One of my aunts sent me an email about a month ago, concerning this movie and it’s underlying “anti-Christian” message. Sound familiar? If you read the Harry Potter series and/or watched the movies, then you’ve probably heard about the furor they created with the Christian community.

This time is no different. I’m reminded of the time my parents forbade me to see a movie because they thought its nature was questionable. Their reaction piqued my curiosity to the point where I snuck over to a neighbor’s house to watch it, just so I could see what was so bad about it. In their quest to thwart the success of The Golden Compass, the Christian community might actually boost its sales.

Michael J. Fox has always been one of my favorite actors. So when this movie came out on VHS 10 years ago, I bought it without bothering to read the reviews. The Frighteners involves a shady psychic detective named Frank Bannister, who uses his ability to communicate with the dead to boost his business. I found myself laughing out loud in the beginning when Bannister rigs the house of a man named Ray he’d had an altercation with earlier that day. After the furniture and the dishes settle down, Ray’s wife Lucy “mysteriously” finds Bannister’s business card and calls him over to “exorcise” the house.

Then the movie takes a serious turn when Bannister realizes that Ray has become the latest victim of a string of mysterious deaths. Several people in high places suspect Bannister of killing these people by inducing a heart attack, including a crazed FBI agent, for financial gain. Bannister knows that a malevolent spirit is targeting people because he’s seen the glowing number emblazoned on their foreheads shortly before the spirit comes for them. The stakes are raised when Lucy becomes the next target.

For an independent film, I thought The Frighteners was very good. The graphics and special effects were cheesy, but they made up for it by creating a great plot. The DVD version contains an introduction by the director, who talked about the challenges of making a low budget film. If you like a blend of horror, supernatural, and a twist of humor, watch this movie.

I remember catching sight of The Two Dead Girls book in the grocery store. I bought the book, took it home and began to enjoy what would be my first experience reading serial novels. Paul Edgecomb runs the death row section of the Cold Mountain Penitentiary in the middle of the Depression. We are first drawn into Edgecomb’s life before the giant John Coffey walks onto The Mile.

Edgecomb is dealing with a particularly nasty bladder infection. His colleague’s friend is dying of a brain tumor. And if that wasn’t enough, he has to deal with a power-hungry prison guard who likes to blackmail him with his “connections” with the governor. This guard escorts John Coffey into the Death Row cell block, yelling, “Dead man walking! This is a dead man walking!”

Coffey shuffles into his cell, looking scared and bewildered. He cries a lot. The guards, with the exception of Percy the power-hungry, feel sorry for him. Then, one day, Coffey calls Edgecomb up to his cell. With great reluctance, Edgecomb complies. Coffey grabs the guard by the groin and proceeds to rid him of his bladder infection.

Mystified, Edgecomb sets out to find out exactly how Coffey wound up on Death Row. He learns that the case isn’t as cut and dried as everyone thinks. He also learns that Coffey’s gift can do great things (like bringing a dead mouse back to life), but with a price.

Frank Darabont did an excellent job of recreating the story almost precisely as it is written, and the cast couldn’t have been any better than it was. This isn’t a normal Hollywood movie, but a leisurely 3-hour story and a very good one. I didn’t know about the alternate ending when The Green Mile was reproduced as a full-length novel. After watching this movie, I found that I wanted more. So, I may just go out and buy that novel. I highly recommend the movie. Just make sure you can set aside a full three hours to watch it.

This movie was exactly what I expected it to be, a cheap sequel with a somewhat interesting plot twist of devil worship and torture. The writers knocked out the infamous Red Room and substituted it with growling vents, which I thought was very stupid and cliche. If I had gone to the movie theater to watch the Amityville Horror remake, I would have been disappointed. The bonuses on the DVD make this movie worth renting.

I enjoyed watching the bonus segment entitled Supernatural Homicide. The former police chief and medical examiner were interviewed, as well as psychic Lorraine Warren. While the police chief refuted Ronald DeFeo’s claim about demon possession and ghosts, he is haunted by the crime scene. Lorraine, on the other hand, believes that the house is possessed by evil and that DeFeo wasn’t solely responsible for the murders.