FILM REVIEW; And Those Silly Folks Thought the City Wasn't Safe (original) (raw)
Movies|FILM REVIEW; And Those Silly Folks Thought the City Wasn't Safe
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FILM REVIEW
Cold Creek Manor
Directed by Mike Figgis
Horror, Mystery, Thriller
R
1h 58m
- Sept. 19, 2003
A serious filmmaker like Mike Figgis can be forgiven, I suppose, for slumming, when he's got a cast as stellar as the one that infuses the scream-by-numbers thriller ''Cold Creek Manor'' with more psychological credibility than its screenplay merits.
Mr. Figgis is a master at conjuring atmospheres charged with sexual paranoia. As in the 1990 police corruption drama ''Internal Affairs,'' which Mr. Figgis also directed, issues of manhood, animal prowess and the fear of losing a beautiful woman to a sadistic stud constitute the unsettling core material of ''Cold Creek Manor.''
Dennis Quaid is Cooper Tilson, a New York-based documentary filmmaker whose beautiful wife, Leah (Sharon Stone), is a business executive on the slippery track to a vice presidency. The couple has two children. Kristen (Kristen Stewart), who's just on the verge of adolescence, already has her own cellphone. Her younger brother, Jesse (Ryan Wilson), is an impulsive adventurer who in an early scene is nearly run down by traffic while dashing to school.
That near-fatality prompts the Tilsons to shift gears and pursue a quieter life in the country. For a bargain-basement price, they purchase a 1,200-acre estate on a former sheep farm whose last owner went bankrupt. No sooner have the Tilsons settled into the dusty, red-brick mansion crammed with the previous family's possessions and memorabilia than their rural idyll starts turning ugly.
The bad vibes rush in the moment Dale Massie (Stephen Dorff), the previous tenant, shows up and invites himself to dinner. Dale, who's recently finished serving a three-year jail term, pressures Cooper into hiring him to fix up the property.
Sneaky-eyed and leering, Mr. Dorff's Dale is a handsome, muscular roughneck who goes around shirtless, dripping sweat and testosterone. While taunting Cooper with an exaggerated servility, he exudes a sinister sexual heat that attracts Leah but terrifies Kristen.
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