Trailer (2003) When documentary filmmaker Cooper Tilson and his wife Leah decide life in New York City has become unbearable, they and their children Kristen and Jesse move into a decaying mansion filled with the possessions of the previous family. Bonus features include commentary with director Mike Figgis; deleted scenes and an alternate ending; Rules of the Game, in which Figgis discusses the components of a psychological thriller; and Cooper's Documentary, in which he discusses the process of making the film within the film. Where the hell did the killer go after pushing the wife down the well? [3] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "C" on a scale of A+ to F.[4], Stephen Holden of The New York Times observed, "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". But he has made a thriller that thrills us only if we abandon all common sense. Which is illogical once you start thinking about it. 4.6 out of 5 stars. Cooper then tries to rescue her (with a rope that she climbs), all while the assailant might be looming nearby. The implication being that he hit the horse with the car. When you think you'll get an explanation as to why Dale Massie is wanting the house back and kill the current owners, you don't. Mike Figgis directed, composed the music for, and produced . He hits a deer with his car. The husband was trying to get better cell reception, so he wasn't near the well when his wife was shoved in. He smokes a joint, uses strong profanity, smokes, has sex with Ruby and turns homicidal. When the movie was released, it opened in the fifth spot with a weekend take of just over $8 million dollars. Leah tells Cooper that her boss asked her to sleep with him. It holds a 12% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 111 reviews, with an average rating of 3.8/10. MUSIC (SCARY/TENSE) The key player this time is Ruby (Juliette Lewis), Dale's battered girlfriend, whose sister is Sheriff Annie Ferguson (Dana Eskelson). For those concerned with bright flashes of light on the screen, some instances of that occur in several scenes in the film. *Moderate We later see that saying on a sign in a bar. In "Under the Tuscan Sun," another new movie, Diane Lane is able to find some cheerful Polish workers to rehab her Tuscan villa, but the Tilsons have the extraordinarily bad judgment to hire the former owner of the house, Dale Massie (Stephen Dorff), an ex-con with a missing family. The previous owner, Dale Massie, convinces Cooper to hire him to help with repairs. The Tilsons are a loving family that must work through normal conflicts, as well as unite to overcome extraordinary ones. They get back to the house where Dale has torched Leah's car. A person pushes Leah down into a deep hole in the ground (she's okay). SHARON STONE plays his wife, an executive who wants to get their family out of harm's way when things get too precarious. Jesse makes a comment about a parental moment being "Miller Time." Cold Creek Manor is meant to be a creepy thriller, which isnt that creepy, nor scary. Cooper isn't happy about that and leaves for a while. Dale then sits next to Cooper and similarly orders several shots of liquor, resulting in Cooper being a bit inebriated. Wanting to escape city life for the countryside, New Yorkers Cooper Tilson (Quaid), his wife Leah (Stone) and their two children move into a dilapidated old mansion still filled with the possessions of the previous family. The rat race in general. $29.1 million [1] Cold Creek Manor is a 2003 American thriller film directed by Mike Figgis, and starring Dennis Quaid, Sharon Stone, Stephen Dorff, Juliette Lewis, Kristen Stewart and Christopher Plummer. The scene where she claims she wasn't hit, she only fell, is the most perfunctory demonstration possible of the battered woman in denial. JULIETTE LEWIS plays his white trash girlfriend who has sex with him, uses strong profanity, is drunk, and briefly smokes. Eskelsons rsum may not be as extensive as those of her co-stars, but thats sure to change. So he fires him. Moving into a new home. Cooper accidentally punches his wife in the face. Cooper and Leah argue about their situation. Dale says that he hasn't seen his kids since his wife left with them some time ago. Cold Creek Manor Woefully predictable imperiled-yuppie-family-under-siege suspenser. Cooper is in a position to disable his rival without killing him during the films climax, but with Leahs blessing, he finishes the guy off, vigilante style. Dale's father refers to Dale's mother as a "whore." Cooper and his family sneak onto and then into the estate before they put an offer on it (meaning they're trespassing). {The following four categories are based on a Film Reel scale. Bad writing lets the characters make bad decisions, hiring the former house owner (who broke in to have a look around) to fix the pool instead of asking him to leave or calling police, or worse, characters dont pass on what easily seems to be crucial information to other characters. Topics ToTalk About Heavy In fact, it's not even very good. Wanting to simplify their lives, the Tilsons decide to buy a recently repossessed mansion out in the country. Question: When the girlfriend is at Dale Massey's grave at end of movie, it seems like it showed her angry face and then cut away to the credits. Again, why wasnt this clarified in the film? Leah hears her kids screaming near the pool and races there to discover a snake in it (that Dale has captured and it isn't poisonous). Dale then sits next to Cooper and similarly orders several shots of liquor, resulting in Cooper being a bit inebriated. Director Mike Figgis (who in the past brought us Leaving Las Vegas and the brilliant film Timecode) really should have his camera taken away from him. Various clues, accompanied by portentous music, ominous winds, gathering clouds, etc., lead to the possibility that clues to Dale's crimes can be found at the bottom of an old well, and we are not disappointed in our expectation that Stone will sooner or later find herself at the bottom of that well. Everything he does is after a look at the script, so that he appears, disappears, threatens, seems nice, looms, fades, pushes, doesn't push, all so that we in the audience can be frightened or, in my case, amused. Cold Creek Manor is a psychological thriller that came out in 2003. If she had only reset her alarm, then Dennis Quaid would have woken up on time. Cooper begins to wonder just what Dale is trying to hide, and makes a blood-chilling discovery on the property. He also calls a nurse, "You little bitch.". When evil Dale Massie just stands there in the woods and doesn't push Cooper Tilson down the well, he stops being a killer and becomes an excuse for the movie to toy with us -- and it's always better when a thriller toys with the victims instead of the audience. This article is a stub and is in need of expansion. I only wish this film had chosen a course similar to The River Wild, the PG-13 white-water rafting thriller that found Meryl Streep and David Strathairn desperately trying to save their family from a vicious Kevin Bacon. Once they realize that, they have several close calls with those snakes and more, including one that strikes out at Cooper and another that falls on his shoulder. After Cooper asks what she did, she says she said yes, but that an emergency phone call prevented that from happening. If you are going to edit a lot, then make yourself a user and login. Documentary filmmaker Cooper Tilson (Dennis Quaid) and his professionally. Dealing with bullies and/or the psychotic. Leah tells Cooper that her boss asked her to sleep with him. In the end it is revealed that Dale Massie killed his family and buried them down the "Devil's Throat" and he was coming back to claim his property. The two then struggle and the intruder strikes Cooper and comments on the sound of a bone breaking. [6], Edward Guthmann of the San Francisco Chronicle said, "As haunted-house thrillers go, Cold Creek Manor is more ludicrous than the average but at the same time more handsomely produced. He talks about Dales cigarettes, that they had intended him to be European, rolling his own cigarettes, but that preview audiences mistook his hand rolled cigs for joints (as did I) so he clarifies that they are tobacco, just so everybody knows that. After Cooper asks what she did, she says she said yes, but that an emergency phone call prevented that from happening. SUMMARY: In COLD CREEK MANOR, a family thinks they're getting away from New York City and entering a quiet haven in their new mansion in the boonies, but when the creepy former homeowner shows up and strange things start happening, the family must quickly figure out some long . He talks about the rules of the genre, pacing, music, editing, etc. Its great to see an average husband and wifewith a little help from the kidsteaming up to thwart a home-wrecker. ImitativeBehavior Sharon Stone is a great actress and does well with the part of Leah, but she isnt given much to stand out, and ends up playing a stereotypical role that keeps Stone from excelling. . http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Headscratchers/ColdCreekManor. It just doesnt make sense. He only stops when the sheriff aims her gun at him. None Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. Cooper (DENNIS QUAID) and Leah Tilson (SHARON STONE) have decided to give up the city life of New York for the countryside of Bellingham. Synopsis Leah Tilson (Sharon Stone) gets out of bed on a busy morning in New York City at 4:30am. When Juliet Luis is cleaning the windshield in the beginning of the movie, she moves to the passenger side and wets the window. We see a photo of a boy holding a rifle. She and Cooper lower a video camera into the well and find the rotting corpses of Dale's wife and children. He would not have been in a rush to get the kids to school, not had his son almost hit by a car, not decided to move out of the city, and not forced me to watch the two hour debacle that follows called Cold Creek Manor. The screenplay by Richard Jefferies tells the story of a family terrorized by the former owner of the rural estate they bought in foreclosure. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism. Afraid for his family's safety, Cooper sends them back to stay in the city while he attempts to gather more evidence to incriminate Dale. One then hits the third several times with a pick-like device, eventually causing the skylight to break and the third person to fall through it, another skylight and then hard to the floor below (where he's presumably dead). Wanting to escape city life for the saner, safer countryside, New Yorkers Cooper Tilson (Dennis Quaid), his wife Leah (Golden Globe winner Sharon Stone), and their two children move into a dilapidated old mansion still filled with the possessions of the previous family. They then try to get away from the intruder through the dark house. "Creep," "Shut up," "You little bastard," "Whore," "Piss for brains," "Bitch," "Go lay an egg," "Pissing me off," "Pissed me off" and "Nuts" (crazy). We see a Jeep that's been set on fire. He only stops when the sheriff aims her gun at him. Instead of finding a safer place, they buy Cold Creek Manor, an old beaten manor that they intend to turn into their dream home. By entering this site you acknowledge to having read and agreed to the above conditions. The next shot she is talking to Sharon Stone and the windshield is dry. The Tilsons are always leaving doors open even though they know terrible dangers lurk outside, and they are agonizingly slow to realize that Dale Massie is not only the wrong person to rehab their house, but the wrong person to be in the same state with. Extreme Not to mention that hitting an animal the size of a horse would cause far more damage to the vehicle than a broken headlight. As written by Richard Jefferies, the film is more or less a variation of his script for the 1992 black comedy . About 50 profanities or obscenities, including f-words (17), s-words, exclamatory uses of Gods name and several harsh misuses of Jesus name. If I were Cooper Tilson, never would I befriend Dale. Accordingly, he turns from friendly and helpful to increasingly volatile and dangerous. [1], Buena Vista Home Entertainment released the film on Region 1 DVD on March 2, 2004. At first it seems like everything is good. Of course preposterous things happen in all thrillers, but there must be at least a gesture in the direction of plausibility, or we lose patience. So he convinces the Tilsons to hire him as a handyman. One afternoon after a heated argument with Dale, Cooper finds a dental retainer along with human teeth in the gravel of his driveway, which he compares to old photos and finds it matches that of Dale's daughter. Eventually the previous owner Dale Massie (Stephen Dorff) shows up and eventually begins to terrorize the Tilsons lives. The intruder then tries to hit Cooper who blocks those attacks with a ladder. Meanwhile, the more Cooper digs into the history of Cold Creek Manor, the more frightened he becomes for his familys safety. TVTropes is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available from thestaff@tvtropes.org. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cold_Creek_Manor&oldid=1137724953, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles to be expanded from October 2022, Articles with empty sections from October 2022, Rotten Tomatoes template using name parameter, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 6 February 2023, at 03:45. A person pushes Leah down into a deep hole in the ground (she's okay). Synopsis. Yeah, you might not get a good look at Stephen Dorffs cut frame, but your brain will thank you for it in the long run. Once Dale enters the pictureand notices Cooper working on a documentary about the history of his new homestrange things start to happen. The next shot she is talking to. Then read OUR TAKE of this film. Belonging to the same genre as Pacific Heights, Fatal Attraction, Cape Fear and The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, this methodical, occasionally eerie thriller taps into our innate desire to protect family and home from a psychotic outsider with an axe (in this case, killing hammer) to grind. 1996-2022 Screen It, Inc. Were they possibly thinking of doing maybe a revenge sequel? To learn the details of the manor's past, Cooper visit's Dale's aging, demented father who lives in a nearby nursing home. Jesse is nearly struck by a vehicle when he darts out into traffic. All of this is eventually because the film never gives any solid idea of the passage of time. asks a helpful local. 21 offers from $7.49. Cooper drives home while a bit intoxicated shortly after drinking many shots of liquor. There are a few deleted scenes, most of which deserved to be deleted. He grew up in Cold Creek Manor, with an abusive dad. Contact me | Privacy policy | Join the mailing list | Links. Their two children attend private school. It looks like the previous occupants bugged out in a big hurry, too, as they left everything behind, including personal. Read full review 40 At Bay Area theaters.) Ruby tells her sister, the sheriff, that she fell (instead of admitting that Dale punched her). Especially the whole 'getting a dead horse into the pool while drunk' part. Two people clothesline a third with a rope that they then use to tie him down to a skylight. QUICK TAKE: Two featurettes are included. If you were able to make it through the film once, you most likely will have no interest in watching it again with the director talking. Other than that, enjoy Villains Wiki!!! Cinemablend is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Cooper cuts off a poisonous snake's head (with brief and slightly bloody results). She has never got enough credit for her talent, and I think she is the perfect match to Quaid. Curious if this title is entertaining, any good, and/or has any artistic merit? Heavy Remember the abstract passing of time I mentioned before? A sudden sound might startle some viewers. (Note: The "Our Take" review of this title examines the film's artistic merits and does not take into account any of the possibly objectionable material listed below). The lights go out in the house and Cooper and Leah hear someone smash a window and then break things in the house (we see that as it occurs). We see the point of view of someone approaching Cooper. Especially the whole 'getting a dead horse into the pool while drunk' part. RYAN WILSON plays her younger brother who somewhat becomes obsessed with a dark poem written by the boy who lived in the house before him. We see a rear view of Leah in her small panties as she gets out of bed. Cooper throws some large roof tiles at the intruder, with one striking him on the head, bloodying him. In Cold Creek Manor, a family tired of the noise, traffic and crime of the city decides to move to the country. Her husband, Cooper Tilson (Dennis Quaid), reminds her to reset the alarm clock to wake him up in time to get the kids to school and go to work. Despite being a bit predictable, Cold Creek Manor is full of thrills and. Dale's father says that Dale is the "corrupt spawn of your whoring mother" and then says that Dale's kids probably weren't even his, that he couldn't even make babies. We later see that saying on a sign in a bar. gtag('config', 'G-6VYSQ581R3'); A documentary filmmaker, Cooper is intrigued by the history of the house, particularly since the foreclosure on it left all of its belongings - albeit in disarray - still there and ready for examination. There is not one moment on screen that says to me that Dale is trustworthy. Scenes listed under "Violence" might also be unsettling, suspenseful or scary to some viewers, mostly younger ones and those with low tolerance levels for such material (others will have little or no such reaction to them). Dale puts his hand between Ruby's thighs as she stands in the doorway of her camper. Next week, a look back at Oliver Stones Nixon. A horse is killed and dumped in the family swimming pool. This only makes things worse, though the Tilsons cant provide the local sheriff with enough hard evidence to prove anything. It's the sort of movie that makes dumb guys like me feel smart. Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Thank you for signing up to CinemaBlend. Visit our corporate site (opens in new tab). View of Leah in her small panties as she stands in the family swimming pool the being... 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