Sexually explicit, S&M-tinged vampire books are still with us - every time I go to Borders I see a huge display of them. (I believe the genre is called "urban fantasy" and also includes sexy demon books.) It's like the craze started in Rice's era and never stopped.

Interview with the Vampire was the only Rice novel I managed to read all the way through. The great thing about the Lestat character (and Roy Batty) was that he actually did kill people. Indiscriminately and with joy, or so we were led to believe.

I had high expectations for The Truman Show and was disappointed. I think it was the standard Hollywood running around and sentimentality in the whole second half, but I haven't seen it since it was new. Great concept, boring (to me) characters and plot.

I like #2 because I like the actress who plays Brigitte, even if she goes a little too far into heroin-chic territory. Also, little Ghost is genuinely creepy. I think it's one of the few violent horror movies that women will like better than men do.

But see, what's funny about Twilight is that the girl is fine with the idea of premarital dicking. It's the vampire who refuses. Because he's a Gentleman. Also, though I've only skimmed it, the fourth book has to be some of the most perverted shit ever written. Only Meyer thinks it's true romance, which makes it more…

I was a kid before VHS. The huge one-sheets in the NYC subways were what terrified me, along with the ones outside grindhouse theaters (this was the '70s and I lived on the Upper West Side). I learned a lot from one-sheets… that in space, no one can hear you scream; that the living dead were about to have their day,…

I made the mistake of recommending The Orphanage to someone who is easily scared, thinking, well, it's also a kind of arty foreign film. She couldn't watch the whole thing.

I read The Exorcist when I was about 11, and it was sheer terror. Stayed up all night just to get it over with. I saw the movie later, as an adult, on TV, and it never scared me. Not even remotely. All I see is overwrought acting and a dated, ham-handed script about the evils of early-'70s permissive single parenting.…

Wow. I didn't remember Bellairs by name, but I do remember exactly those scenes others have mentioned (Rose Rita driving the car and glimpsing something in the rearview, and coins on her eyes). Freaked my shit out.

I was only occasionally scared during PA, but then I went home and couldn't sleep till nearly 5 a.m. That movie killed my fucking workday.

My sister wants to see this. I want to see Paranormal Activity. So the sororal bonding experience is out.

I was genuinely mystified as to why all the hipsters showed up to this movie. I figured it was some Twitter phenomenon. Urban Outfitters… ah, now I understand. I ignore the knickknacks and head straight for the Sale area full of still-overpriced clothes.

I saw it with one person who thought it was boring if you didn't already like John Keats and another person who thought Abbie Cornish was ugly and fat and Ben Whishaw would never fuck her.

Wow. Audiences are comparatively so docile where I live. The worst we ever get is an old couple mumbling to each other or a person texting.

Kids can do a little crying without breaking. Just 'cause they can't pronounce catharsis doesn't mean they can't have one.

One of our theaters offers carrots with Ranch dip as a "healthy" alternative, and (actually good) cookies from a local bakery. All wildly overpriced. But I should stop complaining, since we can still get a small popcorn for $3.95, not $6.

Interesting that G.I. Joe is still playing. I was gonna post that these films are getting the early DVD release because they have no rewatch value, i.e., repeat business. Of course, The Goods had no first-time business, either. It was out of our market in three weeks. But I was surprised by how quickly G.I. Joe…

I feel the same way, but I can't think of any good examples of kids' movies like this from the '70s/'80s. Just books. I feel like they're out there, though. It reminded me a little of Labyrinth and Fraggle Rock, both of which had more conventional action but still a heavy quotient of weird randomness that captures the…

I sit through movies about children dying of cancer without tearing up, but for some reason that trailer almost got me. Something subtle about it hits the "Where did my childhood go? — shit, I'm gonna die soon" reflex. Maybe you gotta be old.

Wait, whoops. Michael Keaton was the tenant from hell, not the landlord. Though I'm sure there's a landlord from hell movie, too.