Human heart toilet troubles

DIRTY PRETTY THINGS (2003)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

(Originally reviewed in 2003)

American films used to surprise and enthrall us at every turn, often keeping us on the edge of our seats. Lately, British films have that spark that is missing from most recent Hollywood cinema. Look at "Sexy Beast," which basically placed a surreal spin on the crime genre post-Tarantino, or "The Crying Game," still one of the most elegant romantic crime thrillers ever made. "Dirty Pretty Things," a new noir excursion by Brit extraordinaire Stephen Frears, is one of the most surprising and thrilling films of 2003. Not quite a thriller, romance or a drama, it does manage to fit all three squarely into one solid package.

Set in modern-day London, we see the difficulty of working menial jobs in a city that is willing to pay illegal immigrants to work. One of them is a Nigerian doctor named Okwe (Chiwetel Ejiofor), who works as a taxi driver by day and as a hotel desk clerk at night. He rents a couch from Senay (Audrey Tautou), a Turkish immigrant who also works at the hotel. Trouble is Okwe shouldn't even bother renting the couch - he wants to stay awake and does so by consuming illegal herbs. One night at the hotel, he discovers a human heart in the toilet of one of the luxurious rooms. Okwe reports it to the sneaky, oily hotel manager, known as "Sneaky" (Sergi Lopez), who tells him to forget what he saw. If something dirty happens, the hotel's job is to clean it up and make it look pretty the next day. Still, Okwe can't help but inquire about that heart. He tells his tale to a doctor friend who reminds him that illegal kidney transplants do take place, particularly for illegals who want to stay in England at any cost.

At this point, any director might have turned this into a suspense thriller where Okwe's life is in danger. We might have had Sneaky turn into some psycho killer and there might be a car chase or two. Also, some screenwriter might have opted for a romantic liaision between Okwe and Senay - why not since they live together. But director Stephen Frears is too smart for simplifying the plot and forsaking interesting elements  in the interest of formula action. We learn that Okwe has more up his sleeve than he lets on, particularly about his past. We also learn that Senay may be forced to return to Turkey if she is discovered renting her apartment to anyone or if she has a job. We also learn startling revelations about Sneaky and the kind of operation he is actually running in the hotel but since this is, once again, one of those films dependent on surprises, I'll leave you with the surprise of discovery.

Another element that could have been forsaken by your average Hollywood screenwriter is the overcast atmosphere and inner workings of a city like London. We learn about the tiredness of working two jobs, supporting yourself while eluding the authorities. Those special herbs are definitely needed! We also see how illegals sometimes have to sell themselves to stay out of trouble, sometimes with sexual favors. One tough sequence to watch has Senay working at a factory run by a boss who demands sexual favors in return for keeping quiet about her illegal status. I found myself squirming in my seat watching that sequence.

"Dirty Pretty Things" is superlative in every way. It is daring, thrilling, blackly funny, energetic, romantic, suspenseful and has a touching coda. Okwe and Senay are characters I will not erase from my memory any time soon. Both Ejiofor and Tautou bring their characters a real sense of individuality and purpose - you know what they stand for and what they hope for. And you can't help but pray that they get out of the dirty pretty things they are involved and move on.

Solomon and Patsey's Roots

12 YEARS A SLAVE (2013)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Aside from TV's miniseries classic, "Roots," Hollywood has shied away from the subject of slavery, as told by a slave. "Glory" and "Amistad" had the white heroes from the narrative point-of-view. "12 Years a Slave," based on Solomon Northup's 1853 autobiography, is a gripping, completely riveting and extraordinarily rich and downright upsetting film that is fiercely alive and acutely aware. I have never seen a film of slavery with this much gravitas and I sense that, along with "Roots," it will be long remembered as a powerful film of a time that is largely and shamefully ignored in La-La Land.

Solomon Northup is no ordinary slave and he is not born into the slave trade at all. Solomon (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is a free black man with a family in Saratoga, NY, where he makes his living as an accomplished violinist. One day he receives a profitable offer to do a circus tour with two entertainers (Scoot McNairy and Tarran Killam). Of course, the circus Solomon is attending is one full of despair - he is drugged, shackled, thrown into a jail and severely beaten, sold as a slave and transported to a cotton plantation in the Deep South run by a kind slave owner, William Ford (Benedict Cumberpatch), who preaches the word of Gospel. Then there is another transfer to the nastiest plantation owner I've ever seen in a movie, Edwin Epps (Michael Fassbender), a raging psychopath and rapist who uses a whip as if it is the last thing he can ever have control of. When the cotton pickers finish their pickings, the cotton is weighed and any cotton picker whose pickings weigh under 200 pounds is whipped. The slave girl Patsey (Lupita Nyong'o) works harder than anyone and always has 500 pounds. Solomon only manages 180 or less.

"12 Years a Slave" is directed by Steve McQueen (no relation to the legendary actor) and it is exquisitely and harshly written by John Ridley. Almost every situation Solomon encounters is told from his point-of-view, especially with Patsey who encounters far too much anguish and misery for any human being to endure, until you realize she was born into this cruel trade. Another moment between Epps and a Canadian carpenter (Brad Pitt - who produced this film) seems to be a scene about them until you realize Solomon hears their every word - the carpenter proposes a world view where racism will wither, and Solomon is allowed one of a few moments to smile. No single shot seems to be told from the white slave owner's point-of-view and that is something of a cinematic godsend - all I could say is that thirty-plus-years since "Roots" and only now we get the slave's perspective in a big-screen treatment.

The performances are absolutely top-notch and first-rate (though Pitt is the only flaw - he sticks out like a sore thumb but, hey, he produced the damn movie). I have seen Chiwetel Ejiofor in films like "Dirty Pretty Things" and "Kinky Boots" but I sense this film will be the one he is remembered for - he has a haunting presence, raw pain etched in his eyes, and shows strength and vulnerability where it hurts him and the audience. Fassbender is almost too cruel to be kind - he is a lashing presence who burns up the screen with blazing energy. Even more cruel is Sarah Paulson as Epp's wife who may sense that Solomon, whose slave name is Platt, is not all he claims to be. All slaves can't read or write yet Solomon can but he has to hide it or there will be hell to pay.

Hellish, occasionally torturous to sit through, pungently acted and directed and courageously told, "12 Years a Slave" is an emotional roller-coaster ride that will take a major toll on the average viewer - this is not a good time at the movies on Friday night. The extreme punishment of being a slave should make the most hardened and jaded cynic shed a tear (the lashing of Patsey or the failed hanging of Solomon will make you squirm and upset you in extended long takes by McQueen that heighten by observation). We come away with the wrongdoing and immorality of mercilessly treating black people like chattel - taking a slave's original name away and disposing of their family just to be treated lower than dirt. Both Ejiofor and Nyong'o put a human face in an era many would like to forget yet shouldn't. This is powerful, vital cinema, folks.

The Conspirators against Kennedy

EXECUTIVE ACTION (1973)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

"Executive Action" is the first film to question the veracity of the lone wolf theory on the assassination of John F. Kennedy. There are some valid questions here, not unlike what was later shown in greater detail in Oliver
Stone's "JFK" but the mood and tone of this film is too low-key and dull to register much of an impression.

The movie right off the bat makes it clear that President Lyndon Johnson had misgivings about the Warren Commission report, the very report that posited Lee Harvey Oswald as the lone assassin. Then we see a group of businessmen (and some intelligence agents) trying to convince an old geezer, an oil mogul named Ferguson (Will Greer), that an assassination must be performed on Kennedy because President Kennedy's policies, particularly towards an endorsement of the Civil Rights Movement and the withdrawal of troops from Vietnam, could ruin the oil business! Huh? Petro-Vietnam is an oil company in that part of the country but it did not develop till 1977. Maybe these businessmen just simply hated Kennedy.

What follows are assassins hired from a Black Ops team supervised by ex-CIA operative, James Farrington (Burt Lancaster), who are trained in the middle of the desert on how to fire at a moving target. One powerful and scary sequence has Farrington meeting with one assassin (Ed Lauter) and laying out how much money each of the killers will receive for their service. Farrington doesn't mention who the target is but Lauter figures it out and is shocked. There is also the Lee Harvey Oswald double who stirs up trouble so that people remember Oswald as the one who will be fingered for the crime, "the patsy."

Unfortunately, "Executive Action" is only sparingly as nail-biting as that one scene. The assassination scene itself is startling and perfectly edited with punch and verve. Mostly, though, the film has these conspirators standing around giving lectures, pep talks, criticisms of Kennedy and so on. It is all talk and far too little action (although Lancaster and the always gruff personality of Robert Ryam give it a lift), spending an inordinate amount of time with newsreel stock footage. As directed by David Miller and scripted by Dalton Trumbo, the movie never quite dramatizes the action - it merely states it without giving us much of a narrative. Later in the film, an actor appears as Jack Ruby and we see he is allowed to enter the garage to shoot Oswald. But the film merely implies some conspiratorial connection to Ruby without actually addressing it.

There is one spectacular shot - an overhead bird's eye view of Dealey Plaza and all its little street corners, buildings, trees, grassy knolls - that gives us what "Executive Action" fails to do for most of its 93 minute running time. That one shot spells URGENCY. The rest of the movie is BORING.

David O.Russell's Chaotic Beauty

SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK (2012)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

I have rarely seen a chaotically beautiful, emotionally satisfying, richly layered and ultimately finite romantic comedy like "Silver Linings Playbook."  It is hardly average film fare and it is not all that offbeat either. It feels real, humane and honest and positively refreshing in its embrace of seemingly kooky yet very sympathetic characters who have enormous issues. Just like life.

Bradley Cooper is a Baltimore mental patient, Pat Solinato, Jr., suffering from bipolar disorder. He returns home to his parents, Pat Sr. (Robert De Niro), an illegal bookmaker and devoted Philadelphia Eagles fan who is raising money for a restaurant, and his wife, Dolores (Jacki Weaver), after eight months of treatment. Pat refuses to take his meds, yet his mother insists he take them and attend his meetings and see his court-appointed therapist. Pat would rather reconcile with his wife, Nikki, who had an affair which caused Pat to lose his temper where a fury was unleashed that led him to be hospitalized. This led to a restraining order but he still wants to communicate with her. He finally does through Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence), a widowed woman who recently lost her job because she slept with everyone in the office. Tiffany is not easy to like at first but slowly we see a tortured soul who has issues that Pat can only barely relate to. If Pat wants Tiffany to send a letter to Nikki, he will have to help her as her partner in a dance competition.

Bradley Cooper is not an actor I normally place on high esteem but his Pat Solinato, Jr. is something to behold. Cooper's rage is not frightening but simply misplaced and off-kilter - he is aware of what his actions are and the consequences (he also wears a black garbage bag fitted like a vest). Jennifer Lawrence brings in more of a remarkably off-kilter and shrewd attitude to her Tiffany character - there is no way of knowing what she will do next. Lawrence also displays subtle glances and body language to show her love for Pat who is of course blind to her advances (though she blatantly asks him to nail her on their first "date"). Finally, it is Robert De Niro who gives such a soulful, heartbreakingly real performance as Pat Sr. (who has OCD issues) that I will go on record, as of now, and say it is one of the finest roles De Niro has ever committed to celluloid. Damn straight.

Based on Matthew Quick's 2008 novel and adapted by director David O. Russell, "Silver Linings Playbook" is not a sweet or safe romantic comedy because it plays by its own rules - the rules of reality, not some disarming fantasy. Although to be fair there are a few rom-com cliches here, they are mercifully few and when they occur, they do not feel like cliches. "Silver Linings Playbook" is necessarily messy and swings and shifts its tone often but never at the behest of directorial indulgences. Nothing in the film feels out of place - it all fits. Not unlike director David O. Russell's tough-to-like-yet-easy-to-admire "Spanking the Monkey" or the charming, hysterical road movie "Flirting With Disaster" or the Gulf War trappings of "Three Kings" where soldiers are second to technological warfare, "Silver Linings Playbook" gives emotional weight and resonance to its characters and their heartfelt manners. Russell has already stated that he is more of a Frank Capra man than a Martin Scorsese man - he embraces these characters and their heart (and he doesn't judge them, despite that all of them practically see therapists). Pat and Tiffany simply want to move on, to get past their vices, their guilt, their selfishness, their psychological issues - they are looking for their silver linings. It is chaotic beauty.

Bad Weed

STILL SMOKIN' (1983)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Cheech and Chong have never been favorites of mine in comedies. I remember liking "Nice Dreams" and "Up in Smoke" but basically their act consisted of getting stoned and scoring some babes while certain hijinks would ensue. "Still Smokin" is nothing different except that during its entire 90 minute running time, I hardly smiled or chuckled while watching it. It is one of the unfunniest pictures I have ever seen, so desperate to make us laugh that it even includes stock footage of animals mating!

Cheech and Chong play themselves as they mistakenly arrive at a film festival in Amsterdam to promote their comedy routines. Apparently, Burt Reynolds and Loni Anderson were to attend the festival. How did Cheech and Chong end up going? Well, the film festival director gave out the wrong tickets, or something like that. Nevertheless, C & C arrive at a ritzy hotel where they are introduced as Burt and Loni and the onlookers cheer them on, believing they are Burt and Loni! This stupid joke is repeated again and again that I swear a half-hour had passed by before the next joke.

Meanwhile, Chong gets the bright idea of saving the financially troubled festival by raising a dope-a-thon and performing live for the festival attendees. So we get scenes from their own live act and a few snippets of other routines shot as movie in-jokes that would have greeted more groans than laughs on "Saturday Night Live." All of it so cheaply produced and poorly directed, not to mention rottenly written, that it leaves a sour taste in your mouth.

The idea of two comic stoners coming to Amsterdam where marijuana is legal seems like a good idea but the film never follows suit. It is so boring and insipid to sit through that I began to wonder if I ever really liked Cheech and Chong in the first place. Maybe I was too young when I saw "Nice Dreams." To be fair, there are some moments of acceptable humor during the last ten minutes such as watching the twosome bark like dogs. Otherwise, you may as well keep smoking that joint than watch such a painful movie experience.

A 'respectable' John Waters flick

SERIAL MOM (1994)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

(Original review from 1994)

Of all of John Waters' films, the one that will stand the test of time is the obscene "Pink Flamingos." His later work has not surpassed the original's most indecent acts of nature but Waters has shown he cares to explore family units, albeit in the most outrageous manner. 1988's "Hairspray" was a delightfully funny musical whereas 1990's "Cry Baby" remained the most obscenely awful piece of cinema in many moons. 1994's "Serial Mom" is far better in every respect and it supplies Kathleen Turner's best performance since "The War of the Roses."

Turner plays the title role as a dutiful housewife with two hormonal teenagers (Ricki Lake and Matthew Lillard) and a nerdy, naive husband played by Sam Waterston. It turns out that Mom has a fixation on serial killers and even kills neighbors who get on her nerves! Surely nobody that makes obscene calls deserves to live! When Mom is finally caught by the police, she becomes a celebrity and has a field day in court acting as her own attorney. Her celebrity status is so high that Suzanne Somers considers playing her in a made-for-TV movie!

"Serial Mom" is fitfully funny but not really outrageous. Martin Scorsese's "The King of Comedy" beat it to the punch back in 1983, and what made that film work was that it took itself seriously despite an outrageous concept of a would-be comedian making it big by kidnapping another comedian. There are some big howlers in "Serial Mom" as expected from Waters, especially the sight of Serial Mom skewering a kid with a fireplace poker and removing his dripping liver (a nod to 1963's "Blood Feast"). There are also precious moments where Serial Mom is greeted by fans at a rock concert and great cameos by Patty Hearst (who wears white on Labor Day) and Traci Lords.

"Serial Mom" is not shocking, profane or in bad taste, and this is due partly to John Waters who is no longer interested in ridiculing our tastes in decency and respectability by going through extremes. Society has caught up with Waters and his shock value is gone - how can you compete with the media saturation of attention on such sensational subjects as the Menendez brothers or Nancy Kerrigan.

On the plus side, Kathleen Turner is effectively hilarious as Serial Mom, Ricki Lake is delightful particularly when posing in front of cameramen, and Sam Waterston shows calm in the face of chaos from the media circulating around the strange, murderous behavior of his wife. But the film is far too subdued and toned down and, frankly, rather blah. I guess one just expects Waters to get outrageous and down and dirty. He should be as far from respectability as possible.

Heaven Help YOU!

RELIGULOUS (2008)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Bill Maher is a radical leftist comedian who has taken his radical political views quite far on his vastly entertaining show, "Real Time with Bill Maher." Religion is a hot-button issue for him, mainly because he thinks it is silly for people to believe in a space god. I am not sure if religion is a concept he is willing to invest more highly in - he treats it as a joke and thinks people are stupid if they believe. He is an aggressive atheist but maybe not aggressive enough. I have a feeling that is why he made "Religulous," a funny, observant and very uneven documentary. Uneven because Bill Maher has a habit of not listening closely enough and interrupting those whom he interviews.

Bill Maher begins the global journey in an effort to understand religion and why many believe in God. He travels to a North Carolina truck stop chapel where one of the truckers walks out in disgust at Maher's comments. Another trucker comments on being a former Satanist priest (!) who found God. We also get a Puerto Rican named Jose Luis de Jesus Miranda, who believes he is the Second Coming of Christ largely due to a bloodline of descendants from Jesus Christ. In addition, we get an actor playing Jesus at a Florida Biblical amusement park, which includes a whipping of a bloodied Christ carrying the cross accompanied by applause from the audience; ex-Mormons questioning Joseph Smith as a leader; an Amsterdam club where marijuana is smoked but not as a sacrament (this segment confused me but who knows, they were all probably high); a gay Muslim bar; a far too short segment on the late film director Theo Van Gogh who made a film that offended Muslims and was killed for it; a rabbi who denies the Holocaust, and so much more. Interspersed throughout the film are clips from old Jesus flicks and George C. Scott as Abraham in the hysterical John Huston film, "The Bible" (there is also a funny clip from "Superbad.")

Most of "Religulous" is very funny but I can't say it is all sharply observed or on-target. The truck stop chapel footage could've been better served had it been towards the end. Some segments deserve more focus, particularly the ex-Mormon bit, the comparison between Abraham sacrificing his son for God to a recent murder of five children by their mother ("God told me to do it"), more scenes of Bill Maher's late mother and her sharing in her son's concept of doubt, and the concept of original sin and why Jesus Miranda believes sinning no longer exists (that was a howler).

What does work is when Bill Maher asks truly valid questions. Why does the Old Testament not talk about the virgin birth? Why no written text exists on Jesus's teenage years? Why a certain preacher believes that Jesus was a rich man and why he can't get that old camel and the needle quote correct? I also liked Maher's observations on miracles and when rain is simply rain. Also interesting is seeing the area of Meggido and how it seems an unlikely location for the end of days.

As I said, "Religulous" is damn funny stuff and invigorating and illuminating but it needed sharper questions from Maher about the validity of religion and how and why it shapes people's lives, particularly when the concept of sin is often omitted. Maybe it scares Bill to get too deep or maybe he had already made up his mind about religion before he even made the film.

Wipe out any memory of this movie

THE FORGOTTEN (2004)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

The electrifying Julianne Moore and director Joseph Ruben should have been able to make a terrifically suspenseful psychological thriller. Moore, one of the most charismatic and honest of all major league actresses, can make your jaw drop with her acute sensitivity and ball-of-fire emotions. Director Ruben may not have a great track record since his underrated "The Stepfather" but he's probably just in search of a good story to tell. "The Forgotten" is not it but, boy, does it have a solid beginning.

Julianne Moore plays Telly Paretta, a married book editor who longs for her dead son. Her son apparently died in a plane accident and Telly, day after day, touches her son's belongings such as a baseball glove. One day she notices that her son has disappeared from her framed family photos, including photo albums. She suspects her husband (thanklessly played by Anthony Edwards) has removed the pictures but he denies ever having a son with her - he was apparently stillborn (and so is Edwards). Even Telly's good-natured, understanding psychiatrist (an even more thankless role played by Gary Sinise) denies that she ever had a son - he's been waiting for her moment of realization. Is there a conspiracy or is Telly suffering from a mental illness where she invents people in her life who don't exist? The idea that someone can imagine or invent a person or persons is an idea worthy for a film. Instead, the filmmakers opt for a series of deux ex machinas that trivialize the story and aim for maximum stupidity and unrealistic coincidences and occurrences that only happen in the movies. How the story changes its tune I won't say except that you'll feel cheated that the screenwriters didn't trust their own source material.

Julianne Moore does the best she can, looking as glamorous and beautiful as in those Revlon ads. She is not, however, given the freedom to really engage her emotions - by the end, she is more disenchanted and detached than the character should be. The rest of the cast is an embarrassment, including Alfre Woodard as a cop who distrusts the NSA (National Security Agency) who is after Telly. Woodard, who gave memorable performances in "Passion Fish" and "Grand Canyon," simply exists to utter mediocre dialogue and then drift away. Like all the other actors, they are wooden logs that are flung about without any rhyme or reason.

Director Joseph Ruben does know how to shock and move an audience, and it happens in one fleeting instance. There is a car crash scene that is unsettling and will make you rock back and forth in your theater seat. But such a moment means nothing other than to keep the audience awake. Such car crashes were more effective in films like "Adaptation" and "Punch Drunk Love." Here, it is nothing more than an attempt to make the audience believe they are seeing something new. I can't say much more about "The Forgotten" without giving away crucial details. The preview makes this look like the latest endeavor by M. Night Shyamalan. You will not just forget "The Forgotten," you just won't care to remember.

A Blasted Heath of a movie

THE CURSE (1987)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

According to H.P. Lovecraft scholars, "The Curse," which is adapted from Lovecraft's own creepy and menacing short story "The Colour of Space," is more faithful to the author's literary source than the 1965 version "Die, Monster, Die!" Not sure if Lovecraft was thinking of Bible-thumping farm owners, marital infidelity, worms that eat the innards of cattle and apples, a lascivious real-estate agent, a poop joke, shades of "The Exorcist" and lots of bile spewing phenomenon. Then again, I am not a Lovecraft devotee but, then again, I have read the story and this movie bears little resemblance to its literary source.

As directed by David Keith, "The Curse" left me feeling nauseated. The movie is exceedingly gross, featuring too many shots of worms and maggots eating away the inside of fruits and far too many shots of unhealthy-looking face sores. The story is set on a Tennessee farm run by the Biblical and righteous Nathan Hayes (Claude Akins) who has a new family to support. There is the wandering eye of his new and very horny wife, Frances (Kathleen Jordon Gregory - her sole film credit), who has to learn to make better bread rolls; a zombiefied-looking Wil Wheaton as the stepson Zack; Nathan's giddy and maniacally irritating elder son (Malcolm Danare) who teases Wil incessantly, and Amy Wheaton as Zack's younger sister. A glowing meteorite crashes a few yards from the Hayes farm and it spews liquids and unknown elements into the property and the water supply. Most of the family members drink the water that transforms them into mean killing machines with contorted faces and a few ugly sores. Then there are the worms that fester on the livestock and the fruits. Yuck. See how you react to the sight of chickens pecking away at Amy Wheaton's face. Only the Wheatons are smart enough not to drink the water.

The characters have no more than two dimensions, especially Claude Akins who appears to be a rigid, strict disciplinarian (he laughs at a "poop" joke from his son and that is about as animated as Akins gets in the entire movie). Danare's Cyrus is every brother's nightmare - a loud, obnoxious, bullying brat who you know will get his just deserts.  Kathleen Gregory's Frances is convincingly dour but she only comes alive in horror makeup. We also get "Dukes of Hazzard's" own John Schneider as a surveyor from the Tennessee Valley Authority (the short story was told from his perspective).

"The Curse" is a generic and frenetic "alleged" horror flick that is mediocre in all departments - a largely revolting movie I will always remember for the worms. A vomit-inducer of a movie, if that is your idea of a good time. A better vomit-inducer is John Carpenter's "The Thing." Better yet, read the original short story by H.P. Lovecraft - it is riveting.

Media makes monsters

NO SUCH THING (2001)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

I have only seen two Hal Hartley films, "The Unbelievable Truth" and "Henry Fool." Both are existential dramas, mostly dealing with pain and repressed emotions. The main thrust in those films was the existence of the individual, and the individual's recognition of his or her own futile existence. "No Such Thing" now focuses on the existential nature of a monster, not a human being. A radical idea indeed, and I am not sure it is a major success at all but, at the very least, it gives it a whirl.

Beatrice (Sarah Polley) is the assistant to the "Boss" (Helen Mirren), the chain-smoking producer of a trashy, tabloid TV show. The latest news are the problems in New York City, including terrorist organizations infiltrating subway systems and bridges (this film was released last March though it was initially set to be released in the fall of 2001. In these troubled times, the terrorism angle is sure to be a reason). The Boss is sick of the latest news and wants something catastrophic and unusual - something to send shock waves across the country. Lo and behold, one of their TV news crews had disappeared somewhere off the coast of Iceland. One of the crew members was Beatrice's fiance. Beatrice decides to follow the story and find out what happened to her fiance and everyone else. A jet plane carrying Beatrice crashes though, and she miraculously survives. She then has to face a spinal operation and intense physical therapy for six months. Beatrice recuperates and proceeds to go to Iceland. She finds that a horned, fire-breathing monster (Robert Burke) has killed the crew. This monster is isolated, immortal, a drunk and obscene. Beatrice knows he will not hurt her, and he trusts her enough to accompany her to find a reclusive doctor named Dr. Artaud, the only known man who can kill the monster. Make no mistake, the monster wishes to be killed so he can end his suffering.

After reading this far, you might be saying, "How ridiculous!" Of course it is but Hartley never aims for satire or for laughs. He has not crafted a horror film either. This is more of an expose of how the media turns freaks into fodder for the masses - oh, the exploitation! The horror! But it is also a love story of sorts between the beauty and the beast, and how the beauty manages to forget the beast while he's being exploited. It is also how a monster views himself in an existential world where pain and suffering will go on and on. He can't stop himself from killing people, but he does make a promise to Beatrice not to kill after leaving his island for America. But I can't say that all of "No Such Thing" is really that coherent. It is a mess, straining and working to be one kind of film before changing and shaping itself to be something else.

The first thirty minutes of "No Such Thing" are as beautiful and mysterious as most films can be. We follow Beatrice on her journey to Iceland, and Polley makes her character strong and compassionate. I even liked the scenes of her and the monster. However, when the film shifts its setting to America, it becomes a self-conscious jumble of how the media is morally corrupt. How often have we seen this cliche played over and over again? How cardboard can Helen Mirren and any of the stock news characters get? Why even bring the monster to America? Why not let the story stay in the Iceland setting since, in such a remote land, anything can happen? Why is the monster such an obnoxious, indefensible creature with no apparent remorse for anyone or anything? If he had existed since the dawn of man, would four-letters be the extent of his language and understanding?

"No Such Thing" could have been so much more, but the last half of the film fails mainly because it forgoes its initial ideas for mediocre ones. Burke's monster can be repetitious, as is Mirren's shtick, but Polley shines brightly in her role. Her best scenes are the quiet ones, such as the moments prior to her operation or when she gets drunk with other Icelanders. I also liked a priceless scene where she practically gets mugged by a heroin chick in New York (though I am not quite sure of the significance of that scene). But Beatrice's shift from compassionate to merely hogging the media spotlight when bringing the monster to America is curiously unsatisfying and inconsistent. I can't say that I recommend "No Such Thing" because it does fall apart and never recovers. But I will say that Hartley's failure is infinitely more satisfying than failures from hack directors. At least he has something to say.

Welcome to New Jersey's Short Cuts

HAPPINESS (1998)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

(Best film of 1998)

(Original review from 1998)

"Happiness" is one of the richest, darkly complex, and ironically funniest portraits of American life since "Short Cuts." It is tinged with irony, deadpan humor, and some severely unpleasant subject matter, though always treated in a respectful, artful manner by a promising writer-director, Todd Solondz. Solondz previously directed "Welcome to the Dollhouse," a provocative statement about growing up in Jersey, but who would have thought he would helm a multi-layered, disturbing portrait of Jersey like this one.

The film begins with a date at a restaurant. The curly-haired brunette Joy (Jane Adams) is sitting at a table with a man (John Lovitz) whom she has just dumped. He questions her, trying to discover why the relationship is over. He shows her an engraved ashtray, and tells her it's for the person who will love him for who he is.

Afterwards, we meet the orange-haired Allen (the great Philip Seymour Hoffman), a guy who masturbates on the phone while arbitrarily picking names off the phone book and asking the women what they are wearing. Not only does he stalk people on the phone at home, but also at his office where he works. When he confesses his explicit sexual fantasies to a therapist, Bill (Dylan Baker), we recognize boredom is settling on the therapist's face. We hear his thoughts in voice-over. We see a strange dream where Bill kills everyone in a playground with a machine gun. Then he masturbates while looking at teen magazines, and we realize his true nature: he's a pedophile.

Then we are introduced to Joy's sisters, which include Trish (Cynthia Stevenson), a bland, perfect housewife unaware of her husband's (Bill's) clandestine sexual nature, and Helen (Lara Flynn Boyle), a poet who writes about rapes and finds that New Jersey is the ideal place to live to prove you're not a showy writer. There is also Joy's unhappy parents, Lenny (Ben Gazzara) and Mona (Louise Lasser, a long way from "Bananas"). Lenny wants out of the marriage so he can live his life, yet Mona understandably thinks that it is because of her and that she's too fat and needs a facelift. When Mona asks for advice from a real-estate dealer (amusingly played by Marla Maples) about her marriage, the dealer responds: "Divorce is the best thing that ever happened to me."

Joy needs and wants love desperately, but doesn't know what love is. Her sisters berate her about their perfect, exciting lives yet she feels cast out of the family. When not being sexually harassed on the phone (by Allen), she confides in a thick-accented Russian taxi driver (Jared Harris), who has sex with her and patiently listens to one of her guitar-playing songs. Of course, he turns out to be a thief who is married!

Everyone in "Happiness" has difficulty adapting to their lifestyles, and they are all inadequate about their loved ones. Interestingly, they all feel a brink of happiness when they are alone. Allen lives by himself in a bland apartment and is giddy when making anonymous calls; Joy feels better when playing the guitar to herself; Lenny can't bring himself to have an affair and chooses to be left alone; and Bill wants to be left alone with his son's male friends by drugging everyone with sleeping pills. Only a secondary character named Kristina (Camryn Manheim), Allen's neighbor, needs solace when she admits her own secrets to Allen.

"Happiness" is an exemplary combination of flawless writing, directing and acting. It is shrewdly written by Solondz, and he never makes it easy for the audience when he wavers between drama and comedy with unusual results. At times, you don't know whether to laugh, cringe or both. The most obvious example is when Bill admits his secret sexual desires to his son - it is so painful to watch that we are not sure how to respond to it. This is true of Kristina's secret, which causes one to laugh because it is so unexpected.

The performances are so adeptly attuned to the material that you can't separate one actor from the other - they fit the roles perfectly. One lasting impression is left by character actor Dylan Baker (who should be remembered at Oscar time) as the disturbed pedophile. His face is so haunting and etched with so much pain that he becomes unforgettable - he also brings a sense of humanity to Bill that makes it harder to judge him as a person. He tries, in one scene, to tell his wife that he is sick, yet he can't help his nature.

Solondz has not crafted an exploitative fantasy where the freaks are on display for everyone to identify - a modern-day Jerry Springer-like movie where the audience can boo the loveless characters off the screen. Instead, he addresses these characters as normal, everyday people facing their own crisis, their own lack of understanding, and their own inability to love. He looks at everyone with a sympathetic eye, including the pedophile, and cuts deeply into our consciousness about our human needs.

Bad Lycan Seed

GINGER SNAPS 2: UNLEASHED (2004)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

"Ginger Snaps: Unleashed" is one of the scarier horror sequels since the "Nightmare on Elm Street" series. The difference from most slasher cum horror series is this sequel actually builds on one of the main characters it established in the first film, bringing the tension to a grisly finish that will leave you in stitches.

In the original "Ginger Snaps," Brigette (Emily Perkins) was the dour high-school girl, the loner who wanted to save her sister, Ginger (Katharine Isabelle), from reaching maximum lycanthropic heights. Since Ginger died at Brigette's hands, Brigette is now infected, slowly but surely she will become a werewolf. She cuts herself daily, to see if she heals any faster with the antidote she concocted - a bluish, purplish liquid, basically wolfsbane, that she injects into her arms, legs, wherever. The problem is that she is building an immunity to the stuff. There is also a werewolf after her, for reasons never made clear, and somehow Brigette finds herself in a psychiatric facility for girls. She also has to contend with Ghost (Tatiana Maslany), a young, wise blonde girl who runs around the facility and often takes care of her grandmother who nearly got roasted in a fire. Question: if this is a psych ward for girls with mental and other problems, what is a burn victim doing there? Anyways, Ghost learns of Brigette's problems and they become pals - Brigette's main concern is to escape the facility since she is in danger from the monstrous werewolf.

"Ginger Snaps: Unleashed" has several moments of frightful surprises, and the tension is unbridled throughout. Director Brett Sullivan unleashes quite a few scares from the start and the gory flash frames, used sparingly, the tremendously foggy, snowy landspaces, the dank art direction (the psych ward and Ghost's booby-trapped house are especially creepy) add enormously to the film's atmosphere.

What really lends support is Emily Perkins' performance as Brigette, a girl suffering inside and out from her curse. She does not give in to her sexual impulses, thanks to her sister Ginger who appears occasionally as a ghost to tempt her. Brigette knows it is a hopeless situation, but she accepts her eventual, full scale transformation. Also worth noting is Tatiana Maslany as Ghost, a devious yet seemingly innocent girl - her last scene will give you major goosebumps.

"Ginger Snaps: Unleashed" is frighteningly good, occasionally gory fun (and its psych ward is far more interesting than the one in "Girl, Interrupted") but it does have a few loopholes (who is that werewolf really?) Still, for a genre that used to be rooted in slasher routines, this sequel ups the ante on devilish surprises, piquantly written, and leaves the werewolf to the imagination (only seen in quick close-ups). Is it as good as the first cult horror film? No, but it comes darn close. What gives the film an extra ounce of demonic pleasure is the performances by Perkins and Maslany. At least one of them gives new definition to the term: bad seed.

Crop circles restrain Mel Gibson

SIGNS (2002)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

(Originally reviewed on Sept. 22nd, 2002)

There are definite signs that M. Night Shyamalan is destined to be the next Spielberg. Or the next Hitchcock. Or whatever. I am still waiting. After the phenomenal success of "The Sixth Sense" and the solemnity of "Unbreakable," Shyamalan was left wondering what to do next. He crossed over into a story involving aliens and that leaves us with "Signs," an artfully made thriller with echoes of faith written all over it, yet completely lacking any real emotional conviction. If only the lead character was not such a zombie.

Mel Gibson plays former Father Graham Hess, a widower with two children to raise, a younger brother, Merrill (Joaquin Phoenix), and a farm full of corn stalks. He is a former Reverend who questioned his faith after his wife died in a tragic car accident. Merrill has moved in to help him cope. Graham has two children, Morgan (Rory Culkin), and Bo (Abigain Breslin), who have their own eccentricities. Morgan becomes immersed in extraterrestrial books. Bo leaves half-empty glasses of water all over the house for fear of contaminants. Merrill stays glued to the television hidden in a closet, awaiting further updates of aliens hovering all over the planet. All this after crop circles have materialized from Bucks County, Pennsylvania to India. These very same crop circles have materialized in Graham's own farm land (which is set in Bucks County). Are there really aliens occupying Earth or is it an elaborate hoax?

The signs are there, and this is where the movie really works. The Hess's dog tries to attack Bo and is killed by Morgan. There are the glasses of water. Strange language patterns are heard in a baby monitor. Graham hears noises in his farm land, and sometimes hears and sees someone leaping all over their property. A Brazilian video birthday party shows a green man waltzing by (a nod, no doubt, to the famous Bigfoot footage from the 1970's). And, of course, there are those crop circles. Is the world going to end? Are these aliens friendly or hostile? Will Graham restore his faith in God by believing that these aliens are a godsend?

After a tight, fright-filled forty minutes, I began to suspect that Shyamalan was going to hit us with something profound or give us some kind of epiphany involving these aliens and the Hess family. Sadly, nothing ever comes out of the initial premise. I was hoping for a more studied look at hoaxes versus reality and how they affect a family willing to believe in the impossible. Shyamalan holds back and just focuses on the family members. That is all fine and dandy, but there is no real presence in the leading character played by Gibson. Graham is shown to be emotionless and faithless. Gibson plays him with such solemnity and restraint that there is nothing left to look at except at a robot. Thankfully, Gibson has no over-the-top shouting matches in the movie but there is not much else either. It is one thing for a character to be humorless and devoid of personality, but an actor like Gibson, who can be humorous and full of life, makes Graham about as interesting as a refrigerator.

Only the kids come forth with any hint of vibrancy. Rory Culkin shows more range than his older, famous brother, and Breslin has that childlike innocence that always works. I also enjoyed Joaquin Phoenix as the less-than-straight-arrow brother, but even he seems to have toned down his performance. Excepting the kids, it is like watching a movie with zombies instead of real people (one of the flaws that plagued Shyamalan's "Unbreakable"). The climax is shoddy at best and a letdown. M. Night Shyamalan still has talent to spare in his choice of framing shots and building suspense with ease, but empathetic characters are still needed to make the suspense work. The buildup is all there for a gripping, compelling film. All we get is the buildup that leads to numerous signs and little else.

Those Who Do Not Speak of the Twist

THE VILLAGE (2004)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

(Originally reviewed in 2004)

M. Night Shyamalan has been known as the new prince of suspense and horror in movies. He's also been crowned as the new Spielberg, an achievement that is still unclear to me. Prior to Shyamalan's "The Sixth Sense" hit, he directed two largely unknown films, one of them was "Wide Awake." After "The Sixth Sense" came the solemn "Unbreakable" and the even more deadening "Signs." Okay, so now you know I am not a big fan of the Nightman, but where is the Spielbergian comparison? Shyamalan is more geared towards suspense and atmosphere that lead to the inevitable twist ending. Spielberg makes films that are awesome in scale and sentiment, but typically he does not lend his hand to horror or suspense. So now comes the Nightman's newest suspense shocker, "The Village," a film that has already driven Internet movie fanatics wild with its ending, something which M. Night fans knew the outcome to prior to the showing of the first trailer! My, my, my, how I crave the days when nobody expected to be shocked by the double twist finale of 1955's "Diabolique," a film that ends with a warning to kids to keep mum about its secret ending. And so here comes "The Village" and I must say that I was pleasantly surprised. The twist was a surprise to me, but the movie is a humanistic, scary ride into one of my favorite locations for any horror film, the forest.

Set in the 1890's, the film takes place in a village that has its own community of elders, teenagers and children. The village is Covington, Pennsylvania, presided by its patriarch, Edward Walker (William Hurt), a professor. Walker has two daughters, the shrill Kitty (Judy Greer, always great at being shrill) who is eager to get married, and the blind Ivy (Bryce Dallas Howard) who can see people's aura in the form of a color. There is also Lucius Hunt (Joaquim Phoenix), his widowed mother, Alice (Sigourney Weaver), and the village idiot (Adrien Brody). There is also a triangular romance, dances by candlelight, young women happily sweeping leaves off of their balconies, men worrying about wrinkling their shirts, and so on.

This village is unique in its spaciousness despite being so closed-in. The reason is that the woods surrounding the village are filled with creatures in red cloaks, also known as Those We Do Not Speak Of. There has always been an understanding between the creatures and the village people, to keep a barrier barring either party from entering each other's space. Also, the color red is forbidden since it will entice TWDNSO (which begs the question, if there is a mutual understanding between them, why would the creatures know if anyone is wearing red or keeping a red flower)? Unfortunately, something wicked has come to the town. Livestock and animals have been skinned alive and left for dead. Is it the creatures? Resourceful Lucius Hunt wants to find out and cross into the woods, but he needs permission from the elders. But there is something else beyond all that foliage. A road to an unnamed town exists where Lucius could bring back medicine (despite the fact that the village has a doctor). Since there is no medicine, children and elders sometimes die, no doubt due to sickness. Was every late 19th century village like this?

"The Village" has more up its sleeve. Think I will tell you more? Nope, no way. This is a relatively SPOILER-FREE review. Sorry Nightfans, but I cannot dispense much more info. Suffice to say, if you have seen the Nightman's other films, you can expect a few surprises here and there. Of course, something happens at the end that...well, can't say it or divulge it.

What starts out as an atmospheric horror film, using such handy devices like fog over an indecipherable horizon, close-ups of silhouetted tree branches and so on, radically becomes a different kind of film. Let's say that the...my, not sure I can say that either. I am not a paid film critic nor was I told by any studio to keep a secret, but it would be unethical of me to say much more. I can say that the performances deliver on cue, including Adrien Brody as the unrestrained village idiot who is always laughing at those damn creatures making weird sounds in the forest. William Hurt is always a marvel to behold, delivering his usual slow tempo of speech - you're always eager to hear what he has to say next. The brightest spot in the film is Bryce Dallas Howard (Ron Howard's daughter) as the truly resourceful heroine of the film, though I can't reveal more than that. Joaquim Phoenix is a disappointment, if only because he plays a far too stolid character. Sigourney Weaver is not much better, looking a little bored due to a severely underwritten part. By contrast, Cherry Jones as one of the village women sparkles and seems to be occupying a real time and place.

As compared to the Nightman's other flicks, "The Village" is far superior to "Signs" or "Unbreakable." It has the sentiment and the pulsating heart of "The Sixth Sense," focusing on the director's penchant for families drawn together by unforeseen circumstances. The Nightman also knows how to evoke scares and shock tactics like a true magician. And like any magician, he certainly has a lot up his sleeve.

Three wishes, first one: AVOID THIS MOVIE

WISHMASTER (1997)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

(Originally reviewed in 1999)

There is one great shot in the hopelessly overwrought "Wishmaster." It is a quick shot but definitely a keeper. The heroine of the film, Alex (Tammy Lauren), visits the well-kept house of a curator (Robert Englund). The curator shows her various historic, priceless statues, including one of Pazuzu! Yes, the very same one from "The Exorcist," though perhaps smaller. It is a great shot, and one of mystery, allure and introspection, all the things the rest of "Wishmaster" is not.

The titled character is an evil genie, also known as the Djinn (Andrew Divoff, who played the anonymous biker villain in "Another 48 HRS."), who is ready to wreck havoc on the world by granting people their innermost wishes and desires. The trouble is that he takes their simple wishes and exploits them in an evil manner. For example, he grants a wish to a homeless man who wishes the rude pharmacy manager would contract cancer and die. The Djinn grants the wish and the manager grows pale and dies within a few minutes after the wish is granted. Surely the homeless man did not mean to do that!

Alex, the jewel expert, (Tammy Lauren) inadvertently unleashes this evil spirit from a fire opal and, in a nod to "Nightmare on Elm Street 4," she can feel pain each time a victim falls prey to the genie. She has to grant him three wishes and in return, he gets to destroy the world or rule it or whatever he plans to do with it.

"Wishmaster" could have been an enjoyable, highly moralistic little horror film if done with some imagination and taste. Instead it feeds on buckets of gore to make its exclamatory points about why you should think about the wishes you make before making them. The film quickly grows ponderous and silly, particularly with the Wishmaster's tired one-liners (do genies truly utter four-letter words? Haven't they been around long enough to make more snappy remarks?) Divoff is convincingly menacing as the Djinn but he even he grows tiresome. Only Lauren rises above this mess with some measure of dignity, if only because it shows a woman can defeat evil genies. Here's a wish: I wish Wes Craven would direct the films he produces.

P.S. Buck Flower plays the toothless homeless man in "Wishmaster," a similar role to his Bread character in the "Back to the Future" movies where he also played a homeless man. Alluding once again to the "Exorcist," Flower has a similar line to the homeless man in that film: "Hey, can you help an old altar boy? I am Catholic." Sacrilege!

Sin is good

VAMPIRE IN BROOKLYN (1995)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

(Originally reviewed in Fall 1996)

Eddie Murphy is pretty much on the same wavelength as Whoopi Goldberg: they are both big, audacious comic stars who don't easily fit into any of the countless tired Hollywood formulas written for them. Whoopi has had a little more success than Eddie in the 90's, prior to Eddie's "The Nutty Professor." As a result, Eddie has not had a major comedy hit since 1988's "Coming to America," arguably his best picture. The new Eddie Murphy played a vampire in a film by Wes Craven back in 1995, a role you'd never expect the old Eddie from "Beverly Hills Cop" to play.

Murphy plays an African vampire with a goatee named Max who travels to Brooklyn to find his soul mate. His soul mate turns out to be a frustrated, edgy cop played by the lovely Angela Bassett ("What's Love Got To Do With It"). Max bites a few necks along the way to get to her but he can't do it all himself. He enlists the help of a young thief who becomes a sort of deteriorating, latter-day Renfield. We've seen this type of story countless times before, and there is no reason any of this should really work. Murphy as a vampire in a Wes Craven flick? Is this comedy-horror or a horror-comedy?

The surprise is that "Vampire in Brooklyn" is not half-bad at all, a minor guilty pleasure. There are plenty of good laughs, dozens of one-liners, frenetic camerawork from Max's point-of-view as he soars across Brooklyn, nasty dream sequences, and Murphy shows ample skill as a vampire who can shape-shift into a holier-than-thou, Al Sharpton-type Reverend or a thick-accented Italian gangster named Guido. The photography is appropriately dark and damp considering most of the story takes place at night. There are some nice, subtle touches such as the flickering candlelights that surround Murphy and Bassett's erotic dance and arm lanterns that extend from the wall, all lifted from Cocteau's "Beauty and the Beast" and Coppola's "Dracula."

I also found there to be pleasant chemistry between Murphy and Bassett - it would be nice to see them in more romantic pairings in the future. The scenes of Murphy inviting Bassett to dine with him ("I would like to have you...for dinner") are priceless and fitfully funny. The other plus is Murphy's impeccable impersonations and marvelous make-up jobs that show him off as the talent he always was - still, these scenes have little to do with the story at hand. Often such comedic highlights, which are precious few, interfere with the ghastly blood and gore.

"Vampire in Brooklyn" is packed with gross gags galore and unnecessary gore. A horror-comedy should balance both horror and blood equally rather than going overkill on the gore, as also witnessed by John Landis's excruciating "Innocent Blood." The ending is also strangely unfinished - I would love to have seen a more imaginative killing method rather than the traditional stake-in-the-heart. A little originality would not hurt - who can ever forget Christopher Lee's Dracula killed by both a cross and the rays of sunlight?

"Vampire in Brooklyn" proved to be a failure as Murphy's comeback - a year later, he wowed audiences and made a major comeback with "The Nutty Professor." This film certainly beats the last dreary "Beverly Hills Cop" picture he did though not as harmless and fitfully funny as "The Distinguished Gentleman." It is a hoot and a half and sporadically funny but not enough of a challenge for dear old Eddie. My advice to Eddie Murphy is to return to his raw, politically incorrect roots, as it were. He was funnier and more outrageous when you did not know what to expect.

A Moderate scream, baby!

SCREAM 3 (2000)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

(Originally reviewed in 2000)

I know of very few finite horror trilogies. The "Evil Dead" is the only example I can think of. The nearly parodic original "Scream" certainly never gave the impression that a sequel was necessary, or a trilogy. Yet "Scream 3" is here, and the surprise is that it is not bad - a decent if pale reminder of the previous two entries.

This time, the nearly traumatized heroine Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) is living in a secluded area outside L.A., which makes sense considering she has escaped the wrath of a ghostface killer in two movies. She has now changed her name, and works as a woman's crisis operator! She also has visions of her dead mother walking in the wooded area outside her house (if you recall, Sidney's mother was killed by her boyfriend in the original).

But the nightmare is not over as we witness the making of "Stab 3: Return to Woodsboro," a Hollywood production with a novice film director Roman Bridger (Scott Foley) at the helm. The ingratiating Parker Posey plays Gale Weathers, the bitchy reporter. Courteney Cox Arquette returns of course as the real Gale, seeing her life once again depicted in a movie (as evidenced by the outstanding success of the first "Stab" film shown in "Scream 2.") I hope this all makes sense. But somebody is offing all the cast members of the latest production, and it is up to Gale and witty returnee David Arquette as the bumbling former cop Dewey, now technical advisor for "Stab 3", to solve the crime and determine who is the new killer with the cape and Edward Munch mask. Whoever it is has a fixation on poor Sidney and her dead mother.

"Scream 3" is the sequel-within-the-sequel-near-parody that almost takes its idea and turns it on its head, as "Scream 2" did. Unfortunately, the script by writer Ehren Kruger ("Arlington Road") eschews some of the clever wit and puns of the first two films, concentrating instead on slicing and dicing methods of cruelty. In other words, "Scream 3" almost becomes the generic slasher movie that these movies made a mockery out of in the first place. Frankly, Sidney and their pals have forgotten how to play by the rules they were so proudly an authority on. Never run up the stairs as opposed to outside the house and never say the name of the person you are looking for since they are most likely dead. Oh, and please never go inside a dark basement and for God's sakes, use a cell phone when you really need it in a moment of crisis.

Despite a number of false scares (some did make me jump) and red herrings, "Scream 3" is fairly okay, at least far superior to "Urban Legend" or "I Know What You Did Last Summer." There is enough tension throughout and some good performances, particularly Neve Campbell. She has matured since the original film and shows ample strength and humanity - never has a heroine seemed so sympathetic in any of these slasher flicks. I also enjoyed watching the Arquettes mingle and throw verbal asides - my favorite is when Gale asks Dewey about Sidney's phone number and if he has it in his memory. He thinks for a moment, and then she shouts, "Phone memory!" Independent film starlet Parker Posey is the big star of the film and she is tremendously fun to watch, delivering all her lines with ironic gusto. I also enjoyed the scenes where she spars with Courteney Cox as they investigate the murders and question various suspects. I did not enjoy the unimaginative by-the-numbers scenes with Jenny McCarthy as an actress (are we cringing yet?), Patrick Dempsey as a cop (!) and Lance Henriksen as a Roger Corman-type producer. The supporting actors playing the supporting actors of the sequel-within-the-sequel are bland and forgettable.

"Scream 3" is a fitting conclusion to a popular movie series that spawned so many horrible copycats in its wake. From director Wes Craven, who can make these movies in his sleep, it is markedly better than most other rip-offs. If only screenwriter Kevin Williamson returned to write this one, it would have been a real scream, baby.

Another Stab at the Genre-within-the-genre

SCREAM 2 (1997)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia
(Originally reviewed in 1997)

"Horror movie sequels suck," says a film student at one point. "The entire horror genre was destroyed by sequels." I couldn't agree more considering the junk that preceded the original "Scream" such as "Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers" or the slew of other horror sequels. I approached "Scream 2" with the same kind of dread: why make a sequel to a self-referential movie that didn't exactly ask for a follow-up? Surprisingly, "Scream 2" is that rare sequel that is far superior to the original in every aspect - it is wittier, funnier, bloodier and, double surprise, more cunning and clever. It's also a more effective commentary on teens and twenty-somethings who get wrapped up in the mundane slasher/horror films of yesteryear.

"Scream 2" brings back Sidney (Neve Campbell), the strong screaming heroine from the original Scream, who now has a new boyfriend (Jerry O'Connell), and is attending a midwestern school called Windsor College. This time, she has caller-ID and can tell when someone is playing a prank on her. Jamie Kennedy is also back as the geeky survivor from the original who is now a geeky film student at the same college. All is well until someone dressed in the Edvard Munch-like mask and black cape begins to stalk the streets again. The killer is now hacking off girls at the college's sorority, a group whom Sidney wisely decided not to join (Shades of "Black Christmas"). The corpses begin to pile up forcing tabloid reporter/superstar Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox) to unwisely report on the murderous news, once again. These incidents also bring the former police officer Dewey (David Arquette), another survivor from the original, back to visit his old friends and to rekindle his romance with the unwilling Gale. And we also see Liev Schreiber (he had a brief cameo in "Scream") as the wrongly convicted Cotton who's looking for a little pay back.

"Scream 2" might seem like just another slasher picture with better actors, but it is more than that - it manages to be a sequel-within-a-sequel film that keeps referring back to itself in clever, original ways. For example, we see that Gale's book on the events in the first film had been made into a feature film called "Stab." We see clips from the film starring Heather Graham ("Boogie Nights") in the Drew Barrymore role, and Tori Spelling as Sidney, an actress whom the real Sidney had scoffed at in the first film. And then we have the coup de resistance: the opening sequence set in a movie theatre showing the film "Stab" where most of the audience is in costume waving fake knives. However, the real killer may be somewhere in the theatre.

And there are the requisite in-jokes and little asides. My favorite is when Gale refers to her nude Website as her head on "Jennifer Aniston's body." I also liked the scene where the geeky film student is talking to the killer on a cell phone: "My favorite scary movie is 'Showgirls'. Very frightening." And the aforementioned sequel discussion in film class is a classic.

"Scream 2" is very effective in establishing its characters including Sidney, the 90's horror version of Jamie Lee Curtis impressively played by Neve Campbell, who still harbors certain doubts about the people in her life, such as her boyfriend who may or may not be the killer. Campbell has several good scenes, and she, once again, makes Sidney a sympathetic, heroic character. She has a very moving scene where she is performing the part of Cassandra on stage stalked by actors in demon outfits. One of them turns out to be the killer wearing the mask, or was it just a hallucination? Courteney Cox is more animated and hilarious, this time, as the media-obsessed Gale who has a fixation on the killer and can't wait to see when he'll strike next. She has a hysterically funny scene where she hires a new cameraman who's hesitant to work for her because he might get killed like the last one. "He wasn't gutted. I made that up. His throat was slashed," admits Gale. The cameraman's response: "Gutted, slashed - the guy is not in the union anymore. Besides, brothers don't last long in situations like this." Isn't that the truth?

"Scream 2" is strictly by-the-numbers in terms of plot structure and story, but it also tends to be unpredictable. There are the usual scares but some of them are unexpected. Basically, it's a sequel about a sequel being made as we are watching it - you can almost feel the giddiness in Gale's character as she becomes aware that the events happening around her is good material for her next book that will eventually be made into a movie sequel to "Stab." Get it? "Scream 2" is part of the 90's postmodern movement where we are consistently reminded we're watching a movie about a movie-within-a-movie.

Director Wes Craven still knows how to build suspense and thrills better than any other horror director: the opening pre-credit sequence with Jada Pinkett as a moviegoer at the "Stab" screening is one of the most frightening and compelling scenes I've ever seen, certainly topping the Barrymore opening from the original. Screenwriter Kevin Williamson, who also helmed the original, has crafted a smarter, more character-oriented script with sharper dialogue and a keener eye for detail. "Scream 2" also succeeds in pinpointing the problem of teenagers and twenty-somethings obsessed with violence in American movies today, especially horror movies, and how many of them will blame the entertainment industry for their own blood lust.

"Scream 2" was easily one of the most entertaining movies of 1997, and it is Wes Craven's best work since the original "Nightmare on Elm Street." Neve Campbell and the whole cast bring a sense of humanity and pathos that definitely makes this a cut above the rest. As a character rightly suggests at the end of the film: "It's going to be one hell of a movie."