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The first 40 minutes of Haute Tension are actually decent: good cinematography, decent acting, creepy setting and good effects. The movie succeeds at creating a suspenseful setup; and that's all the viewer will get out of it.

From here on out, it quickly moves into familiar slasher territory with your standard heroine in peril. But the worst sin of all is the many, many (and I mean many) inconsistencies and plot holes that are littered throughout the movie. There is no need to spoil the outcome and why it doesn't work in this review because these particular plot holes are easy to point out. And in the end, I believe most viewers will wonder why they ever even bothered to begin with.

I don't know if Roth was leaning more toward horror or more toward humor. In the end it doesn't matter, because Cabin Fever botches both elements.

I'ts obvious that he has incorporated many movie plots and scenarios into his (Evil Dead, Texas Chainsaw, Friday 13th, Pulp Fiction, etc.) which ultimately robs the movie of any individual voice that it would need to succeed. It's alright to pay homage to some of the greats, but one also needs to stand on his/her own without COPYING VERBATIM its predecessors. But mostly, when it comes down to it, the predecessors were thousands of times better, in terms of execution, style and story, than this wannabe.

Summation: Embarrassing 'humor', been-there-done-that feeling, no suspense, many head scratching Huh?! moments, an absolute poor attempt at film-making.

I'll admit, I didn't expect much from the pairing of these two very tired franchises. Having only liked a couple in each of the series, there didn't seem to be a point in embarrassing both of them even further. I mean really, how do you make the burned boogeyman turned standup comic scary again? For that matter, how do you associate the masked mongloid that was never really scary with the creepiness factor? The simple answer: DON'T FRICKIN' WORRY ABOUT IT!

The creators of FREDDY VS. JASON wisely guide the film toward its initial goals of gore, fights and plenty of laughs. Sure, there are scenes that don't quite work (the 'Freddypillar' and the final wink come to mind), and it has a somewhat slow beginning, but the majority of it is, at least, never boring.

**7/10** An entertaining movie that sets out to do what it

promises.

Standing on its own, The Ring is probably an above-average horror movie. Having said this, I'll admit that this review is biased toward the original Japanese version, Ringu. Believe me, I know that by reading most of the reviews on this film that a lot of people disagree with me. However, I tend to believe that the reason for this may be due to the fact that some of these people have seen the remake first which would kill the element of surprise in Ringu.

The problems that I had with The Ring were its representation of the antagonist and some of the plot outlines throughout the movie. The whole aspect of the horse subplot was needless. Then, to add more to this, you have the horse and the ferry ride which still serves no real purpose to the movie except to add more time to the already overlong 116 minutes. And why are we always treated to the same "I don't believe you" to the "you're right, something's going on" scenario that seems to be always present in today's horror movies? At least with Ringu, the male role in that movie is smart enough at the start to realize that something out of the ordinary is going on, therefore, saving us from this cliché and moving us toward the rest of the story.

And now we come to our antagonist, Sardona. This was a complete letdown for me. I know, again I'm comparing an original to a remake but it can't be helped -- Sardona doesn't hold a candle to Sadako's creepy demeanor.

I'm not saying that this movie doesn't have its moments. The opening sequence really grabs you and made me think at the time that it could possibly surpass the original. Honestly, I would recommend The Ring if only for the fact of the beginning and parts of the third act. But I would also recommend seeing the original Ringu first in order to preserve the surprises.

Okay, first I need to say that I'm nowhere close to being a Friday the 13th fan. But having time to spare I decided to rent this clunker just to see if they could come up with a little imagination. After all, I can at least say that I liked 2-4 as far as being standard slasher fare, this one can be no worse than any of the others, right. Dead wrong!

This is the first Friday that I can think of that was made to be a comedy. The only problem is that comedies are supposed to have a little humor in them. This was just pathetic ("this sucks in more ways than one"). At least some of the other Fridays gave you a couple of jolts when Jason would jump out of a dark corner. The camera is basically on Jason throughout the entire movie. In this one, Jason is primping for the camera.

I know that this review is probably biased in the eyes of a F13 fan, buy I believe that most of those fans will agree that, Yeah, this movie was really bad. One of the characters stated in the movie that, "You've gotta be kidding me." I was saying this throughout the movie.

A good premise that has been done better, Lola Rennt suffers from the execution of the material. As many movies over the years have gotten criticism for 'MTV style cuts and glitz', I was suprised that this film didn't suffer the same fate since the camera and editing style in Lola becomes distracting. Very little characterization leads to viewer apathy, and whenever the filmmakers try to inject witty situations/dialogue into the mix it fails miserably. An example would be Lola's shrill cry that effects a situation's outcome; it isn't funny, witty, or pertinent to the story -- it's just plain annoying. Lola Rennt could have been a good exercise in film but, as it is with the 'hip' visuals and lack of vision, it becomes barely serviceable to film fans.

What's really sad is that I used to consider Curtis a good actress. Now it seems that she cannot pick a decent role as of late. But besides the acting being a problem, the screenplay and story has been done God knows how many times. At least try something original guys! Don't waste your time with this movie.

Sure, it's longer than your other standard movies, but it's well worth it. If you're like me and tired of recent movies that have explosions and gunfights that make up for a lacking plot, then this will be a good experience. Three-dimensional characters that you like (or in Cruise's case, maybe not -- although this may change by the end) who play on the themes of inadequacy, loneliness, despair, and forgiveness, is what makes this movie such a standout. You won't be disappointed!