Ugh, it looks like horror films are still on their downward spiral this year. “Dream House,” starring Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz, has failed at the box office, garnering an abysmal 8% rotten, according to Rotten Tomatoes. The audience was slightly kinder, but still hated it, giving it a 43% rotten rating.

There’s a lot to not like in the movie, the use of kids, once again, being one of them. Kids in scary movies is now totally past cliche, in my book, and I wish horror films would cut it out unless the kids are actually well-described characters that mean something to the plot, like Carol-Ann in “Poltergeist.”

Overall, the movie critics had a field day with talking about why they hated the film. “Was the screenplay, credited to Daivd Loucka, this schizophrenic from the beginning? Or was some major tampering/reworking done at some point?” asked James Berardinelli for ReelViews. “Sheridan’s pacing is turgid and mournful, which lends the story–sort of like The Shining crossed with Gothika during a sleepover stop at The Amityville Horror–an air of ponderousness,” said Joe Neumaier for the New York Daily News. “Hard to believe such a hokey, stupid film could attract so much talent,” said Chris Bumbray of JoBlo’s Movie Emporium.

Basically, its a bad movie. But what do you think about it? Do you think the critics are being too hard on the film? Give your opinions in the comments section below.

Dream House

By Monique Jones

Monique Jones blogs about race and culture in entertainment, particularly movies and television. You can read her articles at Racialicious, and her new site, COLOR . You can also listen to her new podcast, What would Monique Say.

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