Cold Creek Manor

Cold Creek Manor is a tense, character-driven thriller directed by Mike Figgis, the mastermind behind 1995's Leaving Las Vegas. The story's protagonist is Cooper Tilsman (Quaid), who decides to move to the country after a near-death accident involving his son. They leave everything behind in the city and move into the unknown. Stigmatized as intruders, city slickers, they have a rough time settling in to their new home. Things become even more tense as the previous home owner, Dale Massey (Dorff) shows up unexpectantly, and terrifying events start to occur.

Dennis Quaid plays the stern, overprotective family man, a character he is quite familiar with. But there's a reason why he's typecast in that role - he plays it perfectly. As soon as Dale Massey slithers his way into their lives, Quaid's Cooper Tilsman is wary of him. He never takes his eyes off the shady man, while remaining polite and cordial to keep his family calm and at ease. Sharon Stone is comfortable as the strong, business woman turned homebody. Kristen Bell - can't act now, and couldn't act back then. Juliette Lewis is at home as the female sidekick to a crazed lunatic - she did it well in Natural Born Killers and Kalifornia, so I guess it makes sense to play the same character she did ten years ago.

Finally, there's Stephen Dorff. This man gets a pretty bad rap, and honestly, I don't know why. While he often plays the part of the good guy, the producers knew what they were doing when they cast him the role of Dave Massey, the local maniac haunted by his past. Like he did in Blade, Dorff hits the nail on the head. His acting is very subtle in the beginning - the intensity in his eyes tells you he's been places, places you don't want to ever know. He carries this intensity throughout the film, and he slowly starts to descend into madness as things unravel, no longer becoming the creepy local but the angry, bitter man who is determined to make life horrible for the people inhabiting his former home. He provides the film its strong, emotional element, such as the scene where he confronts his abusive, browbeating father. It's a shame Stephen Dorff doesn't get as much work as he deserves.

The film's pacing was handled to near perfection. It starts off slow, with the father's suspicions toward Dave Massey, and of course he is on his own, as no one believes the things that Cooper accuses Massey of. The suspicions turn into reality as Massey openly confronts Cooper, showing his true, vindictive side. The only problem I had was when the children's horse was found dead in the pool, they accused Cooper of hitting it with his car; if he hit it with his car, the wound would not have been on the horse's head. And how would the horse get in the pool? The fact that the sheriff doesn't pry into the matter a little more shows how ignorant the town is of Massey's psychotic nature. Personally, I think this scene could've been left out.

Overall, I give it a 7/10. Fine acting mixed with well-paced suspense makes this a compelling psychological thriller. The film is driven mostly by characters and how they develop and react to the strange events that occur, as well as the mystery that surrounds Cold Creek Manor. We are constantly guessing what happened at that house, and right when we think we know what exactly it was, we are thrown in another direction.