Dreamcatcher

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Dreamcatcher ★½ 2003 (R)

Four childhood buddies with telepathic abilities bestowed on them by a mentally retarded boy they protected meet in the Maine woods for an annual hunting trip just in time for a body-snatching alien jamboree. Of course, the military is there, too, waiting for the chance to eliminate the aliens by toasting the town, literally. Convoluted story doesn't seem like an adaptation of King's novel, it's more like an adaptation of all of 'em, from “It” to “Stand By Me.” With some “The Thing” and “Outbreak” thrown in for good measure. None of it works, unless you like bloody scenes of alien rectal excavation. 134m/C VHS, DVD . US Morgan Freeman, Thomas Jane, Jason Lee, Damian Lewis, Timothy Olyphant, Tom Sizemore, Donnie Wahlberg, Michael O'Neill, Rosemary Dunsmore, Mike Holekamp, Reece Thompson, Giacomo Baessato, Joel Palmer, Andrew Robb; D: Lawrence Kasdan; W: Lawrence Kasdan, William Goldman; C: John Seale; M: James Newton Howard.