22 Years Later, Morgan Freeman's Other "Unspeakably Bad" Stephen King Adaptation Finds Success on Streaming Actorsvaultpro

31 years ago, Morgan Freeman starred in what many consider to be not only the best Stephen King adaptation ever made, but one of the greatest movies of all time, The Shawshank Redemption. Known for its touching story of hope and friendship, the film came out of nowhere to become the cinematic great it is today. Nine years later, Freeman starred in another King adaptation that received just the opposite response to The Shawshank Redemption, but now, it’s found success on streaming despite its “unspeakably bad” status.

Titled Dreamcatcher, the 2003 sci-fi horror movie was directed by Lawrence Kasdan and written by William Goldman. With two top names like that at the helm, you’d think that the film would’ve been a surefire hit, but nothing could be further from the truth. Made for $68 million, it grossed just $75 million at the box office, becoming a certified dud that most critics and fans despised. Noted critic Roger Ebert even went so far as to say in his review:

“Dreamcatcher begins as the intriguing story of friends who share a telepathic gift, and ends as a monster movie of stunning awfulness.”

Starring not only Freeman but the likes of Thomas Jane, Jason Lee, Damian Lewis, Timothy Olyphant, and Donnie Wahlberg, Dreamcatcher is bouncing around HBO Max’s Top 10 global rankings, currently sitting at #6 at the time of this writing. It starts off very It-like in its premise, focusing on four young boys who help save another boy with disabilities from a group of bullies. From there, however, Dreamcatcher descends into something completely different from It, adding in an alien parasite and an elite military unit for good measure. The official synopsis reads:

“Dreamcatcher tells of four young friends who perform a heroic act, and are changed forever by the uncanny powers they gain in return. Years later the friends, now men, are on a hunting trip in the Maine woods when they are overtaken by a blizzard in which something much more ominous moves. Challenged to stop an alien force, the friends must first prevent the slaughter of innocent civilians by a military vigilante, then overcome a threat to the bond between them.”

Stephen King Hated ‘Dreamcatcher’

Thomas Jane, Susan Charest, and Timothy Olyphant in Dreamcatcher.

Warner Bros. Pictures

Holding just a 27% rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes and 36% from fans, Dreamcatcher is hands down one of the worst King adaptations of all time. It joins the likes of Riding the Bullet, Sleepwalkers, and Cell, all of which were panned by pretty much everyone. King himself stated in a 2007 interview with Time that Dreamcatcher was a complete “train wreck,” lumping it in with other disasters such as Children of the Corn.

Coming in at a little over two hours in length, there was just way too much going on in Dreamcatcher for the film to make sense. It couldn’t decide if it wanted to be a drama or an outright horror movie, leading to it feeling uneven in tone. The CGI wasn’t great either, which certainly didn’t help the movie’s cause with fans. Let’s not even talk about that toilet scene. Good grief.

For the King completists who’ve yet to see it, Dreamcatcher is streaming now internationally on HBO Max, or for free on Tubi for viewers in the United States.