La casa (Cold Creek Manor)

Reviews and reputation be damned: I enjoyed Cold Creek Manor and it's chilly, mean spirited thrills at the expanse of a family entwined in nasty decades old secrets. I know it's not the greatest flick, and doesn't quite deliver the freaky effect promised by both trailer and cover art, but it's still a lurid little freak show of backwoods danger and sweaty menace. Dennis Quaid plays Cooper Tilson, relocating his family to the country, where they have purchased a run down mansion which used to be a grand estate. Problem is, the manor has a dark and sordid legacy of danger, the overgrown property hiding a murder already years old. The family's arrival awakens long buried demons among the roughneck locals and gradually starts to threaten them with mounting unease. Sharon Stone is reliable as Quaid's wife, and a very young Kristen Stewart plays their daughter. It's ragged edged Stephen Dorff that gives the film life in his intense portrayal of local lowlife Dale Massie, who grew up in the manor and provides a hanging presence of unease for the Tilson family. Juliette Lewis plays yet another snarky rural skank, and there's an unnerving cameo from a barely coherent Christopher Plummer as well. Sure it's cheap thrills and doesn't contain much substance to flesh out its doom laden style, but it's it's a lot of fun and I revisit it quite a bit.