Main cast: Radha Mitchell (Gail), Henry Thomas (Luke), Finlay Wojtak-Hissong (Josh), Jules Willcox (Becky), Joseph Bishara (The Night Hag), and Lin Shaye (Ruth)
Director: Kerry Harris

Dreamkatcher is not a typo, in case you’re wondering. It’s a misshapen dreamcatcher, according to the definition helpfully flashed at the start of this movie, that happens to “hold evil”. Sadly, the brat Josh that ends up possessing the dreamkatcher in question doesn’t know the difference.

Yes, this movie is so standard by the numbers that most people can already plot out the story the moment they know that this one is set in a spooky big house in the country.

Naturally, there is a family moving in: Luke, his new wife Gail, and his son Josh. Their bright idea is to return to this house, where Luke’s late wife Becky died, so that the traumatized Josh can somehow come to terms with his mother’s death. This is movie logic, its best not to dwell too hard on it.

Of course, Luke has to go away for “work”, as these husbands in these movies always do, leaving Gail to deal with Josh.

Josh, the creepy kid that is pretty much mandatory in these movies, starts hearing and seeing things and soon unearths the dreamkatcher in question while digging around the barn. What a shocker, he gets possessed by demonic woo-woo and Gail learns that her stepson has become a literal brat from hell.

Lin Shaye of course shows up as the creepy lady that runs an antique store full of creepy things because, come on, we can’t blame her for making hay while the sun shines. Bless her heart, Ms Shaye is the poster dame for Blumhouse-ian cheap jump scare movies, and while I’m all for her making the most out of this, I wish she isn’t so often wasted in these frequently mediocre flicks.

This is just that: a very forgettable movie that looks like it’s cobbled together from parts of other similarly formulaic films. The jump scares are predictable and played out, the slow pacing makes the movie feels like it’s 9,000,000 minutes long instead of just around 90 minutes, and the characters all behave like these characters always do.

Perhaps the twist could make things interesting… if they hadn’t blatantly given the twist away early in the movie by showing how Becky is killed.

I can’t help feeling Radha Mitchell and Lin Skye are absolutely wasted on this, but I suppose a paycheck is paycheck. These people may not have a choice as they need the money to pay the rent or buy new shoes, who knows.

Fortunately, people looking for an entertaining spooky house and creepy kid movie always have the choice to skip this thing.