Dreamcatcher isn't your normal Steven King fare. I hadn't read the book or heard much about this film before it was given to me as a birthday present. This film generated very little press and that's surprising as it's directed by Lawrence Kasdan of Silverado, The Big Chill, Grand Canyon fame, and stars Morgan Freeman (Glory, Driving Miss Daisy, Se7en), Tom Sizemore (Saving Private Ryan, Black Hawk Down, Mission To Mars), Damian Lewis (Band Of Brothers, Robinson Crusoe) and Donnie Wahlberg (Purgatory, The Sixth Sense, Band Of Brothers).
The story is about 4 friends, who as youngsters commit an act of charity and bravery and are rewarded for it with some extraordinary powers. They meet once a year in a cabin to renew their friendships and remember another friend. This year though, some strange things start happening. . . . Sorry, no more clues, you'll just have to watch it. This IS typical Steven King fare in that there are several good eerie moments that leave you gripping tightly to the remote or your drink glass - yep, some spooky fun is going on here. However, there are several very unsettling (and overdone) gore-filled scenes - to the point of seriously lessening my enjoyment of the movie. Be warned - don't let anyone see this without warning them about the upcoming gore! It runs through the middle third of the movie and can be VERY disgusting. If you can get past this, there is a decent little movie left for you to watch.
Video quality is good, but not great. Some outdoor images are quite soft and there never is that feeling of eye-popping detail that today's better DVDs produce. The color palette is well balanced and doesn't show much in the way of mood filtering - yeah! Okay, there's one set of scenes that do show a bit of a sepia push, but it does help break this odd but important set out. Sonically, this is a nice almost-demo quality DVD. Lot's of activity is present in the surrounds with helicopters and military trucks (oops, there's a clue!) and gunfire going on. Some "mood enhancing" sounds are pushed to the back channels also. Voices are quite clear and don't evidence any "hotting up" or chestiness.
Overall this could have been a very good little film, but the gratuitous gore in the middle really took me away from the enjoyment. I give Dreamcatcher the following scores with a strong gore warning:
With :5: being the best and :05: the worst,
Video = :25:
Audio = :3:
Story = :25:
Overall = :25:
David - HTGuide flunky
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