1. Kate Jackson and Cheryl Ladd starred in the 1973 horror film, Satan’s School for Girls before they worked together as Charlie’s Angels.

2. David Copperfield, the magician and ex-beau of supermodel Claudia Schiffer, appeared in Terror Train along with scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis.

3. Prana Films, the company that produced the 1922 silent film horror classic, Nosferatu, declared bankruptcy after the film’s release to avoid paying copyright infringement costs to Florence Stoker, the irate widow of deceased Dracula novelist, Bram Stoker.

4. Wes Craven, the director of the Nightmare on Elm Street series, says that Freddy Krueger was named after a kid who bullied him in school. His appearance was based on a hobo who scared the horror master when he was a child.

5. The original title of Hellraiser, horror writer Clive Barker’s directorial debut, was Sadomasochists from Beyond the Grave.

6. Daria Nicolodi was Dario Argento’s long-time partner. She collaborated with him on a number of his films including the classics Deep Red: The Hatchet Murders and Suspiria. She is also the mother of Asia Argento.

7. John Landis directed An American Werewolf in London. He wrote the screenplay for the film when he was only 19. He would go on to direct one of the most famous - and expensive - music videos of all time, Michael Jackson ’s Thriller.

8. The apartment on Prospect Avenue in Washington, D.C. where many of the scenes of The Exorcist were filmed, was once inhabited by William Peter Blatty, the author of the novel on which the film was based. He lived there while a student at Georgetown University.

9. Linda Hamilton was moonlighting during her stint as Vicki in Children of the Corn. She was working on The Terminator at the same time.

10. The fake blood used in the original Dawn of the Dead was created from a mixture of food coloring, peanut butter and cane sugar syrup.

11. The house used in Rob Zombie’s House of 1,000 Corpses was the same house used in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.

12. Leatherface, the terrifying character from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre films, is based on a real-life serial killer, Ed Gein. Gein liked to dress up in the skin of his victims. This habit also inspired Thomas Harris, the writer of The Silence of the Lambs. His Buffalo Bill character did the same thing.

13. Cary Elwes, who starred as Larry, an unwitting player in the Jigsaw puzzle killer’s game from the 2004 film, Saw, has played a serial killer himself. He was Ted Bundy in The Green River Killer and the unlikely murderer in Kiss the Girls with Ashley Judd and Morgan Freeman.

14. Sigourney Weaver was nominated for an academy award as Best Actress - her first nomination - for her portrayal of Ellen Ripley in the 1986 sci-fi / horror classic, Aliens, the sequel of the 1979 original Alien.

15. Charles Lee Ray, the name given to the maniacal killer whose soul comes to inhabit a doll we all know better as Chucky, from the Child’s Play movies, is a combination of three horrifying - and real-life murderers. “Charles” comes from Charles Manson, “Lee” from Lee Harvey Oswald and “Ray” from James Earl Ray.

16. Stephen King supposedly wrote the part of Amanda in Cat’s Eye with Drew Barrymore in mind. She was a family friend of the King’s who loved cats. Drew once said that, ‘at night, Stephen would tell the best scary stories ever’.

17. Adrienne Barbeau was married to horror master, John Carpenter, from 1979-1984. She appeared in The Fog, Escape from New York, Someone’s Watching Me and Creepshow during that time.

18. Johnny Depp and Patricia Arquette both appeared in Nightmare on Elm Street films. Depp was Glen in the original Elm Street and Patricia, sister of Rosanna, David and Alexis, starred in the 3rd installment, which is also known as Dream Warriors.

19. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is a silent film created in Germany during the tail end of World War I (1919). It is credited as the first modern-horror movie.

20. In the year 2000, the Library of Congress in the United States declared the 1928 horror film, Fall of the House of Usher, which is based on the Edgar Allen Poe story of the same name, as ‘culturally significant’. It was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.

21. Mario Bava, the director of the 1960 horror classic, Black Sunday (La Maschera del Demonio) is the father of Lamberto Bava, who directed the Demons´ films. He also worked with Dario Argento on his 1980 film, Inferno.

22. Jamie Lee Curtis didn’t have to audition for her role as Kim Hammond in Prom Night (1980). She won the role based on her previous horror film work which included Halloween, Terror Train and The Fog.

23. In Psycho the 1960 film starring Jamie Lee Curtis’ mama, Janet Leigh, chocolate sauce was used to simulate the blood in the shower scene. Hitchcock stabbed a melon with a knife to create the slashing sounds.

24. Little Shop of Horrors (1960) is the fastest film ever shot. Roger B. Corman, a producer behind a multitude of B-movie classics, used the camera himself. Each scene was shot in one take. Filming was completed in two days and one night.

25. Poltergeist was directed by Tobe Hooper (Texas Chainsaw Massacre), not Steven Spielberg. Spielberg was a producer of the film, however.

Benchwarmers is about three guys, Gus (Rob Schneider), Richie (David Spade) and Clark (Napoleon Dynamite’s own John Heder) who are sick and tired of being bullied and teased. Gus runs his own landscaping company and has a beautiful wife, played by model turned actress Molly Sims. They’re planning on starting a family someday. However, Gus has some secrets he’s keeping.

Gus is also very protective of his friends. He doesn’t like to see people being bullied. Richie and Clark have seen their share of bullies in their lives. Richie, who has a fantastic Dorothy-Hamill bowl-cut from the 70s, works at a video store and has never kissed a girl. He lives in a trailer with his agoraphobic, coiffed-alike brother, Howie (Nick Swardson). Howie eats sunblock and is afraid that the sun is trying to destroy him. Clark is a helmet-wearing, bicycle driving paperboy who still lives with his mother.

One day, Gus watches some bullies pick on a curly-haired little boy named Nelson (Max Prado). He is incensed and comes to the boy’s aid. He challenges the bullying little leaguers to play him and his friends in a ball game for rights to the field. Despite the fact that Richie and Clark have never played baseball in their lives, the trio wins. Nelson tells his dad all about the guys. His dad, Mel, played by Jon Lovitz is a billionaire geek who got picked on as a kid too. He has decided to put his money behind the Benchwarmers.

This project saves Mel from buying more geek paraphenalia such as Star Wars trinkets, the Batman car and ‘Kit’ from Knight Rider. The Benchwarmers will be taking on a bunch of Little League teams in a single-elimination tournament. The prize is a fully-functional baseball field with fantastic amenities like a swimming pool. The field also boasts the best of Wrigley Field, Fenway Park and other ‘legendary’ ball parks.

As the Benchwarmers start to play, geeks across the world resonate with their message. The games are available over the internet, complete with nerdy commentators. The bullies get angry that the geeks are besting them in this competition and start to play dirty. They hire a Central American ball player with depression and an alcohol problem to pose as a 12 year old boy. The Benchwarmers retaliate by buying him some tequila and beer. Their tactic works best as the Benchwarmers remain undefeated until the championship game.

However, the bullies do find some dirt out about Gus. It seems that Gus, although he’s very short, wasn’t a geek as a child. He was a first-class bully. He was the enemy. He tormented a poor, little person so ruthlessly that the boy went to a mental hospital to try to recover. Gus, who’s wife didn’t know he was playing for the Benchwarmers, sees his story on the news and urges her husband to ask for forgiveness so that he can move on with his life.

He does; but, will the geeks and Benchwarmers forgive him? Will he get to play in the championship game? Will the nerds prevail?

This story has a feel-good ending. In fact, the film is pretty feel good throughout. The makers of the film take a message that could be preachy and make it entertaining, funny and fun. I’d highly recommend that you take your kids to this film. It’s great for bully and nerd alike! Admit it - we all were one or the other, right?

Let me know what you think of this movie by adding your comment below.

This is a political thriller directed by Clark Johnson. I went to see this movie because I thought I couldn’t go wrong - it contains a strong cast and the plot was interesting. I was disappointed.

The plot involves former members of the KGB conspiring to assassinate the President. The assassins have a mole within the team of Secret Service agents assigned to protect the President.

Michael Douglas plays veteran agent Pete Garrison. Garrison, who is having an affair with the First Lady, is trapped when he is blackmailed about the affair, and framed for being the mole.

Special agent Breckinridge (Kiefer Sutherland) is put in charge of investigating who the mole is. However, his investigation of Garrison is biassed. Garrison is a former friend whom he longer trusts (he believes Garrison had an affair with his wife).

Good performances by both Sutherland and Douglas. Jill Maren (Eva Longoria) did not give a convincing performance as an agent assigned to protect the President. How effectively can you run after an assassin with 5 inch heels?

During the investigation, it’s business as usual for the President (David Rasche). He is as busy as ever, pays too little attention to his wife, and is constantly surrounded by bodyguards. Meanwhile, First Lady Sarah Ballentine (Kim Basinger) portrays herself as a dutiful woman to the public, but is having an affair with Garrison behind closed doors.

The Sentinel could have been a great movie. However, while the most of actors perform well, the scenes were not powerful enough. Take for example the assassination attempt on the President. This is the focus of the movie, but is a big letdown. The scene seemed rushed, and everything conveniently falls into place at that time. As well, there is not much originality in this much-anticipated scene.

You won’t be missing much if you decide not to see this movie. Let me know your opinion, by adding your comments below.

For those with little children, perhaps you’ve heard of Ice Age, the 2002 film starring the voice talents of Ray Romano (Manny the Mammoth), John Leguizamo (Sid the Sloth) and Denis Leary (Diego the Saber-Toothed Tiger) and Chris Wedge (director and everyone’s favorite squirrel hunting down a nut, Scrat)? If you haven’t, that’s too bad. Ice Age was a great film for the entire family.

Usually, you can’t strike family comedy gold twice in a lifetime. And almost never with the same characters. Of course, major and not-so major entertainment conglomerations try and try again. Ice Age 2: The Meltdown is a refreshing anomaly in a world of bad sequels. It’s fresh, funny and very good. In fact, in some ways it may be superior to the original.

This time, Manny, Sid and Diego, who’ve come together to form the most unlikely of herds, are faced with new perils. The Ice Age is just about over. The world is beginning to thaw. As the ice melts, the water is rising dangerously. Fast Tony, voiced by “Tonight Show” host, Jay Leno, is scaring the animals in the hopes of turning a profit on shoddy products that are supposed to ’save their lives’.

Manny calls Fast Tony out as a liar; but then realizes that there is some truth to the doomsday talk. He, Sid and Diego discover when they take a trip to the top of the ice mountain that the water is rapidly rising and a massive flood is imminent in about three days time.

Everyone heads up and moves out. The eagles, who are sort of hoping that there will be mass destruction - it’s good for their food supply - say there’s a boat at the end of the valley. The animals go without much delay.

Meantime, Manny is still wrestling with the fact that he’s the last mammoth; or, so everyone else believes. He takes some time alone in the forest to think. Instead, he finds a lady mammoth, Ellie (Queen Latifah). Problem is - Ellie thinks she’s a possum. Her extreme-sports-loving brothers, Crash (Sean William Scott) and Eddie (Josh Peck), love her and don’t do anything to dispel her of the notion.

The “possums” became part of Manny, Sid and Diego’s posse. Together, they have quite an adventurous trip. Sid and Diego try to urge Manny to let the past go and start a new future with Ellie, who eventually realizes she is a mammoth after all.

If this weren’t enough, the crew has a nasty alligator and his cronie to contend with. The same ones who gave them trouble in the first film and were put on ice have also melted. Time in the ‘cooler’ has done nothing to squash their anger. They’re out for revenge.

As the world is about to end, can Manny and Ellie find love? Will Manny be able to save them all from destruction - and learn to live and love again? These questions of course have positive - and perhaps, stock - answers. The way the movie gets to those answers is still worth the whole trip and the price of admission.

Ice Age 2: The Meltdown is a great movie. It’s entertaining, funny, poignant and just a fantastic way to spend an afternoon with or without the kids.

Let me know what you think of this movie by adding your comments below.

Curious about the movie Curious George? It’s hard to resist a cute little monkey and an animated Will Ferrell and Drew Barrymore. Top it off with a gentle soundtrack by Jack Johnson and you have a movie the whole family will enjoy.

This movie is great for babies, toddlers and preschoolers. The bad guy isn’t so bad. Instead, he’s a jealous son who wants to turn the museum into a parking lot. He’s more of a nuisance than a heavy handed tough guy.

Curious George is a delight to watch on the big screen. Jack Johnson’s music compliments the antics of this fun loving music making the movie enjoyable for Mom and Dad too. The storyline isn’t complicated but its captivating enough to keep the interest of even the wiggliest of kids.

Will Ferrell adds a few chuckles but they are all in good taste. And Drew Barrymore is as sweet as ever as the young school teacher with an obvious crush on the “Man With The Yellow Hat.”

Let me know what you think of the movie by adding your comments below.