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For better or worse, Saw is the defining horror franchise of the oughts. Along with Eli Roth's Hostel films, it forged the horror sub-genre "torture porn", and put the gross in "box office grosses". Saw 3D, the seventh film in seven years, aims to revive the Jigsaw juggernaut one more time, closing the series in bloody extravagance. Unsurprisingly, Saw 3Dis critic-proof. The real question: is it a ghost-buster? Last year's surprise hit Paranormal Activity annihilated Saw VI, and last week's release of Paranormal Activity 2 is still strong.
Major studios have wisely chosen to cower from this clash of the terror titans. While they're at home huddled under the covers, the final segment of Stieg Larsson's "Millennium Trilogy", The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest, enters the fray. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is available on DVD, and The Girl Who Played With Fire's still playing in Culver City, so if none of this weekend's Halloween horror-thons appeal to you, kick back with everyone's favorite Swedish cyber-punk. If fictional horrors feel too safe, the Sunset 5 has Nazi biopic Eichmann and Shake Hands With The Devil, about the efforts to stop Rwandan genocide. If your favorite part of Halloween's actually all the sweets, try candy-coated crime caper Wild Target or Bill Plympton's absurdist existential animated comedy Idiots and Angels for one week only at the Sunset 5.
If you’d like to see something even further off the beaten path, check out our weekly Film Calendar of specialty theatres, revival houses and midnight movies. See you at the movies!
Every two years, Desert X presents site-specific outdoor installations throughout the Coachella Valley. Two Los Angeles artists have new work on display.
