Cold Creek Manor (DVD, 2004)

This is a VERY CHILLING movie. It manages to play on the dream of purchasing an INCREDIBLE fully furnished MANSION of a house for peanuts due to foreclosure, as well as on the fear of what ghosts might be left behind by the family that lost their home to begin with... and why they lost it...

Cooper (Dennis Quaid) and Leah (Sharon Stone) Tilson decide to move thier family to the country following a scare in which thier son is hit by a car in the busy city. It makes them realize they have been focusing too much on thier own fast-paced careers and not enough on building strong family relationships and a safe environment for thier children to grow up in. Incredibly, they manage to find a beautiful, fully furnished mansion in foreclosure- and they buy it- for next to nothing. They immediately move in and begin to fix the place up and sort through all of the previous owners belongings. Cooper, who has produced several documentary style films even begins researching the history of the house and family who lived there based on the many personal belongings that have been left behind, including home movies and photography. Then the unthinkable happens. The son of the previous owner shows up asking for work from the family fixing the place up. After all, he knows EVERYTHING there is to know about the house. At first they agree, but soon realize they have made a mistake. The family whom the stranger represents didn't willingly leave thier house and are not willing to part with it, or the secrets that it hides about thier family without a fight...

Location, location, location. A loving couple, along with their son and daughter, relocate from the city to the country, where they put the down payment on their dream home -- a sprawling farmhouse. But home sweet home quickly becomes a nightmare when the house's previous owner returns from prison and wants his house back … badly.

Dennis Quaid, Sharon Stone, Stephen Dorff, Juliette Lewis

House is Foreclosed Due to Owner Being in Prison and Unable to Make the Payments. A Loving Couple From The City Decide to Move to The Country to Protect Their Children. There Son Was Almost Killed By a Car. They Purchase COLD CREEK MANOR... A Beautiful Huge House. The House Need a Lot of Repair and The Former Owner Who Has Now Served His Time Has Come Along and They Hire Him to Help Do The Repairs....What a GRAVE Mistake!! He is a Tricky Sly Man and Plays Pranks On Them In Hopes They Will Go Back to The City. The New Owner (Husband) Is on To The Former Owner, But His Wife and Family Do Not Believe Him...The Plot Thickens!! I Will Not Tell The Ending...But It is a Great Movie That I Recommend!!

The movie trailers are more scary than the movie. They show all the best parts in the trailer (as usual). One clip in the trailer shows Sharon Stone getting out of bed and her sheets moving on there own behind her - which made me think of a ghost when viewing the trailer. When you see the movie, you find out it's a snake under the sheets - nice deceit, huh?

Criticism of the movie is as follows:
1. Takes and hour and half where nothing really happens. The murder mystery has very few clues and really entirely develops in like 5 minutes in the last half hour of the movie. Terrible screenwriting and directing.
2. Silly mismanagement of plot - plotlines thrown in that have little to do with anything and that are never followed up.
3. Too similar to a ton of other movies. Even the "Devil's Throat" (a well) reminds you of "The Ring". When Sharon Stone gets pushed into the well (which everyone in the movie and in the bathroom knew was going to happen), I half expected a little girl with black hair to grab her from under the water!
4. I think most people went thinking they were seeing a Supernatural Thriller - shame on Buena Vista Pictures! I am on to them now.
But good movie if there's Nothing else on.....
{Mrs puman}

The guy who plays the creepy bad-guy does an excellent job. Sharon Stone is not aging well, but does OK acting. Dennis Quaid does well. The house on 120 acres for $210,000 is totally unbelievable...if there is such a place, I will buy it. Overall the movie was good, even though mostly predictable. The ending leaves you pondering what might still be going on. All in all, i was pleased with the movie, and will certainly watch it again.