At first glance, this appears to be another romp in the ‘haunted house’ model in the thriller genre.

Successful editor Will Atenton (Daniel Craig) quits his job to spend more time with his wife, Libby (Rachel Weisz) and two daughters. They seem to have the perfect life, until strange occurrences start to happen in their newly bought house in the suburbs that holds a more sinister past than its new owners were led to believe.

Without giving too much of the movie away, Dream House turns out to be more of a psychological thriller like Shutter Island instead of The Shining, despite the movie posters’ suggestion. But no matter, if you’re looking for scares, a psychological thriller usually delivers on that aspect too, right?

Unfortunately, the movie’s script, with its cheesy and trite dialogue occasionally drawing accidental uncomfortable laughter from the audience, seems to negate any tension in Dream House. Even the terrifying events happen in structured schedule, robbing the scenes of their unpredictability. While the twist in the movie was able to catch the audience off guard, the rest of the movie after appeared to have lost momentum, losing all suspense and mystery, and the resolution seemed a different genre from the rest of the show. Thankfully, the film was rescued through the talents of its A-list cast and director.

As the story’s protagonist, Daniel Craig manages to inject enough honesty and amiability as the protective father and husband, Will Atenton, and Rachel Weisz as the loving wife, who manages to be caring but not dippy. Naomi Watts, is sadly underused as the Atenton’s mysterious neighbour Ann Paterson, her limited screen time and flat writing failing to provide many opportunities to show off her acting range. Another underutilised member of the ensemble is Marton Csokas, as Patterson’s vengeful ex-husband, who puts enough malice and blind jealousy in his short stint to be memorable.

Jim Sheridan, the 6-time Oscar nominated director behind this project, does what he can with the script, using foreshadowing and ominous imagery to full effect to successfully sell the twist. But even Sheridan seems dissatisfied with the final outcome of the movie, his disappointment even causing him to threaten to disown the project altogether.

Dream House had a promising concept for a psychological thriller, but its poor writing and underwhelming resolution limits its impact.

Movie: Dream House
Rating: 3/5
Opens: Oct 13
Duration: 90 minutes
Language: English
Age Rating: PG-13
Genre: Drama, Thriller

Director: Jim Sheridan
Cast: Daniel Craig, Rachel Weisz, Naomi Watts