Just what I expected

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Blistering performances.

Not the blizzard of bulls#%^ we expected. Great twist! Love Duds ;-)

This film, based on a book by Stephen King is centred on four friends; Jonesy, Beaver, Pete, and Henry. There is something unusual about this quartet; they have a degree of telepathy following an incident in their childhood involving a fifth boy. Now, as adults they are taking part in their annual hunting trip to Maine and things are going to get disturbing. First Jonesy saves a man he finds wandering in the forest; he claims to have become separated from his companions and is ill because he ate some suspicious berries. Meanwhile Henry and Pete crash their car to avoid a woman sitting in the middle of the forest road; they assume she must be frozen to death but it turns out she is still alive. It later emerges that both of them are infected with parasitic alien worms that are soon attacking our four protagonists. The authorities are aware of what is going on and have quarantined the area; they later plan to exterminate everybody present to ensure the aliens don't infect the wider population. If that is to be avoided the survivors from our original foursome will have to use their telepathic powers and find the fifth boy before it is too late.This film contains several good elements but somehow manages to be a bit too messy and not really scary enough. The flashback scenes to the protagonists' childhood felt like very similar to 'Stand by Me'; a superior film also based on a Stephen King Story... the only real difference being that the boys in that film didn't get telepathic powers! The monster was decent enough; I particularly liked how we are introduced to it when one is trapped in a toilet before getting out and killing one of the group. The inclusion of telepaths, aliens and dubious military units felt like an attempt to shoehorn as many ideas into the story as possible; it would have been better with less. The military weren't really needed it would have been better just having our group facing some unexplained monster in the woods than making them obvious aliens that have been known about for some time. Overall I wouldn't say this was terrible; it was clearly trying to do something good but somehow fell a little short. It is still worth checking out if you are a fan of the genre; just don't expect a classic.

I would never have thought I'd give any film with Morgan Freeman in it a bad review.It was almost as if all the actors were directed to act badly. Even a poor script can be saved by great actors but not in this case. Pommy accent to indicate the alien speaking? What the freaking hell?It felt like a 90's tele-movie. Those flashback scenes with the vomit inducing 'nice' virtuous, telepathic young boys: straight out of a Disney film. No kid ever did stuff like that, especially when they are in a group.And what the hell was the Duddits transformation about?Good special FX and CGI.

Dreamcatcher. Interesting title and not the best title in my opinion. Anyway, unless you have the read the book, which I had not, this movie definitely turns into something unexpected. Predictable? Not in the least bit. I thought the actors portraying the four friends were great and the characters very likable. Unfortunately, some of them (won't say who or when) don't make it. That was a bit of a shocker and a disappointment. But, I guess that's the story. This movie is a little gory, suspenseful, and unpredictable. I do think the first half is better than the second half, but still worth a watch. I gave this movie a "7" as I have seen it about 4 times since it was released,about 12 years ago, as I still find it an interesting story.