Widower dad, nervous and self-conscious about his ability to raise two preteens by himself, takes the youngsters into the Colorado mountains for a vacation at a cabin once owned by his deceased wife's father. Combination ghost story/mental breakdown thriller is pretty much scuttled by a confused, jumbled screenplay, full of dead ends. Eric McCormack heads the small cast, which also includes two child actors whose performances are utterly flat, and Donnelly Rhodes as a weathered sheriff with a bad cough. McCormack gives it a try, but there's no character for him to play, and his constant running from room to room grows wearisome (and negates any suspense in the scenario). Andrew Currie is responsible for the mediocre direction, from a thin, derivative script by Michaelbrent Collings. There's really only one well-directed sequence in the picture: a flashback to the wife's death. Genre entry had potential as a jittery, who's-in-the house scare-flick, but results are ultimately tepid. *1/2 from ****
Review of Barricade
