Dream House (2011 film)

Dream House
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Jim Sheridan
Produced by	Jim Sheridan James G. Robinson David C. Robinson Daniel Bobker Ehren Kruger
Written by	David Loucka
Starring	Daniel Craig Rachel Weisz Naomi Watts Marton Csokas
Music by	John Debney
Cinematography	Caleb Deschanel
Edited by	Barbara Tulliver
Production company	Morgan Creek Productions
Distributed by	Universal Pictures (North America) Warner Bros. Pictures (International)
Release date	September 30, 2011 (2011-09-30)
Running time	92 minutes
Country	United States Canada
Language	English
Budget	$50 million
Box office	$38.5 million

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Dream House is a 2011 American psychological thriller directed by Jim Sheridan and starring Daniel Craig, Rachel Weisz, Naomi Watts and Marton Csokas. It was released on September 30, 2011, in the United States and Canada by Universal Pictures and Morgan Creek Productions to critical and commercial disaster.

The film begins in 2007 with Will Atenton (Daniel Craig) leaving his job as a successful editor in New York in order to spend more time with his wife Libby (Rachel Weisz) and their two daughters, and to write his own book. At first, the family appears to be living the American dream in their new home, until they discover that its previous occupants, a mother and her two small daughters, were shot to death in the Atenton home. Public opinion has condemned the father of this family, Peter Ward, as the one responsible. However, there was not enough evidence to convict Peter in court, and he was also deemed mentally unfit to stand trial, and was recently released from police custody, and Will begins to feel he is seeing Peter watching the house.

Will visits Greenhaven Psychiatric facility, where Peter was held for five years. Here he learns that on the night of the murders, Peter himself was shot in the head by his wife Elizabeth, who had somehow gotten hold of the murder weapon in the moments just before her death. In recovery, Peter couldn’t believe he’d committed the murders, and so he no longer believed he was Peter Ward. He chewed his own name off all of his identification bracelets/cards/tags, leaving only his Greenhaven I.D. sequence: W1 - 1L 8 -10 -10: Will Atenton. Peter Ward and Will Atenton are the same person.

Unable to believe this, Will rushes home and we see his home is really run down and condemned. Peter visits his neighbor, Ann Patterson (Naomi Watts). Ann had been a good friend to the Wards, and never believed Peter was the killer. Returning to the house, Peter remembers he was on the phone with Libby when she stumbled on a burglar, who shot the little girls and wounded Libby. Peter attacked the gunman and Libby accidentally shot Peter.

Ann's ex-husband Jack and the gunman burst into the now-decrepit Ward home. It is revealed that the hit-man had been hired to kill Ann, but broke into the wrong house and chose to kill the witnesses. Jack shoots the hit-man in the abdomen before staging the scene so it will appear that Peter has murdered again before burning the house down. Peter regains consciousness in time to fight off Jack and rescue Ann. As Peter and Ann make it out of the house, Jack starts up the cellar steps but is doused with kerosene by the dying hit-man, and Jack goes up in flames. The house burns to the ground.