As children, they all acquired telepathic powers which they call "the line" after saving a boy with disabilities named Douglas "Duddits" Cavell from bullies and befriending him.

Suddenly, all the forest animals—predator and prey both—run past their cabin in the same direction, followed by two military helicopters that announce the area is now quarantined.

Nearby, Henry and Pete crash their SUV to avoid running over a frostbitten woman from Rick's original hunting party.

Henry returns to the cabin to find Beaver dead and the worm that killed him laying a group of eggs.

Meanwhile, an elite military unit specializing in extraterrestrials, led by the unhinged Colonel Abraham Curtis, seeks to contain everyone exposed to an alien virus known as "Ripley".

Col. Curtis is planning to retire after this operation and will pass command, along with a pearl-handled stainless-steel .45 pistol, to Captain Owen Underhill, his trusted friend and second-in-command.

Duddits, who is dying of leukemia, informs them Mr. Gray is headed for the Quabbin Reservoir to seed the water with alien larvae and infect the world's population.

In the reservoir's pump house, Henry manages to stop Mr. Gray's plan, but struggles to bring himself to kill Jonesy, unable to tell who is in control.

[4][5] With a box-office gross of $33,685,268 in the North American domestic market, Dreamcatcher earned only half of its estimated $68 million production budget, barely surpassing it worldwide with $75,715,436.

[3] In a 2012 interview, during a promotional tour for his film Darling Companion, Kasdan admitted that the commercial failure of Dreamcatcher left him "Wounded careerwise...But not so much personally.

"[7] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 35 out of 100 based on 38 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".

"[10] Roger Ebert gave the film 1.5 stars out of a possible 4, writing: "Dreamcatcher begins as the intriguing story of friends who share a telepathic gift, and ends as a monster movie of stunning awfulness.

Ebert thought Jonesy's Memory Warehouse was a highlight, and intriguing enough to be the focus of a film, though Dreamcatcher neglects the concept to instead emphasize gore.