With David Fincher (2002's Panic Room, 1995's Se7en, 1992's Alien 3) directing this true story of a serial killer terrorizing San Francisco and parts of California in the early 1970s, I was expecting a nail biting, edge-of-my-seat experience. Unfortunately, my wishes were not fulfilled. The film starts tense enough with the introduction of the killer (always in the shadows) going through the steps of his first kills with music of the times blaring in the background. Especially tense was the knifings of a couple at a lake.

A rogue priest (one of the last of his order), Alex (Heath Ledger) Bernier, investigates the suspicious death of his mentor, Father (Francesco Carnelutti) Dominic. His questions take him down an ancient supernatural path that leads to the discovery of "The Sin Eater (Benno Furmann)," a creature that challenges the beliefs and powers of the Catholic Church.

A storm strands ten strangers in a no-star rode-side motel and before long, someone is knocking them off one at a time. I was hesitant to see this one. I figured with names like John Cusack as Ed, the chauffer; Ray Liotta, as Rhodes, the cop; and Rebecca De Mornay, as Caroline, the actress, this one would emphasize drama over thriller, but I was wrong-dead wrong. Even the other seven characters are superb, drawing me into their horror and confusion. This one even has some jump out of your seat killings, as well as some creative uses for a clothes dryer and a baseball bat.

Director Ang Lee (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) tackles the story of Bruce Banner (Eric Banner), the man who fights his alter-ego: the Hulk. This version begins with Bruce Banner's father performing strange experiments. You realize this guy isn't all there when he starts performing genetic experiments on his child, the young Bruce. When daddy finally freaks out, he destroys a government lab before returning home to torment his household where something happens behind closed doors that we don't see, but it haunts Bruce into adulthood.

It's Jason Voorhees in space as the hockey masked killer finds innovative high-tech ways to dispense with a platoon of space marines (one gets impaled on a giant corkscrew. After his body winds down, a comrade says, "He got screwed."), and the usual assortment of trapped, sex starved teens. If you're a real fan of the genre, you've seen all the previous Jason, Freddy, and Michael Myers films (a promo for Halloween: Resurrection screened during Jason X), so how can you avoid this newest addition to the series? And fans won't be disappointed.

James Gunn, writer of the two Scooby Doo films, 2004's Dawn of the Dead, and 1996's Tromeo and Juliet (which he also directed) puts those experiences to great use as writer/director of Slither. After a meteorite crashes in a forest outside of some out-of-the-way little town "somewhere" in the United States, a slug emerges that infects a local man and sets off a series of events reminiscent of any of the Invasion of the Body Snatchers films.

As the title hints, in this continuation of the first film, again the "good" X-Men, lead by Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) and the "evil" X-Men, lead by Magneto (Ian McKellen) must join forces to defeat an "evil" human, William Stryker (Brian Cox) who plans to use the Super Computer to kill all the mutants on earth. And so the troops unite (Storm, Jean Grey, Cyclops, Mystique [still a hotty], Nightcrawler [the coolest looking], Rogue, Pyro, and Iceman) to defeat this mutual enemy.

The story starts, to my surprise, in 1845 where we meet a young Logan/Wolverine (Hugh Jackson) and his brother, Victor Creed/Sabretooth (Liev Schreiber) as Logan makes a rash decision and shocking discovery that leads to he and his brother running from the law. Then through snippets, we see the brothers grow into adults fighting in the American Civil War, World War I, World War II, and Vietnam. Yes, they are almost indestructible. All this fighting and blood lust takes them to the present where they are now working as mercenaries, with other mutants, for the US government.

This time around, Warren Worthington II (Michael Murphy), a human doctor with a mutant son, Angel (Ben Foster), discovers a "cure" for the mutant disease in the form of a child who cures mutants with physical contact. Worthington believes the world will welcome his discovery, especially the mutants (and his son) who couldn't possibly want to remain mutants. But in this lies the rub! Magneto (Ian McKellen) doesn't believe mutants need a cure. "There's nothing wrong with us!" he chants.

It's the good mutants, lead by Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart), versus the terrorist mutants, lead by Magneto (Ian McKellen), who want to destroy the inferior humans. Along the way we meet and learn about Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), Jean Grey (Famke Janssen), Cyclops, Storm (Halle Berry), Rogue (Anna Paquin), Sabretooth, Toad (Ray Park), and a red-hot Mystique (Rebecca Romijn-Stamos). Based on my expectations, this may be one of the better comic book films, having the most likable characters: good and bad.

Alan B. McElroy, the writer of 1988's Halloween 4, returns with a straight-forward formula hack-n-slash thriller about five friends (including "Buffy"'s Eliza Dishku and "Six Feet Under"'s Jeremy Sisto) and a stranger ("Ghost Ship"'s Desmond Harrington) lost in the backwoods of West Virginia meeting a family of inbreds who add new dimension to the term "road kill." Soon it's run for your lives as the city folk try to escape their cannibalistic hunters.

Australian director Greg Mclean takes us, two young British tourists (Cassandra Magrath as Liz, Kestie Morassi as Kristy), and their Australian companion (John Jarratt as Mick) on a holiday through the Australian outback. But after stopping at Wolf Creek National Park (a giant hole in the ground) their car won't start. All seems lost until a kind stranger (Andy McPhee as Bazza) "happens" upon them and offers to tow them back to his place where he has the parts needed to fix their car.

John Woo takes us the "other" World War II as Sgt. Enders (Nicolas Cage) is ordered protect "the code" at all costs in the form of Navajo Windtalker, Pvt. Yahzee (Adam Beach). But haunted by the loss of his previous patrol, Enders doesn't know if he'll be able to follow orders. Christian Slater offers a pleasing co-starring role as another soldier ordered to protect a Windtalker, Pvt. Whitehorse (Roger Willie). Director John Woo lets the action take a back seat to the drama in this one.

This Japanimation's plot, weird aliens, graphic sex and action would be too hot for an "X-File." Worth a look if you're interested in discovering the genre.

Television director Geoffrey Sax's first foray into theaters with White Noise leaves us with a mixed bag. In White Noise we meet architect Jonathan Rivers (Michael "Beetle Juice, Batman" Keaton), his new wife, Anna (television actress, Chandra West), and his son (Nicholas Elia) from a previous marriage. The film's setup shows us a very happy, secure, well-to-do family, which means all hell will break loose. And it sorta does when Anna disappears and turns up dead from an apparent accident, which is dragged on much too long.

This 2001 straight to Video/DVD involves a Native American myth about a half-man, half-deer shapeshifting creature that haunts the hills of upstate New York where a family (Jake Weber as George, Patricia Clarkson as Kim, and Malcolm in the Middle's Erik Per Sullivan as Miles) decide to vacation. But the real monster in this film is a hillbilly, white trash character named Otis (John Speredakos) who has it in for George after George accidentally hits a deer with his car and damages its prize antlers.

This film gets better every time I see it. A "classic" Donald Sutherland adds to the camp of this "Terminator" meets "Aliens" high energy Sci-Fi. Great rental!

Tense editing and action combined with breath-taking scenery.

Writer/director Stephen Sommers (1999's The Mummy, 2001's The Mummy Returns) gives Universal Studios' classic monsters an upgrade in this high-spirited action/adventure. When Count Dracula (Richard Roxburgh, who is more Langella than Lugosi) plans to animate his thousands of undead offspring using the Frankenstein Monster's (Shuler Hensley) energy, a secret, politically correct, organization in the bowels of the Vatican dispatches the infamous monster hunter, Van Helsing (Hugh Jackson—X2's Wolverine), to save the world.

With few theater films to see this January '04, I perused my local video store for some direct to rental DVD's and came upon Vampire Hunters, (2002) written and produced by the prolific Hong Kong director (over 36 films), producer (over 47 films), and writer (over 30 films), Tsui Hark. Now this sounded interesting. "It's 19th-century China and an evil monk awakens a nest of ghoulish vampires hell-bent on devouring human life.