Cold Creek Manor

An urban couple (Dennis Quaid and Sharon Stone), fed up with the city, move with their two kids to a dilapidated mansion in the country—a sort of gothic fixer-upper—but the prior owner (Stephen Dorff) has reasons to want his house back. Director Mike Figgis, usually an adventurous sort, tries his hand at an old-dark-house-with-a-deep-dark-secret thriller, but his heart is never in it. But then, Richard Jefferies’ script groans under the weight of ridiculous situations and atrocious dialogue; no wonder Figgis can’t whip up any enthusiasm. Who could? He whips up no suspense either, and performances (aside from the scenery-chomping Dorff) are understandably listless and shamefaced. Juliette Lewis, as a trailer-trash slut, stumbles around looking dazed, as if wondering what happened to her career.