Review of Dream House (2011) by Jacob G — 09 Sep 2014

Dream House could have been solid (if unremarkable) thriller with more attention paid to the antagonist. But instead the antagonist ends up feeling like a deus ex machina.

Which isn't to say that everything leading up to that reveal sparkles or anything. But there's enough interesting things going on here that the "potential" word holds a lot of meaning.

While the premise of Dream House feels ripped straight out of every haunted house horror movie ever (just move in, "something's not right with the house", etc), Dream House suddenly sprints in a different direction.

At least, that is how it should have worked. Instead, too many clues are left for the viewer in the early goings of the movie that prevent it from truly landing the plot-twist thump that it should have landed.

With the twist, certain characters fade from the movie. There are some surprises surrounding the twist (a twist with surprises!? Whoa!), and I thought the script's intentions were pretty phenomenal. However, the actual execution left lots to be desired.

Which is basically what Dream House is. Lots of ideas--many excellent--but the script (and perhaps the direction) fumbles them to a point that the movie can't take advantage of them.

It's entertaining enough for an hour and a half, but the low scores aren't an accident.