Cheap Cold Creek Manor (DVD) (Dennis Quaid, Sharon Stone, Stephen Dorff) (Mike Figgis) Price

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Customer Reviews of Cold Creek Manor

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The haunted house thriller, Cold Creek Manor, was touted as a comeback of sorts for actress Sharon Stone. She had been away from the medium for quite some time, after a few health concerns and some personal problems. In the film, she got the chance to work with actor Dennis Quaid, who really impressed me in the movie Frequency. Even though the it didn't generate much buzz in theaters, I was still looking forward to seeing it anyway, as a rental.

Finally putting an end to their days as slaves to the hustle-and-bustle of city life, both Cooper Tilson (Quaid) and his wife, Leah (Stone) pack up their kids and all their belongings and move into a recently vacated mansion in the backwoods of upstate New York. Once considerd a crown jewel, grand and elegant, the Cold Creek Manor is now a shambles, but Cooper and Leah have plenty of time to renovate. All's well until a series of unexplained incidents at the house lead the Tilsons to wonder who used to live in their new house. The invesigation leads them to discover that a former convicted felon, named Dale Massie (Stephen Dorff), used to live there. Now, he will do anything to have it back.

While it's great to see Stone and Quaid together, and Dorff doing another quirky character, the film could have been better. Director Mike Figgis uses a very tired bag of tricks to tell his tale. Some of the film's plot borrowed from another thriller, the "clunky" What Lies Beneath and shows itself well worn here. Playing the Tilson children, Kristen (Kristen Stewart) and Jesse (Ryan Wilson) respectively, Stewart calls upon her Panic Room days and Wilson Goes for a Signs/Sixth Sense vibe Poor Juliette Lewis is wasted in the film. Cold Creek Manor just wasn't all that scary--just predictable fluff basically culled from other sources.

The DVD extras are a mixed bag. The audio commentary with director Mike Figgis is ok. He is well spoken and provides in depth information about the making of the film. Although, this can be very interesting at times, like the movie itself, the commentary does begin to drag and there are few surprises along the way. There is a "bonus" alternate ending that may have actually worked better, if it had been attached to the film--but I'll let others decide for themselves. There are also a handful of deleted scenes, complete with optional commentary from Figgis. Unlike the alternate ending though, these scenes, were wisely left on the cutting room floor, and don't really add much to the film. The "Rules of the Genre" featurette includes the writer-Richard Jefferies , director and actors letting us think they do, in fact, know what elements must be present to be able to put together a thriller. The fact that they tried a too hard to make it different and Cold Creek Manor came out as contrived as it did is kinda weird considerng the talent involved. "Cooper's Documentary" goes into the making of the documentary footage seen briefly in the film. As most of the documentary angle was cut from the final version of the plot, this featurette though a nice idea, comes across as padded material. Also, much of the information here and in the other featurette can be heard in the in the commentary track.

What a disappointment all the way around. See this DVD only if there's nothing else to rent

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Great Unintentional Comedy
Not too many thrills in this thriller, but as an unintentional comedy it's aces. Fans of bad movies will love this DVD to death, particularly the deleted scenes which include Dennis Quaid as pool shark humiliating the Massey character. Stephen Dorff flares his nostrils menacingly while strutting around shirtless, oiled up, and chewing the scenery like a starving man. Several laugh-out-loud moments throughout this film. Indeed the only thing missing is Joel and the 'bots in the lower right-hand corner of the screen.

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Give it a chance, Don't listen to hearsay
Cold Creek Manor I thought was a fairly decent movie. Don't read some of these other people's reviews and make a decision based on their opinions. Truth is maybe it was a little slow paced but there was a good story behind it. I think you should watch this movie and see what you think. Afterall no one's opinion matters except yours. As long as you like it who cares what others think.