Trick 'R Treat is a stunningly lifeless and seemingly aimless would-be horror comedy. It is a muted and rushed affair, seemingly edited without discipline and constructed without purpose.

There are two major surprises this weekend, both good news for those involved: Couples Retreat and Paranormal Activity.

Horror films work best when you realize that you cannot trust the filmmakers. But writer/director Oren Peli crafts a low-tech chiller that almost plays too fair with the audience.

The idea of high-quality entertainment that is specifically directed at children seems to be an oxymoron in the critical community. However, Where the Wild Things Are, is very much a high-quality children's movie.

Pathetically, as Paranormal Activity heads into wide release and faces off against the Saw franchise, the somewhat divisive horror film has only made 3000% its budget. Lame.

The Children isn't the most violent film, nor the goriest or showiest. It haunts because it boils itself down to an unanswerable question: would you kill your own sick children to prevent them from killing you?

In what may be some of the best marketing of the decade, Paramount took an $11,000 home movie they originally intended to shelve and remake with bigger stars and turned it into the must-see horror film of the year.

Saw VI still has many of the problems that have plagued the series from the get-go. But, despite this, it's a breath of fresh air for those who have followed the series since the beginning.

Whether or not the motives behind this picture are pure, given Michael Jackson's death, This Is It remains an interesting curiosity that avoids both tawdry sensationalism and lionization.