Synopsis: Friends since childhood, four troubled guys reunite for a camping trip, when they encounter a stranger with knowledge of an alternate and deadly world that they will soon see.

Now for the Zone's Eye View:

By Laura Alber

Director: Lawrence Kasdan

Cast: Morgan Freeman, Thomas Jane, Jason Lee, Damian Lewis, Timothy Olyphant, Tom Sizemore, Donnie Wahlberg

The best thing I can say about "Dreamcatcher", is that it included the 11 minute short of "The Animatrix" in front of it. The movie was yet another disappointment from the wonderful works of Stephen Kings novels. I'm not sure why they always want to chop up the stories, add in more gore and then leave you with that feeling at the end like you just got ripped off. I heard all over the theater the exact same comment. "The book was better". Actually, that's said about most King novels turned movies. 

This one opens with four adult best friends that have known each other since grade school (Thomas Jane "Dr. Henry Devlin", Jason Lee "Joe 'Beaver' Clarendon", Damian Lewis "Gary 'Jonesy' Jones", Timothy Olyphant "Pete Moore"). Immediately when each character is introduced, you get the sense that each one is miserable. They were all given a "gift" as children by a loveable kid with CP "Douglas 'Duddits' Cavell" (Donnie Wahlberg) that they kind of adopted and protected. The gifts included psychic visions and over the years, it's evidently taken its toll on them. 

From the title and the artwork, you may be expecting some supernatural tale based on Native American folklore. Wrong! Get ready for an alien invasion. Yes, you heard me correctly, the film is based around an alien society trying to populate the earth. It gets better- these particular aliens reside in people's bodies and are affectionately referred to as "assweasels" for obvious reasons. Dreamcatcher seemed to take its cues from "Body Snatchers" in many ways with the aliens (especially how noisy they are), and "It" mainly due to the close relationships they "tried" to mimic with these four men. Out of all the four men, it was the 5th, the sweet "Duddits" that was the sanest one of them all, handicaps and all. He had been trying to prepare these men from a young age for this particular event, he knew it was coming. But, the dense, self-indulgent and pity party throwing men didn't understand that these "gifts" were given to them for a reason. 

Once a year for the past 20 years, the men retreat to a cabin in the woods for a vacation/reunion dedicated to Duddits. They actually seem to be having a good time the first day (regardless of their school-day flashbacks). Then the guys discover an older man wandering in the woods with a horrid rash on his face, who just said he had lost his camp-mates. Joe 'Beaver' Clarendon (Jason Lee) discovers there's more to this mans disorientation, as he sees his overly extended chest move down, causing his stomach to protrude and look extremely bloated. Joe and Jonesy (Damian Lewis) keep a watch on him, and endure his extreme gas problems, at times causing them to open the door for air. They tuck him into bed, and hear the first sounds of help coming. Helicopters hover over the cabin, but will only tell them the area is now quarantined for 24-48 hours, saying no more, and refused to take the sick man with them. The two then check on the stranger to discover bloody footprints, a bloody bed and a locked bathroom door. After breaking down the door, they have their first encounter with the alien "assweasels". These aliens need to reside in human bodies for their offspring to survive, so you can probably figure out the rest. 

As for the believability, there isn't much. First of all, these four men are highly educated, yet they don't seem to be concerned with the overly inflamed stomach or rash on the man, the "aliens" look like something right of "Tremors", there must also be no phones anywhere to call for help. I think the most ridiculous part was when one of the aliens housed itself in Jonesy and caused him to have a dual personality. One was the real Jonesy, and the other was a "Mr. Gray", who carried a thick British accent and would speak out loud to the real Jonesy quite often and in a very sarcastic way. 

None of this story is at all scary, it's just ridiculous. There is not nearly enough characterization, especially the one of Duddits, who I was actually wanting a little more detail on. It also never really explains why these "gifts" are so inconvenient and cause such mental anguish with the four men. 

Top-billed Morgan Freeman tried his best with this poorly written script and was given "maybe" 15-20 minutes total screen time. His character was a burned out military man, who had been following these particular aliens for over 20 years. Freeman is very capable of playing the wonderful intelligent, psychopath with ease, but bad writing and the over the top and fake looking "stick-on" white eyebrows ruined it for him. His right hand man, Captain Owen Underhill (Tom Sizemore), also tries his best to make this a believable op, but ultimately everyone fails miserably. 

This over-budget, overly long film is not worth the ticket price. It's not at all entertaining except for maybe a "few" special effects scenes. If you want to spend the money, I would suggest staying for the Animatrix sequence before the movie, and leaving right after so you don't feel like you've wasted time as well as money. After all the hype of Dreamcatcher, I really couldn't believe the final product. I'm still in shock as to just how bad it really was. The Zone gives Dreamcatcher a whopping 1 out of 10. That one point is for the bonus CGI "Animatrix", and for the loveable Duddits. If you must waste your money, I might suggest you at least wait for the DVD rental. At least that's only half the price of a theater ticket!