Review of Cold Creek Manor (2003) by Ashley H — 26 Jan 2012

Have you ever wondered what happened in your house before you lived there? Wanting to escape city life of New York for the saner, safer countryside, a documentary filmmaker and his wife and two children pack up and move into a run-down rural mansion that is still occupied with the possessions of the previous family. Turning it into their dream house soon becomes a living nightmare when the previous owner, a simmering ex-convict, shows up and has secret reasons for wanting the Tilson family to leave.

Directed by Mike Figgis, 'Cold Creek Manor' features great acting performances from the following cast:

1.) Dennis Quaid (Cooper TIlson).

2.) Sharon Stone (Leah Tilson).

3.) Stephen Dorff (Dale Massie).

4.) Juliette Lewis (Ruby).

5.) Kristen Stewart (Kristen Tilson).

6.) Ryan Wilson (Jesse Tilson).

7.) Christopher Plummer (Mr. Massie).

Many critics may have trashed 'Cold Creek Manor' for the plot and/or the acting, but for me, I didn't find it bad as they thought. It's actually a great, scary thriller that kept my heart pounding and had me sitting on the edge of my seat as I anticipated the tension and violence from within the story. When a series of horrifying incidents get the Tilsons into an intense search for pieces of evidence of the house's dark and lurid past, I was wondering, "What is it?" And then I kept on watching until the ending. At the same time, I was so impressed with the acting performances here, even with Stephen Dorff's, whose Dale Massie character is so insane in character that there's a reason why to view him as the bad guy in the story.