Dreamkatcher--My take on the movie with spoilers!

PLOT SUMMARY: Desperate to rid himself of nightmares, Josh steals a dreamcatcher, unaware he has taken something far more evil instead. 

If you’re looking at the title and wondering why Dreamcatcher is spelled wrong, the opening card will dispel your doubts.

It’s not a typo. It’s on purpose because you see, dream catchers are supposed to help you give good dreams and a dreamkatcher holds evil inside it.

Does a Dreamkatcher look different from a dreamcatcher? Is it perhaps a triangle and has different feathers hanging from it? Apparently, the letter K is the only difference.

DREAMKATCHER Movie Plot 

The movie begins with a woman taking a jog in the woods and then heading back home to take a shower.

She comes out and heads to her piano and puts on headphones. We see someone approaching her. She senses someone too. She turns and simply asks the long-haired boy what he’s doing here. He responds with a hatchet to her head.

The opening credits roll in and we see a car going down a long winding road. Yep, it’s the middle of nowhere again, and the people who get out of the car is a couple Gail and Luke, and Luke’s son Josh.

Josh is a bratty kid who hates Gail because she’s taking her mother’s place. Gail is a child psychologist and decides to be patient with the kid for the first half of the movie.

Luke is presumably a music director who writes songs that needs to be constantly reworked on.

When they get out of the car, Luke hands Gail a present claiming Josh picked it out of her. Josh screams out that he never did and repeats it over and over.

Luke goes inside and Gail notices pictures of Becky, the woman who was killed in the opening scene and Luke’s wife.

When Luke shows Gail the piano, Josh slams the lid down almost crushing the adults’ fingers.

Luke attempts to give a grown-up speech about giving Gail a chance but he keeps yelling that he and his girlfriend need to get their own child.

Luke and Gail think it’s a good idea and set about to prepare for that. But Josh is having a nightmare about his mother coming over to him before her head splits. Josh sleeps with Luke and Gail, ruining their plans to have their own kid.

The next morning, Luke is hoping his song doesn’t require rewrites and thinks since there is no network and he didn’t receive any messages, that his song finally got the okay.

He barely gets a network bar when his phone beeps with messages to inform him his chorus is terrible and he needs to come back to work.

Luke leaves immediately and promises to be back by night. We’ve all seen the long road that led up to the cabin. There’s no way he’s going to make it back soon. Gail should have known it was an empty promise.

Still, she agrees to look after Josh even though everyone knows he hates her. Nevertheless, he does agree to go on a hike with her, ready to look away from his hatred for her just so he could get some activity done.

Initially, Josh barely speaks to Gail but soon she doles our advice on how to deal with his nightmares.

She keeps telling him that he’s in control and he needs to think positive thoughts about his mother before he sleeps so he won’t have nightmares.

As they continue their hike, Gail realizes she’s terrible at navigation and can’t find the trail anymore. They chance upon a shed that has crossed out the words Dreamcatchers but claims to see all other weird stuff.

Josh is interested and meets an elderly woman Ruth who is keen on making a sale. She senses Gail won’t let Josh buy any of her superstitious stuff so she tries to joke about the spirits wanting Josh to buy wild berry jam. Josh isn’t a fan of jam and Ruth has no choice but to show Gail where the trail continues.

When they return, they get the obvious news that Luke isn’t returning like he promised but he does offer to send a car to pick them up because he’s certain Gail can’t handle his bratty son. Gail wants to show off that she is capable of handling this situation and declines because she foolishly believes Luke will return the next day.

Josh has more nightmares about his mother and screams. Gail comforts him and they sleep in one bed, huddled.

At this point, Josh has had enough of his nightmares and decides to get a dreamcatcher. He goes to Ruth’s again and asks for a dreamcatcher but Ruth knows he isn’t carrying any money and tells him to return with a paying adult.

Gail appears and goes on and on about how all these things are ridiculous superstitions. Luke wanders about and enters the shop through another entrance. He finds a chest, opens it and thinks he found a dreamcatcher that he immediately stuffs into his backpack.

Gail gets thrown out of the shop for her nosiness but learns that Becky didn’t drown. She was murdered.

Gail and Josh return home and later when she takes a nap with the scarf Luke gifted her, awakens to find herself surrounded by pictures of Becky. Her new scarf is ripped too and she’s now pissed off to go storm into Josh’s room.

She opens the door to find him soundly sleeping. Of course, he would be, Josh is hiding a dreamcatcher under his pillow and his having dreams where his mother is tickling him.

The next day Gail wants to make pancakes for breakfast but not from scratch. She’s looking for pancake mix and Luke is taking bowls out from above the cabinet. When Gail comes back up, her head bumps against the open cabinet door.

She immediately blames Josh for leaving it open on purpose.

Josh runs away screaming he didn’t do it. However, he returns for a fishing trip and rudely tells Gail they are not supposed to speak. He then proceeds to swing his fishing line just as they are about to get along and hooks Gail’s hand. She manages to wrench herself free and Josh gives her a hug and apologizes.

Josh has more dreams of Becky telling him he can only love either her or Gail. Josh says he likes Gail but Becky gets angry.

Elsewhere, Ruth wakes up with a feeling of dread. She goes to the barn and checks the chest to find the dreamkatcher missing. She pretty much breaks into the neighbor’s house much like her grandson Noah had done and killed Becky.

Do neighbors have a secret passage to each other’s house? Does no one lock their doors?

Ruth begins to behave frantically and accuses Josh of taking something that shouldn’t have been taken.

Josh tries to futilely hide the dreamkatcher but Ruth and Gail find it. Gail offers it back to Ruth who flees rather than taking it with her.

Outside, a small fire is going where Gail and Josh were toasting marshmallows. Ruth tells Gail to destroy it and she clings to the dreamkatcher in the fire.

Ruth and Gail have a heart to heart over the fire. Ruth tells her how Noah was sweet but into weird stuff so she bought him that dreamkatcher. However, it changed him and made him violent. He used the hatchet on his parents then went to kill Becky. When Ruth came to stop him, he placed the hatchet in her hands and then used it to slit his own throat.

Ruth fears the evil in the dreamkatcher has possessed Josh too since he claims he doesn’t want it anymore.

Gail goes on to lecture Ruth about science and how some kids are just troubled. Ruth makes a face and goes away, possibly foreseeing that Gail was soon going to learn to believe in Dreamkatchers.

Luke finally arrives and the first thing Josh does is lie about how Gail doesn’t want him to talk and remember Becky.

Gail goes on and on about how Josh tried to trouble her but Luke says his son is akin to an angel.

DREAMKATCHER Ending Explained with Spoilers! 

Gail gives him an ultimatum to leave but Luke wants to teach Josh how to chop wood.

Josh shows he knows how to use the hatchet better and targets Luke. He then returns home with a plastic bag he got from...the trash.

Gail thinks it’s a gift for her and turns it upside down to find Luke’s fingers cleanly cut. She now knows where Luke is.

She ducks under the table and Josh climbs on the table to try and hit her with the hatchet. He doesn’t want to jump down and just get it over with. He stays on the table while Gail is content knowing Josh doesn’t know how to get off the table and kill her.

Ruth makes an entry and subdues Josh but also knocks out Gail.

Gail comes to and finds Ruth ready to kill Josh since it is the only way.

Gail is still going on about how he just needs some therapy so Josh shows her that he really is possessed by letting Ruth speak to Noah. There is also an old hag who is controlling the boys and she lets Ruth know she’s not letting either of them go.

Ruth is strangled by the dreamkatcher. Josh then turns to her as Gail struggles with her binds. She goes on about how he is in control and he’s such a sweet boy but Josh is intent on showing how wrong she is with a hatchet. She finally screams she wanted to be his mommy and we see flashes of the old hag.

Apparently, the hag wants a mommy and so...possesses boys...to kill the parents?

How is it that the word Mommy causes her to leave Josh?

Anyway, the filmmakers couldn’t decide how to connect the dots and so cut to a scene where Gail is running in the forest, digging a hole and shoving the dreamkatcher inside.

Josh in the meantime is taking a leisurely walk along the road. A car stops and the driver doesn’t notice the obvious blood on him and if he needs medical help. Just asks if he’s okay and Josh replies he’s a little tired.

Mid credits show three kids having a gala of a time in the woods. It’s the middle of nowhere with not many houses around, yet the parents of these kids tell them to go play far in the woods and get lost.

The three kids play hide and seek. It’s the girl who finds the Dreamkatcher right next to her.

Gail did a terrible job hiding the Dreamkatcher.

Or did it want to be found?

Will it still work after it was used to strangle a woman and is now broken?

The movie is an okay watch if not for the second half where things begin to unravel.

In some ways, Dreamkatcher will remind you of The Lodge.

The father takes new girlfriend and his kids to a remote cabin. Then he has to unexpectedly leave. The kids and girlfriend start to get along before things go crazy. The father returns much later only to be killed off in a few minutes.

Still, it’s the lockdown and there are not many movies out. Based on that, it’s an okay watch.

Scare scale: 2.5/5