ABCs at the Movies: The Doubles Round!

[memento]

IMDB:
Katie McGovern is a struggling actress living with her lazy husband and her student brother. She attends an audition that she found in the paper and is selected to shoot a short video which will be sent to the director for his approval. Mr. Murray, the auditioner, picks Katie up and takes her to a remote mansion where they shoot the video. Katie is selected to replace the previous lead in the film who looks remarkably like her. Soon, however, things begin to look as if they are not what they seem. Katie soon realizes she is in danger and attempts escape.

[Fran]

From IMDb:

"Exorcist: The Beginning" is a prequel to one of the best known horror films of the 20th Century. This time around Stellan Skaarsgard steps into the Father Merrin role that was originally played by another Swedish actor Max Von Sydow. Lancaster Merrin is a priest who lost his faith due to a horrific act that occurred during the war. He is now just simply an archaeologist investigating a strange discovery. In the African desert a church was uncovered. A 1,500-year-old church that was so perfectly preserved that it appears to have been buried the moment it was finished. A sequence of events tests Merrin's limits as he uncovers the truth behind the evil at work. It covers the events referred to in the original film, Merrin's first exorcism and his meeting with Pazuzu.

I was skeptical at first due to the nasty problems that plagued the film (namely the original version was shot by Paul Schrader who was later tossed out by Warner and replaced by Renny Harlin, who dumped most of Schrader's version and re-shot a different script} and just the fact that it had hard shoes to film. But when I saw it in the theater I was pleasantly surprised to see a film with some excellent performances (Skaarsgard in particular) and several decent "boo" scenes and an overall satisfactory atmosphere and very strong sound effects track.

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZ60V9X7OfQ[/youtube]
Trailer:  2:13

[oilgun]

This series is a guilty pleasure of mine...

[memento]

IMDB: Alan and Molly Sheridan have a baby boy named Jake. They hire a baby-sitter, Camilla, to look after Jake and she becomes part of the family. The Sheridan's friend and neighbour, Phil, takes a liking to Camilla and asks her out. She refuses, but Phil follows her and discovers that she is not quite human. Camilla discovers that she has been followed and Phil is pursued. He leaves a desperate message for Alan and Molly which reveals that Camilla has special plans for baby Jake.

[Fran]

From IMDb:  As a widower tries to piece together his life in the wake of his wife's suicide, his daughter finds solace -- at first -- in her imaginary friend.

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9uEkTPchIo[/youtube]
Trailer:  2:20

[southendmd]

IMDb trivia:  When this film was originally shown in theaters, patrons were given free paper "Up Chuck Cups" when they purchased their tickets.

=aside=
I'm back from the Ptown film fest.  Lots of good films.  I especially liked "Chris & Don" and "Were the World Mine", both being released soon.
Kept running into Gael Garcia Bernal (very cute, very little), John Waters (riding around town on his bike like Elmira Gulch), and Andre Gregory (no, we didn't have dinner).  I'll report more on the "resurrecting the movies" thread.

[oilgun]

==ASIDE== Paul
Were The World Mine won the audience award at the InsideOut Fest in Toronto, but I didn't see it.  Welcome back and I can't wait to read your report!  Gael is so adorable!  Didn't you just want to pick him up and hug him?

[Fran]

From IMDb:  Two paranormal scientists attempt to document the spirits which reside at Hillside House. They track down the murderer of a little boy, whose ghost is still alive. What they don't realize is that by discovering the murderer, they might be the next two humans to become ghosts.

=aside=
Welcome back, Paul!

[memento]

IMDB: The lady is Mrs. Hilyard, a wealthy poetess who lives in a three-story city mansion and her cage is her elevator, which stops a dozen feet short of the main floor due to an electrical failure on a July 4th weekend. She rings her outside alarm, eventually noticed by a drunken derelict, who breaks into the house, ignores her plight and helps himself to various items and alcohol. He leaves with his loot but returns a while later with a plump prostitute and three teenage hoodlums, who proceed to terrorize Mrs. Hilyard as they wreck her home.

=aside= Paul
Welcome back.

[oilgun]

Synopsis
A disturbed health inspector begins a surreal descent into madness when her marriage fails, her mental health begins to plummet, and her obsession with kung fu movies drives her to seek vengeance against the Ten Tigers from Kwangtung in director Gregory Hatanaka's experimental psychological thriller. Therese's (Sarah Lessez) life is falling apart; her husband has abandoned her, her affair with a sleazy televangelist has left her sexually frustrated, and her brother may have poisoned her with some particularly bad meat. Now, as Therese begins to succumb to her all-consuming nymphomania and her doctor begins to suspect that there truly is something wrong despite her outwardly healthy appearance, the delusional slaughterhouse inspector begins the rigorous training that will allow her to take on the dreaded Ten Tigers from Kwangtung in an all-out bloodbath that could claim the lives of more than a few of her recent lovers. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide