Cold Creek Manor

MPAA Rating: R

Entertainment: +2

Content: -2 1/2

In this drama thriller, Cooper and Leah Tilson (Dennis Quaid and Sharon Stone) have been raising their two children, Kristen (Kristen Steward) and Jesse (Ryan Wilson), in New York City. They grow tired of running the rat race, playing politics at work and forsaking the important for the immediate. They feel it is destroying their lives, so they decide to move to upstate New York where life will be simpler and the pressure less intense. They purchase a foreclosed country estate: 1,200 acres of land, a sprawling home and all of its furnishings. As they are fixing up the place, they begin to learn about the previous homeowners and wonder what caused their abrupt departure. Dale Massey (Stephen Dorff), who grew up in the home, has just been released from prison. He offers to help restore the home to its previous beauty, but they quickly learn that he is unstable and will do whatever it takes to get his childhood home back and protect the family secrets that remain at Cold Creek Manor.

Cold Creek Manor has strong star power in Quaid, Stone and Dorff, which will probably bring people to the theater, but those expecting to see a nightmare-inducing scary flick will be disappointed. The special effects are artistic and subtle. Even the thunderstorms and looming clouds are not all that frightening. Cold Creek Manor has the impact of a neighborhood Halloween fright house. The storyline and plot leave you asking questions as major themes in this movie are undeveloped and fail to connect you to the thrill or fear that this genre usually goes for. The excessive use of profanity and the occasional sexual/nude situations bolster Previews criticism of this film, earning it a negative acceptability rating. Cold Creek Manor was a bad real estate choice for the Tilson family. And when it comes to seeing the film, buyers beware.

Preview Reviewer: Brian Hughes
Distributor: Touchstone

Summary
The following categories contain objective listings of film content which contribute to the subjective numeric Content ratings posted to the left and on the Home page.

Crude Language: Many (14) times mild (hell 1, damn 1, butt 2, bastard 1); moderate (ass 6, whore 3)

Obscene Language: Many (10+) times (S-word 7, piss 2, many expressions relating to genitalia, F-word many times)

Profanity: Several (8) times exclamatory (OMG 3, G 1, GD 1, J 1, JC 1, C-sake 1)

Violence: Several times (bar fights, verbal abuse, graphic discussions about how to humanely kill sheep with a threat to do the same to people, chasing through the house, breaking down doors, dead horse floating in a swimming pool, venomous snakes in the house, man hits a woman on several occasions, woman thrown to the floor, living woman floating in water with dead bodies)

Sex: None

Nudity: Nude women in Polaroid pictures

Sexual Dialogue/Gesture: Many times (boss requests sexual favors in exchange for a promotion, a lot of flirtation between a man and various women, man removes womans panties, shaking of a trailer, a brief scene between a man and woman seen in the dark through mini-blinds, man and woman laying together just after being intimate, woman wearing tube tops without a bra)

Drugs: Smoking and excessive drinking of alcohol

Other: A child reads poems that have to do with the devil, chants about the devil are quoted throughout the movie, and children play a creepy game in the forest that deals with the devil

Running Time: 110 minutes
Intended Audience: Adults

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