Ok, so here I am, sitting on my laptop, browsing on Amazon, searching for a movie I recently watched. I find it and decide to take a quick look at the reviews and I have to say that I did not like what I saw. When I say that I enjoyed this film, it appears that I am in the minority.

The film in question? Dreamcatcher, a horror/thriller based on the novel by Stephen King.

The main cast includes:
Jonesy (Damian Lewis; ‘Band of Brothers’& ‘Life’)
Beav (Jason Lee; ‘My Name is Earl’ & ‘Alvin and the Chipmunks’)
Pete (Timothy Olyphant; ‘A Perfect Getaway’ & ‘Deadwood’)
Henry (Thomas Jane; ‘Deep Blue Sea’ & ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’)



I read copious amounts of bad reviews, calling it the worst movie ever made and other phrases of similar nature, all of which told other possible viewers to never watch it. Sure, it may not be ‘Avatar’, but while it’s not an Oscar-winning piece of film, I found it a pretty good watch. It combines horror and action with some light comedy to bring to life the novel that King wrote when he was recovering from an accident. Now I’m not going to tell you that you absolutely have to watch this if you want to live a fulfilled and happy life, however, I will just say that I recommend it. Do not simply read the bad reviews and think “Well this ain’t worth the time. I’ll pass.” – that is one opinion, mine is another and you should form your own. So like I said, if you want to show even the slightest bit of interest in this flick, watch it and form your own views on it – even if you do think it’s shocking! What’s the worst that could happen? =)
    
The synopsis goes as follows: four young men – Jonesy, Beav, Pete and Henry – have shared psychic abilities since the day they saved a young mentally disabled boy, Duddits, from bullies when they were children. For the last 20 years, they have had an annual hunting trip to a cabin in the snowy woods of Maine, heading up to drink, share memories and toast to Duddits – their Dreamcatcher. However, this year, they face something unusual. When the animals of the woods begin to flee, a strange man with an unknown illness arrives and it is revealed that the area has been placed under quarantine, what should have been a fun-filled trip turns into a horrific fight for survival in an alien invasion.



SPOILERS AHEAD
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While Henry and Pete are at a local store getting some things, Jonesy and Beav look after the stranger, Rick. When Rick dies from his illness, he excretes a bizarre worm-like alien – aptly labelled a ‘sh*t weasel’ – which is in the toilet. To trap it in, Jonesy slams the lid shut and Beav, without thinking, sits on it. Jonesy tells Beav that they should switch places, as Beav is faster and can run to the shed to get tape to lock the alien in. However, Beav points out that Jonesy would not be able to fight it due to his hip being extremely badly injured in a car accident 6 months earlier. Jonesy runs as fast as he can to the shed while Beav sits on the toilet willing him to get back in time. Beav pulls out his toothpicks, which he chews on to calm him down after quitting smoking, however when the alien bangs on the lid, they fly everywhere, strewn across the bathroom floor. He sees one that is not covered in Ricks blood and reaches for it. He must need calming down pretty damn much, because he goes so far as lifting his butt off the lid to get the toothpick. This gives the alien the perfect opportunity to escape from the toilet and launch its attack. The alien, which looks like a worm with two verticle strips of razor sharp teeth, bites Beav in various places on his body and the frantic man fights to save his and Jonesy’s lives. When Jonesy returns with the tape, he freezes at the sight. The sh*t weasel begins to launch itself at Jonesy, however, Beav grabs it to protect his friend. He tells Jonesy to run, but the other man is frozen to the spot. The weasel then stops for a brief moment before ferociously throwing itself at Beav’s face and killing him.



Jonesy is in complete shock after seeing his friend get killed. Just as the alien speeds towards him, he closes the door and struggles as it tries to get through. Eventually, the handle from the door snaps off and it slowly opens. However, at this point, it is not the weasel that has Jonesy freaked. He slowly turns around and sees a giant alien standing over him, which the weasel goes over to before disappearing. Jonesy is frightened and asks the alien what it wants. It leans down towards him, staring at him with its large yellow eyes – Jonesy, mesmerised, stares back. After a brief moment of silence, the alien appears to explode into a strange red smoke, which begins to suffocate Jonesy. It enters the young man’s body and once it is all gone, the menacing smirk on Jonesy’s face makes it clear that he has been possessed.



Meanwhile, Henry and Pete are driving back. Suddenly, they have to swerve to avoid hitting a woman who is in the middle of the road. They crash the car beyond use and approach the woman, who they presume is dead. They find out that, even though she is almost frozen, she is still very much alive and looking for Rick. They help her to some shelter in the snow nearby and Henry goes to look for the cabin to get the snow-mobile to get her help.

Jonesy, who is possessed but awake and therefore can see what is going on, gets on the snow-mobile and heads out. Henry is walking along the snowy road and senses his friend approaching. However, his sensitivity to Jonesy’s thoughts allows Jonesy to tell Henry that this is not him and Henry hides. Jonesy proceeds to have an interesting conversation with the alien, who has an amusing English accent and is shown to be called Mr Gray. It is revealed that when Jonesy was hit by a car 6 months earlier, he had seen a young version of Duddits, telling him to “Watch out for Ister Gay” – he warned Jonesy about Mr Gray; he knew this was going to happen. At the same time, Pete is sitting with a now dead woman (who has also excreted a weasel) and he is slowly getting drunk and talking to her. He stands up to pee and is attacked by the alien. He fights it and manages to kill it with flames. Mr Gray finds Pete and after a few seconds, Pete realises that it is not his friend. Mr Gray begins to torture Pete, while Jonesy can only watch on helplessly through a figurative window of his mind, as he remains trapped inside his ‘memory warehouse’ – the place where he stores everything he knows and remembers. He psychically tells Pete to give Mr Gray the information he wants and the two set off together in search of I95.

Meanwhile, a special force led by Abraham Curtis (Morgan Freeman; ‘Bruce Almighty’ & ‘Shawshank Redemption’) is setting up nearby, getting ready to fight the invasion and kill any humans infected by this disease. They have labelled the disease Ripley, in reference to the film ‘Alien’. He and his co-worker Owen Underhill (Tom Sizemore; ‘Saving Private Ryan’ & ‘Pearl Harbour’) lead an attack on the spaceship, killing many of the aliens. Jonesy continues to watch Mr Gray and Pete conversing and is distraught when his friend refuses to help the antagonist and is shortly eaten by the alien. He realises that the information about the one who warned him of this – information about Duddits which he keeps in his ‘memory warehouse’ – is something valuable to Mr Gray and could help him in his evil plans. He therefore hides it deeper where the alien cannot find it.

Henry meets Owen. After much discussion, he explains to him what is going on and the two drive off to find the one person who can help – Duddits. Curtis is furious that Owen has betrayed him and attempts to track the two men. Henry and Owen arrive at the house and find out that the now adult Duddits (Donnie Wahlberg; ‘Band of Brothers’ & ‘Saw’) is suffering from leukaemia. He goes with them, excited to see his friend Henry again and they leave to save Jonesy from Mr Gray. Duddits reveals his knowledge of Mr Gray’s true intentions – he plans to take Jonesy to the Quabbin Reservoir in Massachusetts and release a weasel into the water. By doing that, he will ultimately destroy the entire world. They race to stop him but as they arrive, they are confronted by Curtis, who has a fight with Owen, resulting in both men being killed. Henry runs into the room where Mr Gray is attempting his plan. The weasel attacks Henry, but is killed and Henry begins to interrogate his ‘friend’ to figure out whether it is Jonesy or if Mr Gray is playing a trick. Meanwhile, the dead weasel has released a small egg which has created an infant weasel that makes its way to the water.

Enter Duddits. He uses his powers to release Mr Gray and end his hold over Jonesy. The alien steps out and begins towards the young friend. It attacks him and just when all hope seems lost, Duddits reveals his true form – he is in fact an alien himself. He wraps himself around Mr Gray and self-destructs, taking the nemesis with him. Jonesy, slightly dazed, slowly gets to his feet and squashes the small weasel before it enters the water. Both friends smile at each other and the credits roll.

In the alternate ending of the film (which I personally preferred), Duddits enters and uses his power to kill Mr Gray. He is extremely proud of himself and exclaims “I Duddits!” before sliding to the ground and passing away from his illness. The final scene shows Henry and Jonesy at his grave singing a song to him and reminiscing on their past.

So there you have it. The was a summary of ‘Dreamcatcher’. If you are like me, and can’t help yourself but read spoilers, I hope this description leads you to check it out. If you do check it out, I hope you enjoy it =)