There are so many things wrong with this so-called thriller that I don't even know where to begin. For starters, it isn't very thrilling.

Dennis Quaid plays a documentarian who, in a decision that seems inspired by Mosquito Coast's Allie Fox, decides to move his family out of the big city and into the middle of nowhere. Their new home is massive and they get the place for a song, but before long, they realize that there is a bigger price to pay as the young man who used to live in the house, has returned to claim what was once his.

Cold Creek Manor has an extremely misleading ad campaign as the trailers and commercials make the picture look like some kind of supernatural thriller ala The Others. In all honesty, the location would have been perfect for that kind of movie, alas this boring thriller has nothing to do with ghosts or otherworldly creatures. No, Cold Creek Manor is a mechanical piece of garbage with an attractive cast who seem completely confused as to what they're doing and what the hell this movie is even about.

Quaid has been on a kind of comeback as of late (he was terrific in The Rookie and Far From Heaven, and the early buzz on The Alamo suggest that he's very good in that as well), but here, he walks around on screen as if he's dreadfully bored, and he probably is. Sharon Stone has been absent for quite a while. Why she chose this as her first project after a lengthy hiatus is beyond me. She too, seems all too bored as Quaid's wife. The only one who seems to be having fun is Stephen Dorff who does his best to impersonate Max Cady from Cape Fear. At the very least, he gives his energetic all in a picture that really doesn't deserve the effort. Watch for an amusing bit-part by Christopher Plumber as well.

The biggest shocker of them all is that Cold Creek Manor was directed by the gifted Mike Figgis, an innovative film maker known for experimental efforts like Time Code as well as the tragic Nicolas Cage drinking binge character study, Leaving Las Vegas. Even when he's working with sub-par material, Figgis usually seems to take his characters in interesting directions. This certainly isn't the case here. Every lame, cheap thrill in this picture is telegraphed. From very early on, you will know in what fashion this movie's chief villain will meet his demise.

Cold Creek Manor is beyond disposable. It's one of those horrible mis-fires you just want to forget. Figgis and his cast are way beyond this yawner.