Dreamcatcher is a 2003 film adaptation of Stephen King's novel of the same name. It was directed by Lawrence Kasdan, and co-written by Kasdan and screenwriter William Goldman. The film stars Morgan Freeman as Colonel Abraham Kurtz, a shoot-first alien hunter, Thomas Jane as Henry Devlin, Donnie Wahlberg as Douglas "Duddits" Cavell, Jason Lee as Joe "Beaver" Clarendon, Timothy Olyphant as Pete Moore, and Damian Lewis as Gary "Jonesy" Jones. It was filmed around Prince George, British Columbia.

Henry (Thomas Jane), Beaver (Jason Lee), Pete (Timothy Olyphant) and Jonesy (Damian Lewis) are four friends on an annual hunting trip in Maine. As children, they all acquired telepathy which they call "the line". A flashback shows them as they save a mentally handicapped boy named Douglas "Duddits" Cavell (as a boy, Andrew Robb; as an adult, Donnie Wahlberg) from bullies and befriend him.

Jonesy sees Duddits beckoning him to cross the street, but as he does so Jonesy is hit by a car. His injuries heal with mysterious speed and 6 months later he is able to make the group's annual trip. Jonesy and Beaver meet a man lost in the forest named Rick McCarthy (Eric Keenleyside). He is very ill so the group lets him rest inside their cabin nearby. Military helicopters fly over the area and announce that the area will be quarantined. Jonesy and Beaver return to the cabin to find a deceased Rick in the bathroom, the room covered with moss and gore. A large worm tries to escape from the bathroom after being excreted into the toilet by Rick before he died. Beaver attempts to trap the creature under the toilet lid, but the lamprey-like worm, with multiple rows of razor-sharp teeth, kills him. Jonesy escapes from the cabin but runs into a large alien called Mr. Grey, who possesses Jonesys body.

In Native American culture, a dreamcatcher (or dream catcher; Lakota: iháŋbla gmunka, Ojibwe: asabikeshiinh, the inanimate form of the word for "spider" or Ojibwe: bawaajige nagwaagan meaning "dream snare") is a handmade object based on a willow hoop, on which is woven a loose net or web. The dreamcatcher is then decorated with personal and sacred items such as feathers and beads.

While dreamcatchers originated in the Ojibwa Nation, during the Pan-Indian Movement of the 1960s and 1970s they were adopted by Native Americans of a number of different nations. Some consider the dream catcher a symbol of unity among the various Indian Nations, and a general symbol of identification with Native American or First Nations cultures. However, other Native Americans have come to see dream catchers as over-commercialized. Non-Indians have also used the dreamcatcher for their own purposes.

American ethnographer Frances Densmore writes in her book Chippewa Customs (1929, republished 1979, pg. 113):

Even infants were provided with protective charms. Examples of these are the "spiderwebs" hung on the hoop of a cradle board. These articles consisted of wooden hoops about 3½ inches in diameter filled with an imitation of a spider's web made of fine yarn, usually dyed red. In old times this netting was made of nettle fiber. Two spider webs were usually hung on the hoop, and it was said that they "caught any harm that might be in the air as a spider's web catches and holds whatever comes in contact with it."

A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects. The process of filmmaking has developed into an art form and industry.

Films are cultural artifacts created by specific cultures, which reflect those cultures, and, in turn, affect them. Film is considered to be an important art form, a source of popular entertainment and a powerful method for educating – or indoctrinating – citizens. The visual elements of cinema give motion pictures a universal power of communication. Some films have become popular worldwide attractions by using dubbing or subtitles that translate the dialogue into the language of the viewer.

Films are made up of a series of individual images called frames. When these images are shown rapidly in succession, a viewer has the illusion that motion is occurring. The viewer cannot see the flickering between frames due to an effect known as persistence of vision, whereby the eye retains a visual image for a fraction of a second after the source has been removed. Viewers perceive motion due to a psychological effect called beta movement.

Donald Edmond "Donnie" Wahlberg, Jr. (born August 17, 1969) is an American singer, actor and film producer. He is a member of the popular 1980s and 1990s boy band New Kids on the Block. His work background includes music, feature films, and television. Donnie has had featured roles in the Saw films, The Sixth Sense, Dreamcatcher, Boomtown and Righteous Kill, also appearing in the award-winning World War II miniseries Band of Brothers. He is also known for currently starring in the critically acclaimed drama series Blue Bloods. Donnie was nominated for Choice Scream at the 2008 Teen Choice Awards for his work on the Saw films.

Wahlberg was born in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, as the eighth of nine children, with older siblings Arthur, Jim, Paul, Robert, Tracey, Michelle, Debbie (died 2003) and younger brother Mark. He also has three half-siblings from his father's first marriage- Donna, Scott and Buddy. His mother, Alma Elaine (née Donnelly), was a bank clerk and nurse's aide, and his father, Donald Edmond Wahlberg, Sr. (died February 14, 2008) was a teamster who worked as a delivery driver; the couple divorced in 1982. He is of Swedish, Irish, English, and French Canadian ancestry.

Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books. As of 2011, King has written and published 49 novels, including seven under the pen name Richard Bachman, five non-fiction books, and nine collections of short stories. Many of his stories are set in his home state of Maine.

King has received Bram Stoker Awards, World Fantasy Awards, British Fantasy Society Awards, his novella The Way Station was a Nebula Award novelette nominee, and in 2003, the National Book Foundation awarded him the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. He has also received awards for his contribution to literature for his whole career, such as the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement (2004), the Canadian Booksellers Association Lifetime Achievement Award (2007) and the Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America (2007).