Susan Granger’s review of “Dreamcatcher” (Warner Bros.)
Combine Stephen King’s sci-fi horror with writer/director/producer Lawrence Kasdan’s flair for humor-filled personal drama (“The Big Chill,” “Mumford”) and you have a doozy of a scare story, filled with metaphors that embody our deepest fears. There are four friends (Thomas Jane, Jason Lee, Damian Lewis, Timothy Olyphant) who grew up together in Maine and meet for deer-hunting. Flashbacks reveal their poignant relationship with a Down’s Syndrome youngster called “Duddits” because that’s how he says Douglas. Duddits (Donnie Wahlberg) is a strange, simple soul yet, through him, they acquire extra-sensory perception, including precognition and telepathy, which affects their separate lives in different ways. However, this particular hunting trip is doomed when a blood-stained stranger staggers in, unknowingly carrying within him an incubating alien that’s dubbed “Ripley” after the “Alien” movie. Hot on its trail are Col. Curtis (Morgan Freeman) and his protŽgŽ (Tom Sizemore) who command a top-secret military unit dedicated to eradicating aliens and containment of their repugnant infection which has made all the critters of the forest seek refuge elsewhere. Be warned that there are gross elements since the hideous, eel-like creatures grow inside human intestines, causing their victims to emit noxious bowel fumes. But that gory, offensive element is part of what makes it so intense and so macabre – along with the imaginative visual effects – leaving a haunting sense of creepy terror that lingers in your ‘memory warehouse’ long after the screen has gone dark. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Dreamcatcher” is a stylish, sinister, suspenseful 8. In reality, a dreamcatcher is a Native American charm and serves as an apt title for this bizarre, supernatural nightmare.
