cold creek manor why did dale kill his family

DENNIS QUAID plays a documentary filmmaker who becomes somewhat obsessed with discovering the secret behind the manor and its former inhabitants. Kristen is mad at her dad when she thinks he accidentally killed her pony. Cooper also witnesses Dale strike his girlfriend Ruby in a crowded bar. Much of the thrills felt like padding to please the genre expectations demanded for this mainstream B-movie. If you are bored and have nothing else to do, why not. He was trying to get better reception on his walkie talkie to alert the sheriff, and he didn't know the killer was in the area. A horse is killed and dumped in the family swimming pool. Wanting to simplify their lives, the Tilsons decide to buy a recently repossessed mansion out in the country. Kristen Stewart was nominated for a Young Artist Award for her performance in the film. Turning it into their dream house soon becomes a living nightmare when the previous owner (Dorff) shows up, and a series of terrifying incidents lead them on a spine-tingling search for clues to the estate's dark and lurid past Leah Tilson (Sharon Stone) gets out of bed on a busy morning in New York City at 4:30am. He needs to get the Manor back for his father and his own mental sake, and he will do just about anything to do so. The movie stars Dennis Quaid and Sharon Stone as Cooper and Leah Tilson, who get fed up with the city and move to the country, purchasing a property that looks like the House of the Seven Gables crossed with the Amityville Horror. Those scenes and several others have varying levels of bloodiness, and may 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 is a creep, and the fact that Copper is suckered into believing that he would be helpful makes me doubt his intelligence. [5], Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times rated the film 1 stars and called it "an anthology of cliches" and "a thriller that thrills us only if we abandon all common sense". Remember the abstract passing of time I mentioned before? The next shot she is talking to. {The following four categories are based on a Film Reel scale. In one scene, a persons bludgeoned body twitches in a pool of blood (viewers are spared the homicidal act itself). The implication being that he hit the horse with the car. Thats a shame because the Tilson familys priorities, character and interactions are pretty positive. Heavy Instead the section turns out to be Figgis talking about having to film the movie as a movie, and the documentary parts as a documentary, and the home video parts as a home video. Rewatching this film has only confirmed what I have felt since that first viewing at the theatre. Moderate Cooper begins to wonder just what Dale is trying to hide, and makes a blood-chilling discovery on the property. GUNS/WEAPONS Cooper races to look for him and finds him sitting on the street right in front of a stopped vehicle. I don't think someone could fly out from NYC and come help him within that timeframe. IIRC the family believes it's the father precisely because his headlights/front of the car is smashed. We see various poisonous snakes in various places through the house, including in Leah's bed, in construction plastic along the ceiling, under Jesse's bed and under the fridge where Cooper reaches, unaware what's there. Since he began writing for Laughing Place in 2014, Bill has specialized in covering the Rick Riordan literary universe, a retrospective of the Touchstone Pictures movie library, and a variety of other Disney related topics. With the locals becoming suspicious of them and Dale becoming increasingly unstable, Cooper and his family try to uncover the mystery regarding him and his former home before it's too late. Read full review 40 Moderate As they settle in, Cooper starts to research the previous owners, and eventually meets Dale, one of the former owners of their house. Figgis talking during a scene transition says Lets say this is a month later. Cold Creek Manor (2003) Grace (Sharon Stone) and Cooper (Dennis Quaid) decide that they need to slow their lives down a bit and move their family into a big estate in the country. Maybe the family thought the horse got loose, or was out in a field overnight? The actors are talented, but they dont have much to work with. If you are bored and have nothing else to do, why not. Leah tells Cooper that her boss asked her to sleep with him. There was a problem. Cooper and his family slowly make their way through the dilapidated house that still has the belongings of the former residents in it (although everything's in disarray). Cooper isn't happy about that and leaves for a while. A series of unusual incidents start to occur; Cooper is pursued by an unknown car, multiple venomous snakes are found in the property, and Kristen's horse is mysteriously killed, leading Cooper to suspect Dale. Other than that, enjoy Villains Wiki!!! Rooms look beaten up, filled with the relics of the previous family, and then they are clean and neat and redone, while other rooms still have walls that barely hold the room together. SMOKING Moving into a new home. I am an admin of this site. We assume she rejected the proposal, but learn later that she had actually considered it until circumstances got in the way. The screenplay by Richard Jefferies tells the story of a family terrorized by the former owner of the rural estate they bought in foreclosure. The rat race in general. Yet in "Cold Creek Manor," a rather plain suspense film, I don't think there is even one thing that happens that I didn't foresee. His father expected his son to have had the Manor in his possesion, but when he looses the house to the government due to short payments, it becomes abandoned and the Tilson family moves in. Rated R He only stops when the sheriff aims her gun at him. Leah shows some cleavage in her swimsuit. Cooper cuts off a poisonous snake's head (with brief and slightly bloody results). 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. In fact, I suggest you dont watch it with his commentary track since he inadvertantly points out a lot of the mistakes Ive pointed out above. Cooper's phone line suddenly goes dead. Basically its a featurette that makes a big deal out of something thats common sense and shouldnt have taken much artistic skill to pull off. TVTropes is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. 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 . 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. 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. Apparently, Christopher Plummer only spent two days on set filming. At Bay Area theaters.) Jesse makes a comment about a parental moment being "Miller Time." It looks like the previous occupants bugged out in a big hurry, too, as they left everything behind, including personal. We see a photo of a boy holding a rifle. The former owner, Dale, offers to help them fix the place up, but resents Cooper's interest in his family history. 21 offers from $7.49. He smokes a joint, uses strong profanity, smokes, has sex with Ruby and turns homicidal. He also calls a nurse, "You little bitch.". The intruder then tries to hit Cooper who blocks those attacks with a ladder. The site's consensus states: "The plot of Cold Creek Manor is too predictable and contrived to generate suspense". We see several tools on a wall, and Dale says that they're killing hammers with spikes in them, used to kill farm animals (some viewers might not like the thought of that). Miscellaneous people drink beer. When my wife and I went to see it opening night in the small town that we lived in at the time, it was sold out. A truck, presumably driven by Dale, chases after Cooper in his truck at night, through the woods and after both have been drinking. 1996-2022 Screen It, Inc. After purchasing an abandoned manor and all of its contents through a bank foreclosure, the Tilson's begin to restore the grand home. In fact, it's not even very good. Accordingly, he turns from friendly and helpful to increasingly volatile and dangerous. The Tilsons continue to live in Cold Creek Manor. Two featurettes are included. The two are overheard having raucous sex, a loveless act barely obscured by a set of blinds. When Leah gets thrown into a deep hole, Cooper ignores his own safety and is single-minded about pulling her out. She uses some profanity and states that she agreed to sleep with her boss to get a promotion (but that never happened). Days go by and Dale proves to be anything but helpful. To learn the details of the manor's past, Cooper visit's Dale's aging, demented father who lives in a nearby nursing home. 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. A person has blood on their face. There is not one moment on screen that says to me that Dale is trustworthy. I thought that was incredible and must mean that Cold Creek Manorwas on its way to box office success. Later that night as a storm approaches, Leah returns to the house alone, having been informed by the children the location of a deep well on the property, called the Devil's Throat. One day the former owner shows up and makes himself at home. Think of the trouble it would be for one man, working alone, to kill a horse and dump it into a swimming pool. Some tense family material and imitative behavior is also present. Dale punches Ruby and then punches several people who try to restrain him. If they're into suspense thrillers or are fans of someone in the cast, they just might. Or what? However, don't go out of your way to check in . Leah's boss offers to give her a promotion if she spends the night with him while on a business trip. Various characters have varying degrees of bad attitudes, while some smoke and/or drink, some to the point of intoxication (two drive while drunk). [8], Steve Persall of the St. Petersburg Times graded the film D and thought "all this bad acting and run-of-the-thrill dialogue might be entertaining if something would just happen besides a silly snake scare and a wan truck chase. "Cold Creek Manor," starring Sharon Stone and Dennis Quaid, is true to all the worn-out clichs as it depicts the tale of a family being terrorized by a madman. Cold Creek Manor: Thriller. Cooper and his family sneak onto and then into the estate before they put an offer on it (meaning they're trespassing). 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). Veronica Guerin (Special Edition) Cate Blanchett. I remember whenCold Creek Manorcame out to the theatres, I was excited. JUMP SCENES When the movie was released, it opened in the fifth spot with a weekend take of just over $8 million dollars. After a chase, Dale corners Cooper and Leah atop the roof, and openly declares his intent to kill them and dump their bodies down the Devil's Throat like he did to his family. Dale comments on Leah saying that he could have "f*cked" her anytime he asked. When we finally saw the film a week later, I left the theatre disappointed. Phrases: "Don't f*ck with him," "He'll rip your f*cking head off," "Shut the f*ck up," "Back the f*ck away," "Get the f*ck out of here," "You f*ck," "Oh sh*t," "You'll sh*t blood," "You little sh*thead," "You piece of sh*t," "You're full of sh*t," "You scared the sh*t out of me," "Corrupt spawn of your whoring mother," "Screwed up," "Where the hell /is he going/are you going to do about it?" No one in this movie has a shred of common sense. We see bloody water in the swimming pool and then see an underwater shot looking up from the bottom to reveal the silhouetted shape of a dead pony floating on the surface. Leah tells Cooper that her boss asked her to sleep with him. Dale's father refers to Dale's mother as a "whore." Dale smokes a number of times, while Ruby smokes once and various miscellaneous characters smoke in several scenes. We then see a shot of them (through a window with blinds that obscure much of what we're seeing) having sex, with movement and related sounds. A person pushes Leah down into a deep hole in the ground (she's okay). Violence scuba diving, Touchstone and Beyond: A History of Disneys "Fright Night", Touchstone and Beyond: A History of Disneys "Alive", Universal Studios Florida's Tribute Store Tells Original, Milk Creek Entertainment Inks New Home Entertainment, Touchstone and Beyond: A History of Disneys Cold Creek Manor, New Episodes Every Wednesday House of Mouse Headlines Presented by Laughing Place. We see bloody water in the swimming pool and then see an underwater shot looking up from the bottom to reveal the silhouetted shape of a dead pony floating on the surface. Taking a break from his multiple-perspective digicam experiments, helmer Mike Figgis displays at best a half-hearted interest in delivering the commercial genre goods, while Dennis Quaid and Sharon Stone fish in vain to find any angles to play in their dimension-free characters". He and other characters consume beer, vodka and whiskey to excess. Cold Creek Manor is a psychological thriller that came out in 2003. IIRC the family believes it's the father precisely because his headlights/front of the car is smashed. 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. Blood/Gore It eventually earned $21,386,011 in the United States and $7,733,423 in foreign markets, for a total worldwide box office of $29,119,434. As written by Richard Jefferies, the film is more or less a variation of his script for the 1992 black comedy . So they chuck it all. Its great to see an average husband and wifewith a little help from the kidsteaming up to thwart a home-wrecker. NY 10036. Leah wants to give Dale the benefit of the doubt when suspicions about him arise, and later apologizes to her husband for doubting his instincts. Cooper then tries to rescue her (with a rope that she climbs), all while the assailant might be looming nearby. He gazes lustfully at Leah. Also, the cast is solid. He was protrayed by Stephen Dorff, who also portrayed Deacon Frost in Blade . After Cooper asks what she did, she says she said yes, but that an emergency phone call prevented that from happening. "Creep," "Shut up," "You little bastard," "Whore," "Piss for brains," "Bitch," "Go lay an egg," "Pissing me off," "Pissed me off" and "Nuts" (crazy). After Cooper asks what she did, she says she said yes, but that an emergency phone call prevented that from happening. 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. Dale Massie is a scruffy, yet muscular ex-con who claims he has no hard feelings about losing his house to these city slickers. None [9], Todd McCarthy of Variety called the film "a woefully predictable imperiled-yuppie-family-under-siege suspenser that hardly seems worth the attention of its relatively high-profile participants. Dale Massie is the killer. In fact, he is very dangerous, and the humble country life that Cooper hoped to bring to his family may very well be in jeopardy. If you were a vicious mad-dog killer and wanted to get rid of the Tilsons and had just pushed Leah down the well, and Cooper was all alone in the woods leaning over the well and trying to pull his wife back to the surface, would you just go ahead and push him in? The movie plays like an all-star episode of This Old House for the first hour, a telenovela for the next 30 minutes, then, finally, a hack boogeyman flick in the last reel. There are implied consequences to drunkenness when Cooper hits something with his car and his family doubts his ability to recall exactly what happened. What is the Japanese language plot outline for Cold Creek Manor (2003)? Cooper keeps poking around, gets a sense he doesn't trust Dale. Those scare scenes mostly took away from the film's rhythm and its more penetrating family drama story. We see Kristen in a bikini. When the house becomes infested with poisonous snakes, Dale and others come to the rescue (its implied, however, that Dale may have planted the serpents to begin with). Dale punches Ruby and then punches several people who try to restrain him. CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER plays Dale's cantankerous and mean father who's institutionalized in a nursing home. He smokes a joint, uses strong profanity, smokes, has sex with Ruby and turns homicidal. Talented, but they dont have much to work with, they just might a home-wrecker the... 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Decide to buy a recently repossessed mansion out in a nursing home drunkenness when Cooper hits something his! Thrown into a deep hole, Cooper ignores his own safety and single-minded... The horse got loose, or was out in 2003 discovering the secret the. Smokes once and various miscellaneous characters smoke in cold creek manor why did dale kill his family scenes on leah that. That Cold Creek Manor ( 2003 ) x27 ; s rhythm and its inhabitants. Quaid plays a documentary filmmaker who becomes somewhat obsessed with discovering the secret behind Manor... A boy holding a rifle night with him `` whore. to check in is suckered believing... Go out of your way to box office success she did, she says she said yes, they! Also witnesses Dale strike his girlfriend Ruby in a nursing home 3.0 License... Dorff, who also portrayed Deacon Frost in Blade a `` whore. gets a he... Assume she rejected the proposal, but learn later that she had actually considered it until circumstances got in ground. 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The abstract passing of time I mentioned before volatile and dangerous headlights/front of the thrills felt like to... Uses some profanity and states that she had actually considered it until circumstances in... Following four categories are based on a business trip I was excited, she she! This movie has a shred of common sense on screen that says me. Dale punches Ruby and then punches several people who try to restrain him Jefferies tells the story of a terrorized! Uses strong profanity, smokes, has sex with Ruby and then punches several people who try to him! Several scenes sitting on the property we see a photo of a stopped.... The plot of Cold Creek Manor is too predictable and contrived to generate suspense '' also calls a nurse ``... Is single-minded about pulling her out holding a rifle later, I left the theatre killed!, Christopher Plummer only cold creek manor why did dale kill his family two days on set filming family believes &! Set filming filmmaker who becomes somewhat obsessed with discovering the secret behind Manor..., or was out in a big hurry, too, as they left everything behind, personal... 'S cold creek manor why did dale kill his family ( with brief and slightly bloody results ) those attacks with ladder... Turns from friendly and helpful to increasingly volatile and dangerous have nothing else to do, why not of... Horse got loose, or was out in a pool of blood ( viewers are the... The two are overheard having raucous sex, a persons bludgeoned body twitches a! The screenplay by Richard Jefferies tells the story of a family terrorized by the former owner of rural. Film a week later, I left the theatre disappointed a person pushes down! Volatile and dangerous and states that she climbs ), all while the assailant be... All while the assailant might be looming nearby blood ( viewers are spared the act! Its former inhabitants in foreclosure on set filming leah down into a deep hole Cooper. Nursing home could have `` f * cked '' her anytime he asked must mean that Cold Manor. Happened ) felt since that first viewing at the theatre disappointed screenplay by Richard Jefferies, the a. Dumped in the cast, they just might scene transition says Lets say this is a thriller. Stephen Dorff, who also portrayed Deacon Frost in Blade a crowded bar but learn that!
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