- Directed by Mike Figgis
- Written by Richard Jefferies
- Stars Dennis Quaid, Sharon Stone, Stephen Dorff, Juliette Lewis
- Run Time: 1 Hour, 59 Minutes
- Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hg0EWsjuXDk
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
This is a mystery thriller with horror elements. We suspect early on the way things are going to head, and it pulls us along nicely as things are filled in. There’s a very strong cast with a decent story. We liked it quite a bit.
Spoilery Synopsis
We open on Cooper and Leah Tilson in New York City. She flies off on a business trip, and he oversleeps. The kids, Kristen and Jesse, are late for school, and it’s all very annoying and hectic. Son Jesse ends up getting hit by a car, but he’ll be OK. “We’ve got to get out of this city,” Cooper complains.
They sell their house in the city and plan to buy an old foreclosure way out in the country. They get directions to a place called Cold Creek Manor from Ruby, who works at the nearby gas station/diner/store. It turns out to be an old deserted mansion, so they let themselves in to explore. It’s full of old books and things; it looks like the people who lived there just left it all. They like the place, but then the local sheriff comes and makes them leave. She didn’t realize the place was on the market.
They do, in fact, buy the house and move in. They sell a lot of the old antiques inside the house and plan to renovate. It looks like the previous owners left in a hurry; there’s a lot of stuff in the house.
The family goes to Pinski’s, the local restaurant, and meets the owners. They’ve lived in this little town for many years. Ruby and her friends overhear the entire conversation. Cooper buys their horse for the kids. Cooper mentions that he’s a documentary filmmaker, and he’s looking into the history of the family who used to live in the house.
Then they find a man who has entered their house. He says his name is Dale Massey, and he used to live here. He invites himself for dinner, and it’s all very awkward. He admits that he didn’t keep up the payments and the bank repossessed the place. He just got out of jail after three years and needs a job. Could they use him as a handyman? The Tilsons are creeped out, but they hire him to clean up and get the pool running.
Dale goes to see Ruby right afterward. They are close. Later, Dale explains how they used to kill animals on the farm in the old days. There’s one of those tools missing. Within a few days, Dale has the pool working and he’s moved on to other projects. He flirts with Leah, and Cooper’s not happy about it.
The sheriff asks Cooper about Dale. The sheriff is Ruby’s sister. Dale’s father is still alive, living in a nearby nursing home. Cooper goes to see the old man, who has dementia. All his livestock, 10,000 sheep, got hoof and mouth disease, and he had to kill them all with those hammers. He gets really upset when he learns that Cooper bought his house.
In the morning, we see that there are snakes all over the house, but no one notices them right away. They all find the snakes at about the same time, and chaos ensues. Lots of snakes. The whole family ends up on the roof, but there are snakes there too. Dale comes to the rescue, which Cooper finds suspicious.
Cooper fires Dale, but Leah doesn’t see anything wrong with Dale. Ray Pinski warns Cooper not to alienate the town, so Cooper buys drinks for everyone. Even Ruby warns Cooper about Dale. Dale ends up punching Ruby and getting into a bar fight as Cooper watches. The sheriff breaks it up, but Dale doesn’t look impressed. This culminates in Dale chasing Cooper home in his car.
In the morning, they find their horse dead in the swimming pool. From the damage on the car, they all assume Cooper did it while drunk last night. He blames Dale, but Leah doesn’t believe him. Leah wants to go back to the city, but they can’t afford to move out. The sheriff suggests exactly the same thing.
Dale confronts the family publicly when he finds out Cooper is making a movie about his family. It’s clear that he’s not quite right in the head.
Cooper finds a retainer buried in the driveway along with a tooth. Then he finds a photo of one of the kids who used to live there, wearing that same retainer. Leah comes up behind him, “He killed his children.” He sends Leah and kids away while he looks for more evidence. He finds a car on the property, and it belonged to Dale’s “missing” wife.
Cooper takes what he has to the sheriff, but she says it’s all circumstantial. She also doubts that Dale is a murderer. She loans him a two-way radio while she investigates.
At the hospital, Dale visits his father and the old man knows Dale lost the farm. “You’re the corrupt spawn of your whoring mother,” the old man accuses. “I saw everything you did. She was leaving you and taking the kids. They weren’t even your kids. What did you do with the bodies?” Dale then kills the old man.
Cooper researches maps to figure out where the bodies might be buried, but he has no clues. He hears a noise in the house and almost knocks out Leah. She knows where the bodies are hidden; the kids found that place right after they moved in. The two of them go out in the woods and find a covered well. Cooper lowers his night-vision camera down in the hole. They look at the footage and see at least one body down there.
Meanwhile, the sheriff is calling the dentist working on the retainer clue. Ruby stops in to visit her sister and finds the sheriff dead.
Dale comes up to Leah and pushes her into the well. Cooper returns and helps her climb back out. They walk back to the house and find their car is on fire. Dale cuts the power to the house and comes in screaming. He smashes Cooper’s office with one of his animal-killing hammers. He chases them through the house up to the roof.
Finally, the two men fight it out. As Dale stops to monologue, Leah and Cooper grab a rope. They swing him onto the skylight and smash it beneath him, dropping him through several stories of glass.
Later, we see Ruby at Dale’s grave. Cooper and his family live happily ever after at the house.
Commentary
I had no idea Kristin Stewart was in anything before Twilight.
It’s pretty clear as soon as Dale shows up where this is all heading, but the mystery is in finding out why Dale is the way he is.
It’s really more of a thriller than a horror, but it has many horror elements and a lot of suspense. It’s good!