Cold Creek Manor
Tags: murder, home movie

Plot synopsis:
Cooper (Dennis Quaid) and Leah Tilson (Sharon Stone) are living in a cramped New York City apartment with their two children, Kristen (Kristen Stewart) and Jesse (Ryan Wilson). While on a business trip overseas, Leah's boss informs her of an available promotion within the company, but only if she's willing to have an affair with him. She calls Cooper while he is dropping the kids off at school but, before she can speak to him, Jesse is nearly hit by a car in the early morning traffic. Although he isn't hurt, Leah returns home immediately and they decide living in the city is no longer a safe option for their family.
They relocate to a huge, decaying mansion out in the country, which is still filled with the possessions of the previous family who disappeared years earlier. Cooper, an unmotivated documentary filmmaker, is intrigued and sees it as an opportunity to get back into work. While cleaning up one morning, he finds many Polaroid photographs of the family including nude shots of a teenage girl. Jesse finds old clothes in his bedroom closet belonging to a young boy his age called Grady, and a book with a strange riddle written inside.
They go for breakfast at the local diner where they meet and befriend the owners, Ray and Ellen Pinski and their daughter, Stephanie. Many residents of the town, including the crass waitress of the diner, Ruby (Juliette Lewis), have heard they're now living at the manor and feel offended that they haven't taken the time to put the old family's belongings into storage, which causes immediate tension. Meanwhile, the family get settled in and Cooper decides to commit its history to making a new film.
One morning, they find the previous owner Dale Massie (Stephen Dorff) in their home, and they feel inclined to ask him to stay for breakfast. He tells them he's recently been released from prison and needs help finding work, so he pressures Cooper into hiring him to help with the renovations on the house. Later on, Cooper meets Sheriff Annie Ferguson (Dana Eskelson), Ruby's sister, who informs him that Dale's aging and slightly demented father is living in a nearby nursing home. Cooper goes to visit him, hoping to glean some details about the house's sinister past. Disjointed comments made by the elderly man lead him to believe that Dale murdered his wife and children, and he begins to search his 1,200-acre (4.9 km2) property for their remains. Meanwhile, although Dale initially proves to be a good worker, the underlying sense of menace he projects is unsettling and makes the family uncomfortable. Then a series of terrifying incidents start to occur, including finding dozens of poisonous snakes in their house. Although he has no proof, Cooper becomes suspicious of Dale, believing he put them there on purpose, and fires him.
That night, Leah informs Cooper about her boss's proposition and also tells him that she was going to say yes, but that was the day Jesse was hit by the car and it put everything into perspective for her. Cooper storms out and spends the night at the local bar where he speaks with Ruby, Dale's girlfriend, who warns Cooper about him saying, "Don't fuck with him. He'll rip your fucking head off." Dale becomes angry with her being drunk and needy that he hits her, which shocks Cooper to find out how monstrous he can be. On the way home, Cooper realizes he is being followed. He speeds up but because he is intoxicated, hits something and causes him to crash. In the morning, Kristen finds her new horse dead in their backyard pool. She blames her father but Cooper is certain it was a deer he hit and not the horse.
Cooper becomes more and more suspicious when he finds other evidence such as Grady's braces in the front yard. Then, all of his suspicions are confirmed when he and Leah discover three skeletons in Devil's Throat, a deep well that is hidden in the woods. Using a walkie talkie, he contacts Sheriff Ferguson, unaware she has been attacked and disabled by Dale at the police station, who punctures the tires on Cooper's truck and sets Leah's car on fire to prevent them from escaping. Trapping them in the house in the middle of a storm that has knocked out the electricity, he forces them to rely on their wits and physical prowess to save themselves. Dale finally corners Cooper and Leah on the roof after chasing them through the mansion. Dale, now raving mad, openly declares his insanity as well as his intent to kill them (with a family sheep killing tool/mallet) and throw them down the Devil's Throat like his family. However, the couple is able to turn the tables on their tormentor by charging him with a line of rope that knocks him off his feet. They quickly tie him down against a roof lantern (skylight) before he can break free. Cooper takes the killing tool and taunts Dale as Dale had done to him, before shattering the skylight, sending the screaming Dale to his death.
The film cuts to show that the bodies of Dale's family are now rightly entombed in the family graveyard at Cold Creek Manor and that Cooper and his family have finally attained their wanted peace.

Review: OK we've all seen this type of film before, family leave problems and life in the city for a new start in the country only to find far greater and real problems than those they left behind.Unfortunately it's just not done particularly well in this movie.
However, what happens is far less exciting.Quaid gives another solid but unremarkable performance, Dorff is passable but his character never seems as threatening as he should be, Lewis plays the kind of role she seems to fit like a glove.
She is one of the few actresses I would actually advise to only accept films with nudity scenes involved.The direction is only apt, you feel there is meant to be some kind of attraction or sexual tension between Dorff's and Stone's character but whether due to the fault of the Director or actors it does not work at all.
It is also at times very predictable, which is not a good factor for a thriller.The film does have it's redeeming features, it does at least keep you interested enough to follow through to the climax just to see what happens.
I was on the edge of my seat.I liked it.The tension was built up without any reference to gory scenes, just creepy camera angles, shadows, the wind blowing curtains, the increasing feeling that Something Really Bad was just around the corner.You get to see Sharon Stone looking almost like an ordinary human being.
He's a documentary filmmaker, and it doesn't help matters that he's doing his current documentary on the family that lived in that big ol' mansion before he and his family moved in.Here's the breakdown:The Good: --The acting is generally pretty good (one scene I'll point out later is the exception)--Dennis Quaid and Sharon Stone after all.
--Pretty good chemistry between Sharon Stone and Dennis Quaid, they're characters (the married couple) endure arguments and crumbling marriage with hints of adultery.Didn't Hurt It, Didn't Help: --The atmosphere was pretty mild.
The nudity is pretty much relegated to pictures--photographs--of the wife of the last member of Cold Creek's original family.The Bad: --Sharon Stone kept her clothes on.
No real surprises.The Ugly: --Occasionally feels like a "Deliverance"-style "big city folks out 'n their element" movie--but not as good as "Deliverance" (which is a classic).Memorable Scene: --Dennis Quaid punches Sharon Stone in the face.
Acting: 7/10 (except for that one scene) Story: 6/10 Atmosphere: 5/10 Cinematography: 5/10 Character Development: 7/10 Special Effects/Make-up: 7/10 (not much to note) Nudity/Sexuality: 2/10 (quantity) Violence/Gore: 6/10 Sets/Backgrounds: 8/10 Dialogue: 7/10 Music: 3/10 Writing: 6/10 Direction: 6/10Cheesiness: 3/10 Crappiness: 0/10Overall: 5/10I'm giving it a 5 because the film suffers from a few too many problems.
On the other hand, so far Figgis has not managed to achieve the success of Leaving Las Vegas with any of his other films and Cold Creek Manor is no exception.
The director and producer of documentaries Cooper Tilson (Dennis Quaid) and his wife, the executive Leah Tilson (Sharon Stone) have a stressed life with their two children in New York.
"Cold Creek Manor" is a Mike Figgis' thriller, having names such as Dennis Quaid, Sharon Stone, Julliete Lewis and Stephen Dorff in the credits; therefore I expected a great movie.
Generally speaking I will buy the DVD of any movie starring Juliette Lewis, so I finally caught up with "Cold Creek Manor" when I found it on DVD.
Dennis Quaid is always excellent, and raises this film alone by his presence, and Sharon Stone is a very good actress come a decent story.
The movie at least has a creepy mood to it, big house in a small town but they couldn't capitalize on that and failed to make an engaging thriller.
Dennis Quaid decides to escape the hectic life of the big city so he inexplicably moves his wife Sharon Stone and kids into a run-down farmhouse in the absolute middle of nowhere.
This potential-filled cast was doomed to a bad script, made worse by one of the cheesiest and most poorly timed scores I've ever heard (hackneyed suspenseful piano riffs await you at every camera change from the start to the end of the movie, even when there is no reason whatsoever to feel in suspense).
Although the story has it's minor problems but, the intense performances and the very detailed direction keep this movie afloat, and it keeps you on the edge of your seat.I thought that the ending could have been better but it's Hollywood, so don't expect much.
Like i said the performances and the good directing are what makes this movie work..
A family has decided it is time to get away from the hectic city life; so the couple(Dennis Quaid and Sharon Stone)decide to buy a sprawling run-down farmhouse.
They will share joyous years together and live happily ever after.Not.Actually this film has some redeeming qualities, but the hackneyed plot and the very annoying endless stupidity on the part of the yuppie couple (Dennis Quaid and Sharon Stone) in the face of the behavior of the obviously up-to-no-good psychopathic villain (Stephen Dorff) made me disremember them.Bottom line: you have better things to do with your time.--Dennis Littrell, author of "Cut to the Chaise Lounge or I Can't Believe I Swallowed the Remote!".
Yes, Deliverance was and is a brilliant film, but it also contained such elements as a plot, some common sense, mood and characters you didn't hope to die from the word go.The story is, in all of it's generic depression, this: Sharon Stone and her husband, a documentary movie director guy, move out of the city since their children are either bred wrong or it's just natural selection that makes them run in front of cars like it's going out of style.
From the trailer, Cold Creek Manor appears to be a movie about a haunted house or least some type of thriller/suspense film.Nothing could be farther from the truth.Cold Creek Manor is nothing more than a lame, drawn out "drama" that drags along for an hour and half and rewards you with a lame,drawn out 20 minute chase scene that about a thousand other movies have done before(and better,I might add).Denis Quaid and Sharon Stone play a couple that wants to leave the woes of big city life behind for a quiet place in the country.With kids in tow they do just that by buying a rundown farm house in a small town.Things are going pretty well until the former owner of said house(Stephen Dorff) returns.What follows is a complete waste of time and talent from a cast that also includes Juliette Lewis and Christopher Plummer in a supporting roles.Cold Creek Manor lacks any emotion or originality whatsoever.The plot's paper thin and drags like a ton of bricks.Stone and Dorff are decent in their roles but the rest of cast seem to be on auto pilot.By far this is the worst movie I've seen this year.Do yourself a favor,if you feel must see this movie wait for the dvd.2/10.
Cold Creek Manor is not a bad movie but it has been disliked so much because the wrong audience is going to see it.
It has some very memorable scenes (love the one about the horse) and would be doing much better had it been advertised as a psychological thriller instead of a supernatural horror movie.
I haven't been this annoyed by a movie since that atrocious number with Jessica Lange and Gwyneth Paltrow in a big house where Jessica Lange chases Gwyneth Paltrow around with a cigarette in her hand to protect her "mexican" son.Sharon Stone is beautiful to look at though, and my classmate Peter Outerbridge was in the first scene.
Keeping the previews I had seen beforehand in mind and the first part of the movie, I was expecting something like "What Lies Beneath", where nothing is as it seems and plot twists abound and there's a good puzzle to solve.
Sharon Stone phoned this one in, and Dennis Quaid might as well have been 'doing a documentary' about making an awful movie (if you've seen the picture you'll understand).
Very psychological.This psychological thriller stars Dennis Quaid (Flight of the Phoenix (2004), Yours, Mine & Ours, Traffic, The Alamo, The Day After Tomorrow), Sharon Stone (Basic Instinct, Basic Instinct 2, Antz (voice of Princess Bala), Sphere, Casino), Stephen Dorff (Rescue Me, Blood and Wine, Blade, FeardotCom, Alone in the Dark), Juliette Lewis (Starsky & Hutch, Aurora Borealis, Enough), Kristen Stewart (Catch that Kid, Zathura, Undertow), and Ryan Wilson--no major movies or TV shows.A very creepy and disturbing film.
There some times in the movie where a character says a certain line that makes you know there's something bad coming--but you don't know when.
Like I said earlier, I was expecting something totally different when I rented it, so when I finished watching "Cold Creek Manor" I was left un-entertained.
Cold Creek Manor looks like a supernatural horror, if you pay attention to the trailer that is.
Well for all of you who are thinking of watching it for this reason - DON'T, BECAUSE IT ISN'T.It is just a thriller about a family from New York who move into a recently repossessed mansion in hope of turning it into their dream home, but not everything goes according to dreams.With an all star cast of Dennis Quaid, Sharon Stone, Stephen Dorff, Christopher Plummer and Juliette Lewis, you may think oh well it should be a good thriller anyway - WELL IT ISN'T.Cold Creek Manor is an average thriller at best, full of average performances with an average plot, its not a total waste of time, but i wouldn't recommend it.5/10.
Because nothing ambitious is attempted, it does not even have the instructional value of most bad movies.Mike Figgis is arguably the most clueless director in history and "Cold Creek Manor" is a splendid fusion of all his directorial deficiencies.
There are opportunities to play with the audience throughout the movie and Figgis drops the ball each time.Even little scenes can provide big thrills if correctly structured.
In this particular case Figgis built up the expectation that son was about to kill his father so that when he actually did so there was no surprise, no shock, no thrill.Near the end you conclude that the Stephen Dorff character is insanely stupid.
Maybe I had low expectations after reading the other reviews here, but I found Cold Creek Manor to be an enjoyable couple of hours.It was nowhere near as bad as most of the other reviews suggest.
Sure it was formulaic and no masterpiece, but the acting was fine and the story was interesting enough.The mood of the movie was perfect for watching at home on a cold winter's night.Worth a look..
It has a good cast, which I think helped and an interesting initial setup, so that you feel like its going to develop into a decent thriller or haunted house type movie once things get going.
There were attempts made -Christopher Plummer as the creepy old man, the sheep killing instruments, the "evil" plaque in the woods, and the snakes but ultimately never followed through.I like Dennis Quaid and he does a decent job here as the Dad who relocates his New York family to the country where they buy a large house in a foreclosure sale.
A thriller starring Dennis Quaid and Sharon Stone where they play New Yorkers Cooper and Leah Tilson who escape the city life in New York and move to the countryside with their two children.
The Tilson family is then lured into a web of terror connected to the house's sinister past.This movie has some tense-filled and stirring moments and the acting wasn't bad.
I'm so sick of these A-List Hollywood productions using name actors to hoodwink people into watching another by-the-numbers "thriller".I was surprised that Dorff's character didn't come back to life after plummeting down the roof ala Mike Meyers.
It was quite a predictable movie and I wasn't that impressed with the star turns although it was really good to see Dennis Quaid back on the big screen.
If you really like Dennis Quaid, Sharon Stone, or Stephen Dorff then you should probably see this movie.
but that's all to cover up the fact that this is the a totally un-terrifying, un-horrifying, un-thrilling "thriller" movie.mike figgis, this gem's director, is full of un-eventful film ideas, check out the sorely overrated Leaving Las Vegas, or the flat arty attempt in Loss of Sexual Innocence.
You would think a big budget film with fabulous stars like Sharon Stone would have better editing that it did..
"The Others," "The Sixth Sense," and even "The Ring" had its moments, but once you see "Cold Creek Manor," it just might leave you feeling cold, a little creaky for having spent your hard earned dollars, and a might more hesitant the next time you decide to dive right into your nearest theater for having believed a fast-paced preview of a movie that never delivers once you actually see it.For those ophidiophobes out there, this one offers plenty of frightening moments.
Cooper Tilson (Dennis Quaid) and his wife, Leah (Sharon Stone), become slowly unnerved and quickly threatened by Dale Massie's (Stephen Dorff) insistences that he has no part in the `inconveniences' that occur (such as a snake infestation), that the house belongs to him, and that Tilson should take his family back to New York.
Cold Creek Manor (2003) Dennis Quaid, Sharon Stone, Stephen Dorff, Juliette Lewis, Kristen Stewart, Ryan Wilson, Dana Eskelson, Christopher Plummer, Simon Reynolds, Kathleen Duborg, D: Mike Figgis.
Cold Creek Manor (2003) Dennis Quaid, Sharon Stone, Stephen Dorff, Juliette Lewis, Kristen Stewart, Ryan Wilson, Dana Eskelson, Christopher Plummer, Simon Reynolds, Kathleen Duborg, D: Mike Figgis.
Stone makes a good comeback and Lewis is believable as Dorff's floozy girlfriend, but we've seen this movie a million times.
One good note: this film stars Dennis Quaid and Sharon Stone - two terrific actors who managed to give wonderful performances in the face of horrible material.
COLD CREEK MANOR (2003) ** Dennis Quaid, Sharon Stone, Stephen Dorff, Juliette Lewis, Kristen Stewart, Ryan Wilson, Dana Eskelson, Christopher Plummer.
With no spooks or paranormal nonsense, no screaming nightmares, no black cats screeching as they leap from the shadows,  this film avoids horror and sticks to the suspense/thriller drama genre as it follows Mom (Stone), Dad (Quaid), and the kids from edgy to creepy to scary to thrilling, gathering momentum as it works through a less than inspired story.
With a good cast and solid production value, "Cold Creek Manor" plays well as a B-thriller but peaks and ends predictably.
....that the average viewer has not seen at least ten times or more.You can see what the characters are up to next from a mile off.A nice family (Quaid,Stone,and two lovable children)buys a manor in ruins in order to shun the traffic,pollution and problems of the big apple.But alas the former owner of this once desirable property(Dorf) is not prepared to accept it.Shall I tell more?
The casting is strange and Stephen Dorff's performance adds a certain "B-movieness" to the film as I do think he is a second-rate actor.
Despite the presence of Juliette Lewis, Dennis Quaid, and Sharon Stone, Cold Creek Manor just comes off as a made-for-TV movie.
It's marketed as sort of a mystery/thriller, but there is precious little mystery or thrills to be had here.I'm not going to waste a lot of time with this review, because I already wasted more than enough watching the movie.
The house and its' previous owners had nasty secrets which the new occupants are about to learn and it ain't nice!This is a compelling and top rated drama and held my attention for more or less the length of the picture.All the actors give first class performances and the star of the show is Stephen Dorff who in effect steals the show.Not sure how the IMDb voters can give such low marks as this well directed and professionally presented movie is worth at least a 7 and a half, rounded up so:8/10.
we've all seen this formulaic movie a million times before.and there were a few scenes i liked - particularly the uncomfortable diner scene where this poor family is bullied by the local bad couple (dorff and lewis) and laughed at by all the townspeople.
Cold Creek Manor is a nauseating cut-and-paste kind of horror movie in which a city family moving into an eerie old country home is terrorized by a psychotic killer who's family used to live there.
Cooper (Dennis Quaid) and Leah (Sharon Stone) along with their two children, Kristen (Kristen Stewart, Panic Room) and Jesse, settle into the behemoth fixer upper known as Cold Creek Manor.
Cold Creek Manor is, simply, a bad movie.
Category actors like Dennis Quaid and Sharon Stone where robbed when they signed up to make this movie.
Cold Creek Manor is the worst movie ever put on film.
Sharon Stone had like nothing to do in this movie.
Watching the trailer for Cold Creek Manor, I can understand how someone can get the idea that it was a supernatural thriller when it was released and I realize this is why a lot of people were disappointed with it.
Kristen Stewart and Juliette Lewis are very enjoyable to me in their small, but very well done roles and manage to outshine even Dennis Quaid and Sharon Stone who merely were there for the ride and quite bad at times, like they hardly tried at all.
The real show was Stephen Dorff, who I will argue that his character was placed in the wrong movie.
It's not a "so bad, it's good" movie or anything like that either.
Overall, I probably won't be watching it again, but there are far worse movies than Cold Creek Manor, and I would pick it over them any day..
The names of Sharon Stone and Juliet Lewis seem to be just a way to promote the movie, since their characters are too irrelevant to the plot!