A series of murders prompts Mike Hanlon to suspect that the supernatural menace that he and a group of friends battled as children has returned. He begins to call his friends to remind them of the oath they swore: if It returned again, they would come back to Derry to do battle again. Written by Murray Chapman {muzzle@cs.uq.oz.au}

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This witty tale of a young woman who’s the victim of an age-old family curse may sound like a chick flick but, truthfully, the humor, production design, and cast make this a film even guys can sit through without too much fidgeting. It’s fresh and fun, and while the lesson of the story isn’t subtle, it’s not so distracting as to make the film annoyingly preachy. The message is clothed in clever dialogue so while the film’s straightforward storyline is a simple one, Penelope manages to be entertaining even while pounding you over the head with its “I’m okay with myself” hammer.

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Based on the classic novel by ‘CS Lewis’ . Four London children are sent to a professor’s country home in order for protection during World War II. There they find a magic wardrobe which leads to a mystical land called Narnia, which is being ruled by an evil witch. To defeat the witch, they must join forces with Aslan, the lion God of Narnia. Written by Brett Walter {StreepFan126@cs.com}

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Adaptation of the fairy tale of the same name. Princess Aurora is cursed by the evil witch Maleficent - who declares that before Aurora reaches her 16th birthday she will die by a poisoned spinning-wheel. To try to prevent this, the king places her into hiding, in the care of three goodnatured - but not too bright - fairies. Written by Tim Pickett {quetzal@yoyo.cc.monash.edu.au}

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In this sequel to the Evil Dead films, a discount-store employee (”Name’s Ash. Housewares.”) is time-warped to a medieval castle beset by monstrous forces. Initially mistaken for an enemy, he is soon revealed as the prophecised savior who can quest for the Necronomicon, a book which can dispel the evil. Unfortunately, he screws up the magic words while collecting the tome, and releases an army of skeletons, led by his own Deadite counterpart. What follows is a thrilling, yet tongue-in-cheek battle between Ash’s 20th Century tactics and the minions of darkness. Written by David Thiel {d-thiel@uiuc.edu}

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Ireland will never be the same after Rawhead Rex, a particularly nasty demon, is released from his underground prison by an unwitting farmer. The film follows Rex’s cross country rampage, while a man struggles to stop it. Written by K.L.

Will Seth Green hook up with a hairy-legged tree hugger? Will Matthew Lillard come to his senses and figure out he’s in what might be the best relationship of his life? Are either of these questions really important? No. Nothing much matters other than going for as many gross-out laughs as possible in “Without a Paddle,” a weird buddy road trip comedy that has a definite “Deliverance” quality to it.

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Two American students are on a walking tour of England and are attacked by a Werewolf. One is killed, the other is mauled. The Werewolf is killed, but reverts to it’s human form, and the townspeople are able to deny it’s existence. The surviving student begins to have nightmares of hunting on 4 feet at first, but then finds that his friend and other recent victims appear to him, demanding that he find a way to die to release them from their curse, being trapped between worlds because of their unnatural death. Written by John Vogel {jlvogel@comcast.net}

Writer/director Takashi Shimizu took his Japanese blockbuster “Ju-On: The Grudge” and along with screenwriter Stephen Susco, revamped it for American audiences. The filmmakers cast familiar American actors, fleshed out the English-language version with unneeded extraneous scenes, and in a sense, dumbed it down. Plot points that were left up to your imagination in the original Japanese film are explained in detail in the new version. And while the original was creepy/spooky, the new one offers only a scattering of scary moments surrounded by scenes that only serve to test your patience and kill time.

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