Dream House

Director Jim Sheridan has some substantial films under his belt including1989’s My Left Foot which gave Daniel Day-Lewis his first Best Actor Oscar. His best work has been with real life issues particularly in dealing with “The Troubles” in his native Northern Ireland. So it is a mystery what he is doing helming this miscegenated psychological-cum-horror-cum-action thriller.

The film starts with New York City publishing exec. Will Atenton (Daniel Craig) quitting his job and moving to the well-kempt ‘burbs of New England so that he can concentrate on writing a novel and spend more time with his wife, Libby (Rachel Weisz) and their two young children. They set about creating their “dream house” but as you expect things don’t go to plan. A neighbor across the street (Naomi Watts) seems to know something but refuses to tell them more. Will finds out that the previous owner of the house killed his wife and children on the premises and has been sent to a psychiatric hospital.

Psychological horror films by definition need time to set-up their initial scenario and plant the seeds of doubt in order to suggest that things are not what they seem. This is done well enough here if not altogether intriguingly so. Then about the mid-point a cleverly-staged plot twist re-frames the narrative so far. Strangely however Sheridan and writer David Loucka pitch us headlong out of what appears to be promising modern-day “haunted house” territory and into a slapped-together home invasion actioner with guns, dead bodies and the aforementioned house ablaze, before the narrative lurches its way unconvincingly to a routine resolution.

Naomi Watts has little to do, Rachel Weisz fans will tolerate the film for her always watchable presence and Daniel Craig, who in real life she went on to marry, is at best adequate. The real disappointment however is Sheridan and one can only assume that somehow he lost control of the project.

 

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