50’?” Besides the fact that this movie didn’t challenge me as an audience member, frighten me, nor did it embrace me, I still feel that it was a well put together movie. I just wasn’t impressed. I wasn’t impressed with the story, the acting, or the drive of the plot. However, you all need to see it for yourself and prompt your own discussions of the film. Some of you may actually enjoy it. Some of you probably will. Don’t just take my word for it.