Product Description

Four young friends perform a heroic act and are changed forever by the uncanny powers they gain in return. Years later, on a hunting trip in the Maine woods, they are overtaken by a blizzard, a vicious storm in which something much more ominous moves. Challenged to stop a deadly alien force, they confront an unparalleled horror, with the fate of the world in the balance.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #13502 in DVD
• Brand: Warner Brothers
• Released on: 2004-06-01
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French
• Dubbed in: French
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 134 minutes

Amazon.com
Regardless of its critical roasting, Dreamcatcher is a must-see for Stephen King fans. In adapting King's epic novel (itself an amalgam of familiar King plotlines), director Lawrence Kasdan and cowriter William Goldman sacrificed much of the character depth that gave the story its crucial humanity, resulting in a tame frightfest about four longtime friends (Damian Lewis, Jason Lee, Thomas Jane, Timothy Olyphant) whose past--and a shared gift of telepathy--connects them to a present-day alien invasion in the snowy forests of Maine. Like an ambitious episode of The X-Files, this slick production offers slimy "weasels" that gestate in human bowels; ominous aliens who seize control of bodies and minds; a secret military strike (led by Morgan Freeman) against the invaders; and enough gross-out humor to satisfy jaded horror buffs. Unfortunately, it just isn't scary. Despite its A-list advantages, Dreamcatcher works best as a glorified B-movie, likely to benefit from lowered expectations. --Jeff Shannon

From The New Yorker
This big-budget horror film, based on a novel by Stephen King and directed by Lawrence Kasdan, features a lot of pretty New England snow and four male friends (Thomas Jane, Jason Lee, Damian Lewis, and Timothy Olyphant) held together by a special past. But still, in the end, it's an abominable-worm picture. About three feet long, tubular, and slithering, the creature enters people's bodies somehow or other and then tears through their guts. All in all, it's not an unimpressive worm, but we've seen it before. As for the plot, it seems that alien creatures have landed, and an American military force, led by a mad colonel (Morgan Freeman), is out to quarantine the area and destroy the humans who have been infected. Or something like that. Incoherent and repulsive, "Dreamcatcher" is a redundant procession of arbitrary scares and thrills without a unifying visual or poetic idea. The veteran William Goldman wrote the screenplay with Kasdan. -David Denby
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

strangely , very appealing
There's just a cozy feeling to it. It's a constantly white-out snowing, Stephen King style, humor mixed with gore, great movie. And, I even like the story. Okay, it's not Great-Great, but really good. Especially when you have to stay inside (snow, flu, broken leg etc.).

Regardless, it's definitely worth a look. I never met anyone who just hated it. And if you don't love it, you'll probably just be glad to have seen it and move on to your next scary/funny, sunday/rainy movie.

But again, this is one of my favorite movies for some strange reason. Everybody's got a few of those, so I know you'll understand.

AND, you might want to buy it now, they're not producing this edition anymore and I already can't find it in a retail store.

Strong Parts, Entertaining Film
Overall, the creators of this film did a good job: the story moves along quickly, the characters possess depth and believability, and the cinematography and directing make for a very clean product. Moreover, there were scenes that, because of the creativity, effects, and acting, got me to compare them to some of the best horror scenes in filmatic history. The bathroom scene especially, made me think of similarities with Jack Nicholson's "Here's Johnny Scene" and Hitchcock's shower scene. Tense, tense stuff.

My complaints of the film pertain to it's depiction of military and alien (E.T.) operations, the way they do things. In both cases, the creators of the film seriously underestimate the abilities of these entities to accomplish their goals. Depicting the military, we see commanders who are mentally unstable and psychotic as well and soldiers ignoring chain of command. With the aliens we see an advanced species unable to accomplish what appears to be the simplest of objectives (I won't ruin it) and getting wiped out real easy like.

All together, good and bad, the film rates a pretty good because the positives were pretty striking. I just wish there had been more of them.

I would recommend this film to horror or Stephen King buffs, as well as aficianados of sci-fi and action.

Thank you.

Roland Petalver

Another horror/psychological/science fiction/thriller mix that almost works great but falls short
Dreamcatcher's first half is the best. It has the character interaction that is trademark of King's writing and the cast was chosen (and performed) well. The second half was "science fiction neat," offering an action-based, and clearly established backstory (barely discussed) to the conflict between the invaders and the government, but it disrupts the psychological and personal mood set up in the first half. Ultimately, the fun/neat science fiction portion fails to deliver its apex in the way that you are lead to expect as it quickly ducks back into being a more psychological and personal story about the core people.

Low Points:

- Poor resolution between character conflicts in the military side. Even Sizemore complained about that in some behind the scenes stuff (i'm trying not to spoil).

- Science fiction moments that are more a really well done tease than a complete offering to science fiction fans.

- Not really scarey, but that's not a requirement for everyone.

High Points:

- Morgan Freeman and Tom Sizemore in what is a nice reversal of their usual type casting (i hate typecasting and love to see people turn on theirs and applaud casting agents and directors who choose to do so).

- Great visual effects

- Humor and horror combined well as often with King's material and the cast involved.

- Fantastic cast.

- The science fiction tease that hints at a HUGE and ongoing back story, which makes the overall film feel bigger than it really is. A three or four hour miniseries might have covered this better. i am getting the book, just in curiosity.

- A great score. The music combines creepy, science fiction and fairytale in an unobtrusive manner at moments (and i didn't notice much more than the excellent theme, so i count that as a good score if it leaves me remembering liking it... sort of).

- Beautiful cinematography, in my opinion. Visual effects moments mix well with the lovely snow landscape.

Overall, if you enjoy horror and science fiction crossovers that aren't outright tricks (like Event Horizon), and if you're a relatively forgiving film enthusiast who does not expect everything to meet your ideals, this movie will entertain and amuse you and maybe find a space on your shelf for future reviewing. i'm struggling with the idea of buying it myself. i seem to have a knack for liking the underdogs. The ones with great elements but which fail to maintain or deliver throughout. It seems to be my trademark...