Sunday February 6, 2000

''Scream 3'' scares up record box office thrills

By Dean Goodman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - ``Scream 3'' roared into North American movie theaters over the weekend, scaring up an estimated $35.2 million in ticket sales, and setting a new record for the slasher franchise.

According to studio estimates issued Sunday, ``Scream 3'' also earned more than the combined total of every other film in the top 10. Its three-day haul sets a new record for its Walt Disney Co.-owned distributor, Miramax Films, and is the highest February opener for any studio.

``This is beyond our expectations for sure,'' Miramax co-chairman Bob Weinstein told Reuters, noting that the first two ``Scream'' movies had December openings, when overall business is much stronger.

``The Hurricane'' (Universal) was second this weekend with $4.9 million, followed by ``Stuart Little'' (Columbia) with $4.8 million, and ``Next Friday'' (New Line) with $4.3 million. Last weekend's No. 1, ``Eye of the Beholder,'' (Destination) grossed $4 million, tying at No. 5 with ``The Green Mile'' (Warner Bros.). Final data will be issued Monday.

Supposedly the last entry in the self-referential comedy-slasher franchise, ``Scream 3'' attracted its core young audience, but also expanded its reach to slightly older moviegoers, said Weinstein. He attributed this in part to the fact that the movie is funnier than the first two. ``It still has its share of thrills and scares but overall the feeling you're left with is it's a fun and entertaining ride.''

As he did with the first two movies, horror veteran Wes Craven directed, but the writer of the first two, Kevin Williamson, handed over script chores to Ehren Kruger. Also returning were stars Courteney Cox Arquette and her husband, David Arquette, who met on the set of the first ``Scream,'' and Neve Campbell. The premise this time is that a berobed killer is dispatching the cast of a ``Scream''-like movie.

``Scream 2'' opened to $32.9 million in December 1997, and went on to make $101 million domestically. The original ''Scream,'' which revived the slasher genre, opened to $6.4 million in December 1996, and ended up with $103 million.

``Scream'' The Trilogy Weinstein said ``Scream'' was always built as a trilogy and he was happy to end it on a high note. He doubted it would be revived down the track like the studio did 18 months ago with the creaky ``Halloween'' series.

``Scream 3'' also enjoyed the highest average in the top 10, earning $10,153 from a huge 3,467 theaters. By contrast, ``The Hurricane'' played at 2,148 sites and ``Stuart Little'' at 2,702 sites.

The overall box office was higher, recovering from its Super Bowl-induced slump last week. According to Exhibitor Relations, which collects the studios' estimates, the top 12 films this weekend grossed $72.4 million, up 65 percent from last weekend, and up 14 percent from the year-ago period, when Mel Gibson's ''Payback'' opened at No. 1 with $21.2 million.

``The Hurricane'' and ``Stuart Little'' both moved up a notch from last weekend, and their totals are $37.5 million (after 40 days in release) and $128.7 million (52 days), respectively. ``Next Friday'' has grossed $45.5 million after 26 days. Its average of $3,028 from 1,420 theaters was the second-highest in the top 10.

``Eye of the Beholder,'' starring Ashley Judd as a spree killer, has a 10-day total of $11.8 million. It lost 32 percent of its opening weekend audience, the steepest fall in the top 10, but still a respectable decline. The best hold was ``Stuart Little,'' whose three-day sum was unchanged from last weekend. ``The Green Mile'' has earned $120.4 million after 59 days, and is on track to end up with about $140 million, said Dan Fellman, president of distribution at Warner Bros.

Rounding out the top 10 were DreamWorks' ``Galaxy Quest'' at No. 7 with $3.3 million (44-day total $62.9 million); Miramax's ''Down to You'' at No. 8 with $2.9 million (17-day total $16.8 million); Columbia's ``Girl, Interrupted'' at No. 9 with $2.6 million (48-day total $25 million); and

Paramount's ``The Talented Mr. Ripley'' at No. 10 with $2.5 million (44-day total $75.6 million). ``Gun Shy,'' a mob comedy produced by Sandra Bullock who also has a small co-starring role opposite Liam Neeson, grossed $700,000 from 296 theaters. It was distributed by Disney's Hollywood Pictures unit, which is still considering whether to take it into wide release.

``Simpatico,'' a comedy-drama starring Nick Nolte and Jeff Bridges, and based on a Sam Shepard play, earned $500,000 from 283 theaters, said Fine Line Features.

Universal Pictures is a unit of Seagram Co. Ltd. New Line Cinema, Fine Line Features and Warner Bros. are units of Time Warner Inc. Destination Film and DreamWorks SKG are privately held.

Columbia Pictures is a unit of Sony Corp. Paramount Pictures is a unit of Viacom Inc.

The top 10 movies at the box office:

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Following are the top 10 movies at the North American box office for the Feb. 4-6 weekend, according to studio estimates collected Sunday by Reuters.

1 (+) Scream 3 ........................ $35.2 million

2 (3) The Hurricane ................... $4.9 million

3 (4) Stuart Little ................... $4.8 million

4 (2) Next Friday ..................... $4.3 million

5 (1) Eye of the Beholder ............. $4.0 million

5 (5) The Green Mile .................. $4.0 million

7 (7) Galaxy Quest .................... $3.3 million

8 (6) Down to You ..................... $2.9 million

9 (8) Girl, Interrupted ............... $2.6 million

10 (9) The Talented Mr. Ripley ......... $2.5 million

NOTE: Last weekend's position in parenthesis. + - new release. ``Gun Shy'' opened in 296

theaters with $700,000.

``Scream 3'' and ``Down To You'' are released by Miramax Films, a unit of Walt Disney Co.

``Gun Shy'' is released by Disney's Hollywood Pictures.

``The Hurricane'' is released by Universal Pictures, a unit of Seagram Co. Ltd.

``Stuart Little'' and ``Girl, Interrupted'' are released by Columbia Pictures, a unit of Sony Corp.

``Next Friday'' is released by New Line Cinema, a unit of Time Warner Inc. Warner Bros., also a unit of Time Warner, released ``The Green Mile''

``Eye of the Beholder'' is released by privately held Destination Films.

``Galaxy Quest'' is released by privately held DreamWorks SKG.

``The Talented Mr. Ripley'' is released in North America byParamount Pictures, a unit of Viacom Inc.

JOHN L.: Scream 3 did what it was supposed to do and opened huge this week. The rest of the box office remained in its winter slump. This week's box office report will be dedicated to the Scream Trilogy. I will give my take on Scream 1 and 2, plus my full take on Scream 3 and it's ramifications on the future of the slasher genre of movies. I consider myself a fan of the movies that Scream tries to emulate, but I am not necessarily a fan of the Scream movies. I seem to be in the minority in the thought of this series sort of sucking, but I will try to prove my point. Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson were trying to make a new type of slasher picture that was smarter than the ones from the late seventies and 1980s, but instead made the same type of film with a different plot. The main difference between Scream and the Halloweens, Elm Streets, and Jason movies is that in Scream the killer's identity is not known until the end of the film whereas in the classic ones, the killer is seen all of the time and his identiy is no secret. Mike Myers, Freddy Kruger, and Jason Vorhees are no mystery. Putting the added touch of mystery helps a viewer keep their interest and is a good gimmick for the series. The other thing that keeps people coming back and to me is the best part of all 3 is the work of Roger L. Jackson. His performance alone is worth checking out the Scream movies. Who is Roger L. Jackson? He is the voice of Scream. He is the guy that says "Hello Sydney!" in every movie. That guy rules. The third thing that makes Scream tolerable is the trademark Scream mask based on the painting by Edvard Munch, The Scream. The mask is scary in its own dopey way and the black robe helps the villain hide in the shadows and then pop up unexpectedly. So, those three things that I like about the series, but there are several things I do not like and they will be explored in more detail in the three reviews. This trilogy had a chance to be something special, but all it really turned out to be was a way to get David Arquette laid. In the following reviews, there will be spoilers for the first 2 in terms of who the killer (s) are. Since Scream 3 is just coming out, I will talk about everything I can except the identity of the person/persons/male/female/entity who did it. I will mention a few clues to look for however. Also, I will look back at the three movie characters that inspired Scream, Jason, Freddy, and Michael with full series reviews of each. Okay, let's get this thing rolling.

Back in December of 1996, the slasher movie was, to put it gently, dead. They had been replaced by the psychological thriller like Silence of the Lambs and Seven. The days of Michael, Freddy, and Jason were long over. Those series had had a good run with multiple sequels and lots of box office success. They were cash cows, franchises, easy money, and very cheap to produce. The return on investment was high. But by 1996 with such lackluster efforts as Halloween 6, Jason Goes to Hell, and Wes Craven's New Nightmare, the general public became sick of the same old slash and chase, bimbo with the virginic charm stops the killer at the last moment type of flick. Kevin (who?) Williamson was a guy off the street who was told that he would never amount to anything productive in an entertainment sense. He had acted on the Soap Opera, Another World as Dougie, and he played Drunken American Guy in something called Dirty Money. He also had a script floating around that was a goof on the slasher/horror movies that had been made over the last 20 years or so. The premise was what if people were caught up in their own slasher movie scenario, but knew of the cliches in those movies and used that knowledge to fight off the killer. But the catch is, the killer knows those movies too, and is still able to use that knowledge against their victims. In other words, KW was trying to create a "smart" slasher pic. After not getting that great of a response, one of the more well known creators of modern horror, Wes Craven came across the script and thought that it would be a pretty good story to film and possibly make a franchise out of. Craven became rich off of the Nightmare movies and participated in the making of 3 of them. That series sort of deteriorated around the second act of part 2, but it did spawn 6 sequels so it was not a complete disaster. Craven wanted to make a movie that did not treat the audience as retards. Instead of the crowd in the theater yelling "don't go in there," the people in the movie would say that. This was a revolutionary idea that was somewhat touched on in the last Nightmare on Elm Street movie which took place in the real world. The actors in the movie would roll their eyes at a blatant movie cliché, and not just the teenagers eating popcorn. Everyone was in on the joke which made the movie fun. However, here comes the problem. The premise was set up, but very few if any really did anything that would be different if the premise was never mentioned. The character of Randy is the expert on horror movies in the film. He gives his rules of how to survive being stalked by a serial killer such as never say you’ll be right back because you never come back. Neve Campbell’s character, Sydney says to the killer that she is tired of the movie cliches as well, but she does things like run up the stairs instead of out of the house and even has sex when everyone knows that the one thing you never, and I mean never do in a slasher movie is have sex. Sex equals death every time. And as it turned out, she was going to have sex with the killer. So, the main fault with Scream 1 is that it does not follow through with its setup. Randy, the expert sits on the couch in the last third of the movie watching Halloween 1 while everyone is getting killed around him. He obviously never saw Friday the 13^th part 4: The Final Chapter in which the one guy watched the old silent porno flicks the whole time while sitting on a couch and then got a machete in the back of his head. Randy barely survived his Scream encounter. Rose McGowan became known from this picture as the one killed in the garage door. Of the 3 movies, this is still probably the best death. But she had heard the rules as well, but still goes out to the garage by herself when you know you are not supposed to. If she had gone with someone else, or to a more lighted area and still got killed because the killer knows the rules too. If you can’t get them in one place, get them in another. The other characters of Gale Weathers (Coutney Cock) and Dewey (CAL- LATT) are the best ones in the movie. They don’t know the rules, but end up doing much of the dirty work. Dewey gets stabbed pretty hard core but survives which becomes a running joke in the next movies, and Cox being the most experienced of the actors showed that she is more than just a friend. The only other name actor in the movie at the time was Drew Barrymore and she was bumped off in the Scream trilogy’s most famous scene which was a throwback to the When a Stranger Calls movie of the killer being in the house while they taunt you. In fact, Barrymore gets the prominent spot in the poster even though she has about 10 minutes of screen time. This movie eventually made house hold names of Campbell, Arquette, and it gave more acting work, but less box office success to Skeet (boyfriend/killer) Ulrich and Matthew (other killer/goofball) Lillard. The characters were supposed to be smarter than Amy Steel, Heather Langenkamp, and Jamie Lee Curtis, but they all did the same thing anyone would do, run like hell and die. The other thing I dislike about this movie and most horror movies of the 1990s is the added humor factor. Horror movies are no longer allowed to constantly scare you or make you jump. There has to be a joke with every kill or a light hearted moment every 10 minutes or it will be too intense for the audience to handle. So characters like Randy and Dewey are used for comic relief so the girls won’t squeeze all of the blood out of their boyfriend’s hands. I hate obvious humor in horror movies. It cheapens the art form. In the old days, (1978-1984) they were all played straight and the humor came naturally if at all. Halloween had "was it the Boogeyman? As a matter of fact… it was." Friday the 13^th had "kill her mommy, killer her." And Nightmare on Elm Street had "this is God." Classic lines that were meant to be frightening not humorous. Scream had "do you like scary movies" and "hello Sydney." Not the greatest stuff there. The modern fan of these type of movies enjoy the slapstick and one liners that Freddy Kruger popularized in Elm Street’s 3 and 4. Critics also prefer the humor in their horror because they suck. Scream has it’s intense scenes, and when people are killed or stabbed it is scary in the context of the film. Scream’s reputation as being tongue in cheek is not fully warranted but it has enough of its aura to annoy me. I see these movies to be scared and shocked. I rarely get scared, but I do get the suspense chill when the victim does not see the killer, but you do. Pretty much the only thing that freaks me out are the bull shit cat through the window tap on the shoulder hit the chord scares. I am a big sucker for those. The real scares are rarely as nerve racking as the
"damnit Paul, you scared the crap out of me" ones. So, my only real problems with Scream 1 are its not following through with its premise as advertised and the humor added not for plot reasons but to lessen the horror. Scream is okay, but not the classic it has been made out to be. I did like how there are 2 killers in the movie instead of the usual one. That made figuring it out a bit more difficult. Also, the bit where the killer seems to be killed off as a regular victim also throws off the audience in its guessing. I hated the first Scream when I saw it, but in retrospect it was okay for what it actually was and not what it tried to be. Final review: 2 stars out of 4; 6 out of 10; C+; Thumbs up. Nice try, but could have been so much better.

Speaking of the rules of a horror/slasher film. The #1 rule in Hollywood is if it makes money, make it again. Scream one was a huge hit. It opened at just under $7 million in 1996 and went on to make $174 million. That means, even though the killers of the first movie were decisively killed with bullets in the head and such, there has to be a sequel. The other rule is that anyone can be a killer in a slasher sequel. In Halloween 3, Mike Myers was not even in the movie. Friday the 13^th part 2 debuted Jason as the killer since his mom was killed in the first one. Freddy was always the killer in Elm Street, but if you look at Elm Street one and Elm Street, oh let’s say 6, those are 2 different characters. The premise of Scream 2 is that the murders have started up again, and our surviving heroes from Scream 1, Sydney, Gale, Dewey, and Randy must stop them. Scream became hip, so they were able to get some of the up and coming actors like Sarah Michelle Gellar and Jerry O’Connell to show up. This movie also had more inside jokes like Tori Spelling playing Sydney in the Stab movie based on the murders in the first film. In Scream 1, Sydney hoped that Spelling would not play her in the movie, and she did. Ha ha. Also, Friends had become a super hip show and there were more goofs on it with Courtney Cox making fun of the actresses on that show. Hoo hoo, my sides hurt. The only really legit funny bit is how Dewey is all gimpy from being stabbed in the first one. When you see him limp around for the first time, you have to laugh. Of the 3 movies, I liked this one the best because it stayed the cloesest to its premise. The rules about the higher body count and the more spectacular deaths all held up. This movie was probably the most humorous of the 3, but is more acceptable since the humor aspect is now it’s trademark and they did not try to hide it like Scream 1 did. I still hate humor in slasher pictures, but have learned to deal with it. Neve Campbell once again shows that she only has two expressions, smile and uhhh? She is okay looking, but not the best actress in the world. I don’t feel sorry for her. The Gale and Dewey characters were becoming the stars of the series anyway and they are not even the focal point of the plot. The biggest bummer of the flick was the sudden death of Randy. He was the one who came up with the rules gimmick and everyone thought that he would be able to survive over the other characters. Half way through the picture, he is jumped and killed. Everyone in the audience gave out a loud "what the fuck?" Why did they kill him off? This was also the movie I figured out who did it before it was revealed. It was pretty much a process of elimination and who would you least expect, and who had the least amount of screen time, but enough to still be a suspect. The motive for the killings in this movie were a guy trying to kill people and blame it on the movies which is a statement on many of the so called child killings of recent times. His motive was close to what the Scream movies were about like everyone being aware of the cliches of terror and using those against people. The other motive was that of the mother of the killer of the first movie. She wanted to get revenge on Sydney for killing her boy. Typical sequel technique of bringing up a relative that was never mentioned or thought about in the first film. I liked the killer revelation in 2, but it was more dramatic in the first one because the killers in Scream one were more developed than the ones in two. The boyfriend being the killer was a legit plot twist shock. Scream 2’s revelation was like I said just a process of elimination. The killers were never made into anything but easy suspects. I also liked that the stars of Arquette and Cox were nearly killed in this one with Arquette getting stabbed hardcore but barely surviving, and Cox actually being shot. Neve Campbell of course comes out unscathed because she is unwilling to take a good bump. This movie was more of a regular slasher picture with with no motivation of being anything more than a good ride. Most fans of the first movie do not like this one because it was so easy and non threatening. I’m weird, do I bought the whole thing. Final Review: 2 ½ stars out of 4; 6 ½ out of 10; C+; Thumbs up. I liked it, but most still say the first one is the best.

After Scream 2 movie came out, Arquette got his 1-800-CALL-ATT deal that made him the most annoying spokesperson since Mr. Whipple. Cox was able to get more money on Friends. And Campbell was able to keep her day job on Party of 5. Kevin Wiliamson was able to get his I Know What You Did Last Summer and Dawson’s Creek projects off the ground. Wes Craven was allowed to make a real movie with Meryl Streep, Music of the Heart. This made these guys so busy that they were unable to have Scream 3 ready for 1998 or 1999 and Williamson was unable to write the third picture causing it to be written by Ehren (no relation to Freddy) Kruger. Would Scream 3 finish the series, or would it completely suck since Williamson was busier coming out of the closet than doing his job. Let’s find out. This movie is advertised as being the final installment in a trilogy. Wes Craven said that it was planned as a trilogy from the beginning. I believe it was planned as a trilogy after the second one made over $100 million. If Scream 1 had made $15 million at the box office, Kevin Williamson would still be straight, Wes Craven would be doing Elm Street part 10 and Coutney Cox would be on Spin City. This movie is supposed to wrap up all of the unanswered questions of the first two. That is funny, since I believe all of the questions were answered. In the first one, you learn that the killers in the Scream mask also killed Sydney’s mom, and in the second one the killer’s mom gets her revenge. What is left to find out. Oh, rule #1 of part 3 in a trilogy. Make up new shit. You learn in Scream 3 that Sydney’s mom was more of a whore than she thought. It also appears that her supposed killers did not act alone, and that there was at least a third person involved. Roger Jackson gets more voice time in Scream 3 and is still quite good. The gimmick of the voice alterer is used a lot more by the killer imitating female and male voices to trick people to show up to places by themselves so they can be easy pickings. It’s an okay gimmick to throw the viewer off the track of who the killer is. Also when the killer is running around, they hunch over a bit so that you can’t get a good idea of the height. Another major character from the series is killed off soon into the movie and is almost as big a shock as Randy’s death in part 2. Scream now is super hip, so they get stars like Parker Posey and Jenny McCarthy to vamp and scream. McCarthy is in maybe 3 scenes and reads half of her lines off a piece of paper. She is very hard up. Posey has  lots of screen time and is made out to be some big star. Most people think that she was excellent in the movie, but she weirded me out. Her mouth goes all around her face and her head is as skull like as Courtney Cox’s has become over the years. Her chemistry with Cox is a bit forced, but it is enough to keep the average audience member compelled. Arquette and Cox have now become married in real life due to their acting together in the previous two Scream movies. They still have to argue with each other in S3, but it now looks fake because they still keep giving each other the screw me hard looks the entire time. Campbell is not used as much as in the other 2 movies, and she also looks a bit bored with it all. When the killler confronts her with the motive of the killings, she is like "I have heard this all before." No diggitty. The main point of this movie was to expand on the back story of Sydney and her mom like all good trilogy’s do. They throw in a family plot twist that was not expected in the first film. The rule of anything goes in the third chapter is not the case in this movie. None of the killing are all that spectacular or graphic. X-Files has more gruesome scenes than this movie. Most of the stabbings are done in a non exploitive way. The person is stabbed and they fall down. You see the stain, but not the knife being thrust inside the flesh. With a little bit more editing, no f-words and less blood, Scream 3 could have gotten a PG-13 rating. Randy comes back in a videotaped cameo to list the rules of a movie trilogy. His scene is good, and should satisfy those who missed his rants from the first two movies. I won’t say who did it, but it is the least obvious of the three movies because it cheats. I will say that not everything is as it seems, it is one of the last people you would think, it is not a red herring, and their identity as to who did is not obvious, but the relationship and motive is quite apparent as the film goes on. You sit there trying to pick up age clues and such to figure out the killer’s identity. This movie also has too many inside jokes like referencing Seven and Silence of the Lambs, taking place on a movie set, and having a terminator type robot in the office of Lance Henriksen who was in Terminator 1. I don’t like movies about the making of movies like I don’t like books about authors writing the great American novel. Just make the good movie or the good book instead of writing about trying to. The movie ends decisively and could be concluded here without need of a fourth installment, but Randy forgot the #1 rule in slasher movie trilogies. There is no such thing as a slasher/horror movie trilogy. No movie of this type has ended in 3 parts. The only trilogies that anyone can name are The Godfather and the Indiana Jones movies. Star Wars is called a trilogy in Scream 3, but it too is a minimum 6 part series that was known by Randy just before he died even though Phantom Menace had not been released yet. Halloween had 7 movies, Friday the 13^th had 9, and Nightmare on Elm Street had 7. The 3^rd Halloween was not even part of the series. Friday part 3 was in 3-D and set up a sequel. Elm Street 3 ended somewhat with finality, but it still left the sequel option with a doll house lighting up at the end. What that tells you is that there will be a Scream 4 if this movie makes $100 million. If the Scream Trilogy wants to be a true trilogy, then there will be a fourth part. Heck, if this movie bombs, they will still make a fourth one to make up for the poor box office of the third. That’s called Alien 3 syndrome. All of the Scream secrets were revealed, but as this one proved, you can make up an infinite amount of plot twists. Any of the survivors of this movie could come back and be the killer. The ending confrontation with the killer(s) is too drawn out and predictable. After the initial shock of the killer’s identity, the reasoning behind the murders is just rote recitation of every talking villain in any one of these movies. They want to kill Sydney the entire film, and when they finally get her alone and trapped, they try to talk her to death instead of stabbing her like they did everyone else in the movie. Then when the killer gets thwarted, they don’t understand why they are being defeated. Just once, I would like to see the killer actually attempt to kill the person before giving away their master plan. Scream 3 will probably fall a bit short of $100 million, but still make enough to encourage another one. However, I don’t expect the main survivors of this movie to come back for another run. No problem. Halloween continued years without Curtis. Actors changed for every Friday movie, and Englund showed up for every Elm Street and haunted different victims in each one with just a few returning a couple of times. Cast changes are expected for the fourth installment. Another trilogy rule is when the fourth one is made, that means new cast and a new beginning. The only constant that needs to stay is the Scream mask. Scream 3 was the weakest of the 3 coming close to being better than the 2^nd one in terms of the average Scream fan. Final Review: 2 stars out of 4; 6 out of 10; C; thumbs down. Killings were not that memorable, and the killer identity was a throw back to the first movie. See it if you have seen the other two, and expect a fourth one. I can’t wait for those rules.

Michael Myers, Jason Vorhees, and Freddy Kruger are the 3 most famous movie killers in the history of cinema. Frankenstein’s mosnter, Dracula, and the Wolfman were the big boys in their day, and Leatherface had a chance, but was upstaged by the other guys. MM, JV, and FK are the main influences of the Scream movies. Here are my quick takes on MM, JV, and FK.

MICHAEL MYERS – If you like scary movies, you can’t get better than the first Halloween. Truly a frighening and original movie in its day. I saw that when I was in fourth grade and I am still scared. Myers’ zombie sit up after being stabbed in the face with a wire coat hanger freaked the hell out of me. And when he was gone at the end, I freaked out. Jamie Lee Curtis and Donald Pleasance were superb in their roles and became instant stars, especially JLC. DP (hee hee) had been around for a while but this one made him an icon. I am actually a bigger fan of Halloween 2 because of its brutality and its making Myers an invincible killing machine. The Myers walk is the coolest strut in horror. Curtis would run as fast as she could, but Mike would still be right there. Halloween 2 supposedly killed off Dr. Loomis and Myers and it took several years for the writers to bring them back. Halloween 3 is outsid of the series, but as a horror movie by itself is okay. Halloween 4 is a great film. It introduced Mike’s neice so he could resume his killing spree and the performance of little Danielle Harris was remarkable. Mike was in full slow stalk mode and the ending with Harris wearing the clown mask from Halloween 1 and Loomis freaking out had me cheering in the movie theater. Halloween 5 was weaker, but still had many of the standard Halloween elements I enjoy plus it introduced a Man In Black character who might help us learn the origins of Mike’s evil. The ending was fully set up for a sequel with Mike escaping jail, but was unsatisfying for the fans of the series, especially those who liked the white William Shatner mask that Myers had worn in the previous movies that was changed unexplicably in the 5^th. Halloween 6 was just awful and was made doubly sad with the real life death of Donald Pleasance soon after the movie was finished. Not very good and it looked like the series was over for good. However, Jamie Lee Curtis was hard up for work, so she had Halloween H2O made to tie up loose ends from Halloween 1 and 2 and forgetting the other movies existed. It was okay but lacked much logic. It ended with Mike being beheaded by Curtis to finally kill this unstoppable beast. However, I hear that Halloween 2000 is in the works, so it looks like Mike may have made the old switcheroo in the ambulance meaning that Curtis cut off the wrong head. Either that or Mike just gets up and screws it back on. Final series rating: 3 stars; 7 ½ out of 10; B+; thumbs up. Halloween 1, 2, and 4 are superb, but parts 5, 6, and H2O were pretty weak and put the series below par. Up to part 4 and throwing out part 3 the sereis was 4 stars, 10 out of 10, A; and thumbs way up.

Jason started killing people in Friday the 13^th Part 2 after his mother was beheaded in part 1. Jason killed his mother’s killer and then proceeded to run roughshod on the Crystal Lake area for the next 7 out of 8 movies. Jason wore a white hood in part 2 with one eyehole. His best kills were in that movie with the hatchet in the face on the wheelchair kid and the spear through the two people having sex which my all time favorite slasher movie kill. Jason barely survived part 2 but then went nuts in 3-D for the sequel. Part 4 came out and became the best of the entire series. It had the best consistent kills and the best action and pacing, plus it had the kick ass make- up of Tom Savini. It also put a finishing touch on Jason by having him sliced to bits by Tommy who gave us sequel hopes by having a crazed look at the end. After part 4, the series became lost in its ways of bringing Jason back. Part 5 had a Jason imposter and was the Halloween 3 of the series. The real Jason was brought back in part 6 by way of lightning bolt. Part 6 and 7 were pretty good for what they were and had decent action and kills. No real problems with those movies. Part 7 did not end with absolute finality so part 8 was made, Jason Takes Manhattan. God did that suck. Half of the movie takes place on a boat and the New York stuff takes place mostly in the sewer. Not very good and a disgrace to the series. Jason cried out for his Mommy and was drowned in toxic waste at the end killing him once and for all. Ahh, but when that happens, you do the old, let’s forget that ever happened and start in the middle. Part 9, Jason Goes to Hell was another awful installment. Jason became a ghost that possessed people to kill. It also introduced Jason’s sister for some reason and then killed her off for no reason before the character could be explored. Jason’s spirit was killed again, but the sequelitis hit it again when Jason’s trademark hockey mask he got in part 3 was grabbed by Freddy Kruger’s claw hand and dragged down to hell. Oboy, does that segue into the next bit. Final series review: 3 stars out of 4; 7 out of 10; B-; thumbs up. Parts 1 through 4 are great and well worth a look. Part 5 does not have Jason, but has a kick ass nude scene in the woods. Parts 6 and 7 were not great but watchable and were fun to watch. Parts 8 and 9 are not worth a look and bring down the whole series a half grade. Part 4 is the best one of the series.

A Nightmare on Elm Street was a revolutionary film. The first movie in this series was fantastic. It was true horror film that did not have any goofy scenes that were meant to be humorous. Kruger was out to scare the hell out of you and slash you to pieces. Robert Englund was famous for playing the nice Visitor alien, Willie on V. When it was learned that he was playing a psycho child serial killer who haunts your dreams, people could not believe it. It was scary and had the classic line of "I’m your boyfriend now Nancy," and Johnny Depp being sucked through the bed screaming for his momma. This too, set up a sequel at the end. No problem, this had potential to be great. Part 2 came out and was somewhat lame and boring. One good scene of Freddy coming out of a kid’s body. Only truly interesting thing was Kim Myers’ uncanny resemblance to Meryl Streep. Part 3 came out to revive the series and did a great job of it. Englund called it an E-Ticket ride at Disneyland. Non stop thrills. Kruger’s birthrites were revealed by him being the bastard son of a 100 maniacs. This also had some of the more spectacular kills in the series like the puppet strings death. It also started a trend that eventually killed the series. The Freddy Kruger one liners. He did one bit where he spit four tongues out of his mouth strapping poor mute Joey to a bed and then said "what’s wrong Joey, feeling tongue tied?" Not a good trend. This one line dialogue made Kruger a joke and a hero of the movie. Freddy was no longer a child killer you want to see beat, he was Henny Youngman with a bad attitude. The Elm Street movies stopped being horror films and became action adventure comedies. This trend in humor is what plagues the modern slasher films now and makes them pointless to watch. Elm Streets 4 through 6 should be aired on Comedy Central instead of HBO. Part 4 had some good death scenes and did put some final touches on Freddy’s death, but the one liners were out of hand. Part 5 was the worst of the series and was mostly pointless by having Freddy reborn as a baby. Part 6 did the 3-D thing and was a little interesting, but rushed. More of Freddy’s origin was exposed which was interesting, but it did put a final nail in the coffin of Kruger. Or so we thought. Wes Craven wanted to bring back Freddy to his roots and make him scary again. He came up with Wes Craven’s New Nightmare. The premise was original, but flawed. It had Freddy come out of the movie and enter the real world and haunt the actors who played the characters in the first film, Heather Langenkamp, John Saxon, Robert Englund, and even Wes Craven himself. This was a very strange movie to watch and was somewhat of a goof on the whole series. Freddy wore a trench coat in this one and was more violent than he had been lately. Miko (Gage from Pet Semetary) Hughes played Langenkamps son who was possessed by Freddy. I like Hughes, but he is not really Langenkamp’s son so the supposed reality the movie tried to accomplish was diminsihed. We have not seen Freddy since then even though a Freddy vs Jason movie has been rumored for years and still might happen. Yippee. I can’t wait. Feel my enthusiasm. Nightmare on Elm Street became the most well known and popular of the Trilogy of Terror. Freddy Kruger became an icon for the 1980s and surprisingly loved by children even though the character killed them. I have dressed up as all three characters on various Halloweens and still have the costumes in my closet. Poor deluded me. Final Series Review: 2 ½ stars out of 4; 6 ½ out of 10; C+; Thumbs up. The best of the series was the first one. The worst was the 5^th one. The best of the goofy Krugers was part 3. The series became a joke as it went on causing it to rate low. I recommend it for its impact on movies and the high quality of the first movie is enough to encourage everyone to see the whole series and see how it fell apart. The DVD collection of the entire 7 movies is excellent and worth checking out especially for all of the behind the scenes stuff.

1. Denzel Washington is still holding strong in the box office and as a leader to win best actor this year.
2. I wonder if someone portrayed me in a movie if they would win best actor?
3. If Michael J. Fox can remember to take his medicine, he might be up to return for the Stuart Little sequel.
4. Maybe Muhammad Ali and Janet Reno can be the voices of Stuart’s mice parents in the sequel.
5. Looks like Next Friday will spawn a sequel itself and complete the trilogy like Scream did.
6. Eye of the Beholder takes a big plunge showing that last week’s performance was a fluke.
7. I wonder if Galaxy Quest can spawn a sequel or a trilogy series for the actors who are just as out of work as the ones they portray in the movie.
8. Down to you is now down to eight place at the box office.
9. We interrupt this box office list to say that Girl, Interrupted has not made Angelina Jolie a star despite her Golden Globes and big lips.
10. Hopefully, this is the last of Gwen P.’s appearance in the top 10 for a while.

That is it for this week’s box office report. It was a big one and I am done. Next week we have the return of Leonardo Dicrapio to the box office with The Beach. I wonder if people will be making conversations about checking this movie out. I know I will be staying home. Bye for now.

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