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Stars: Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller, Kyle Gallner, Ben Reed, Elise Robertson, Troy Vincent, Marnette Patterson, Billy Miller, Leonard Roberts, Reynaldo Gallegos, Kevin Lacz, Jake McDorman, Cory Hardrict, Eric Ladin | Written by Jason Hall | Directed by Clint Eastwood

I have a lot of time for the school of thought that suggests that you get out of a film only what you bring to it in the first place. I think this is particularly relevant for films that portray real life events and perhaps even more so for films that pertain to real life events that are relatively recent. American Sniper is Clint Eastwood’s depiction of the life of Chris Kyle, who became the deadliest sniper in Us history during the Iraq war. After seeing the film, I did a little reading around the subject and discovered Kyle to be a rather more controversial subject than you might expect based solely on the film.

Stars: Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller, Kyle Gallner, Ben Reed, Elise Robertson, Troy Vincent, Marnette Patterson, Billy Miller, Leonard Roberts, Reynaldo Gallegos, Kevin Lacz, Jake McDorman, Cory Hardrict, Eric Ladin | Written by Jason Hall | Directed by Clint Eastwood

I have a lot of time for the school of thought that suggests that you get out of a film only what you bring to it in the first place. I think this is particularly relevant for films that portray real life events and perhaps even more so for films that pertain to real life events that are relatively recent. American Sniper is Clint Eastwood’s depiction of the life of Chris Kyle, who became the deadliest sniper in Us history during the Iraq war. After seeing the film, I did a little reading around the subject and discovered Kyle to be a rather more controversial subject than you might expect based solely on the film.

The Flick:

Paul and Bryn Shaw (David Rees Snell and Teri Polo) move into an apartment building called the Beacon close to the college where Paul is starting an associate professor job. Bryn is in the process of recovering from a nervous break down that lead to a suicide attempt after the disappearance of their young son, Danny, three years before. While still settling into their new home, Bryn keeps spotting a little boy around the building, and hearing violent arguments coming from the apartment next door. Having reason to believe that the boy lives in said apartment, Bryn calls the police. This is when she discovers that the boy, Ronny, died in the building due to an apparent accident. And the next door apartment where the boy did actually live has been empty for months. Bryn’s husband, Paul, and her sister, Christina (Marnette Patterson), believe that she is...

by Michael Pickle, MoreHorror.com

I value the service I provide here at MoreHorror. I would like to think that I help some of our readers in their search for good horror. I've been told that I succeeded on a few occasions and it makes me feel downright giddy. The other service I provide comes with a hint of sadness. That is the service of informing horror fans about films that are a potential waste of their time. Time that can be better spent on the abundance of great films that the horror genre has to offer. Haunting at the Beacon is one of those that comes with a warning. It's not a complete waste of time, but most of it is.

This ho-hum haunting opens with young couple Bryn and Paul Shaw (Teri Polo, David Rees Snell) moving to the Beacon Apartments trying to recoup from the loss of their 4 year old son.

Release Date: Sept. 13, 2011

Price: DVD $16.98, Blu-ray $20.98

Studio: Take 2 Releasing

Teri Polo and David Rees Snell try to put their lives back together in Haunting at the Beacon.

The 2009 supernatural horror thriller film Haunting at the Beacon stars Teri Polo (Little Fockers) and David Rees Snell (TV’s The Shield) as Bryn and Paul, a couple trying to get their lives back on track after the loss of their 4-year-old son.

The pair moves into the seemingly charming old Beacon Apartments, but it’s not too long before Bryn begins seeing a ghostly little boy skulking around the building. Trying to uncover the details of the boy’s death and hoping he can carry a message to her own son, Bryn soon she realizes that a second and far more malevolent entity is also stalking the halls of the Beacon.

Haunting at the Beacon was filmed at the Rogers Hotel in Waxahachie,...

Toledo, Ohio. Girls dare each other to say "Bloody Mary" whilst looking in the mirror. Bloody Mary is meant to appear and scratch out the eyes of her summoner. One of the girl's father is killed when he returns home. A woman appears in the hallway mirror of their house before he is killed. Sam (Jared Padalecki) dreams of Jessica (Adrianne Palicki) she says, "Hi Sammy." He's having a nightmare. Sam and Dean (Jensen Ackles) both look into the death and Sam pays off a morgue attendant for info on the deceased. Money, which Dean comments, he earned. Sam: "You won that in a poker game." Same difference, ha! Dean asks if any exploding eyeballs were seen. Someone had to mention this eventually. Dean then asks Sam how many times Dad (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) has come across something which is really a supernatural occurrence and not some other, normal event.

The actress talks about her role in Wild Things: Foursome, Cougar Hunters a Mass Effect movie and more

Jillian Murray is certainly an actress on the rise and one to look out for in the near future. After roles in such films as An American Carol, Knuckle Draggers, Forget Me Not and one of this year's eight AfterDark Horrorfest films The Graves, not to mention providing the face and body for the character Dr. Liara T'Soni in the popular video game Mass Effect, the actress seems poised for a big career jump in the near future. Her latest film is Wild Things: Foursome, which was just released on DVD and Blu-ray on June 1. I recently had the chance to talk with this young actress over the phone, and here's what she had to say.

I was curious if you were a fan of this series before you signed on and...

Back in 1985 the film Clue, featuring a dynamo of a comedy cast with Tim Curry at its head, made a mockery of the murder mystery genre, and it did so expertly. 25 years later we’re still getting many films every year where the writer and director attempt to pull a fast one on the audience by throwing red herrings left and right. Some films have excellent hooks that you just never see coming, while others are as predictable as the Disney sequel that just reverses the plot points of the original.

Now, put Clue out of your mind and think back to the 1998 mystery thriller Wild Things, featuring Kevin Bacon, Neve Campbell, Denise Richards, Matt Dillon, and Bill Murray. Was it a masterpiece? No, but it had a nice little mystery wrapped up in a soft-core porn package. It was trashy, shallow, and relied heavily on its cast to carry it through its theatrical run.

Writer/director Michael Stokes sent along a few new pics from his supernatural thriller The Beacon, with the news that the film will have sneak-preview screenings in six Texas cities later this month in advance of its wider release next year. Check out the photos and dates/venues below.

Produced by Sally Helppie and Sabbatical Pictures, The Beacon (which we last covered here) stars Teri Polo (first photo) and David Rees Snell as Bryn and Paul, a married couple grieving the death of their son who move into the titular apartment building, where Bryn begins sighting the ghost of another dead young boy. The cast also includes Elaine Hendrix, Ken Howard, genre fave Michael Ironside (second photo with Everett Sifuentes) and Marnette Patterson; Vincent Guastini created the makeup FX. Stokes (third photo) informs us that the movie (retitled Haunting At The Beacon for international distribution by American World Pictures) will...

Jeri Ryan has been cast in CBS' drama pilot Shark, Tom Cavanagh has joined CBS' comedy pilot My Ex-Life, and Illeana Douglas has come on board ABC's comedy pilot Women of a Certain Age. In other casting news, Xander Berkeley has joined ABC's drama pilot Women in Law, Marnette Patterson has come on board ABC's comedy pilot Southern Comfort, and Vincent Ventresca has been cast in Fox's comedy pilot Julie Reno, Bounty Hunter. Shark, from 20th Century Fox TV and Imagine TV, centers on a celebrity attorney-turned-prosecutor (James Woods). Ryan will portray Jessica, a district attorney and the new boss of Woods' character.

A large ensemble of actors are on the move for the indie comedy Standing Still for Mean People Suck helmer Matthew Weiss. Adam Garcia and Amy Adams will team to play a couple on the verge of getting married who gather their group of friends for a few days of prewedding celebrations. Starring in the ensemble along with the duo are Mena Suvari, James Van Der Beek, James Duval, Colin Hanks, Aaron Stanford, Jon Abrahams, Melissa Sagemiller, Ethan Embry, Lauren German, Xander Berkeley, Nikki Ziering, Marne Patterson and helmer Roger Avary starring As Himself. The project, penned by Matthew Perniciaro and Timm Sharp, is described as a Gen Y version of The Big Chill. Trent Othick is producing, with Lorenzo Fertitta, Tim Poster and Tom Breitling serving as executive producers. Karen Meisels, who headed the casting for the film, will receive co-producer credit. Weiss is repped by Nick Osborne and Trevor Ingleson's Mission Management and attorney Allison Binder at Stone, Meyer & Genow. Garcia is repped by ICM, Brillstein-Grey Entertainment and CAM in the United Kingdom. Adams is repped by Endeavor, the Firm and attorney Jason Sloane.

CAMP NOWHERE

Buena Vista

Sneaking in under the wire, Hollywood Pictures' seasonal ''Camp Nowhere'' pits yet another gang of clever kids (this time bored with parent-approved summer camps) against stupid adults in a wish-fulfillment comedy. With its target audience largely back in school, the routine effort has almost no chance of making an impact at the boxoffice.

First-time director Jonathan Prince and writers Andrew Kurtzman and Eliot Wald shoot for easygoing laughs and harmless family fun, but ''Camp Nowhere'' has little to distinguish it from similar fare released over the years. Kids will warm up to their energetic contemporaries on screen, but adults will nod off en masse.

Well-cast but not offering anything new, the film has Christopher Lloyd making funny faces as the burnt-out benefactor who helps set up a secret, kids-only camp for the principal scammers -- Spanky-inspired ''Mud'' (Jonathan Jackson), tough guy Zack (Andrew Keegan), airhead Trish (Marne Patterson) and cutie pie Gaby (Melody Kay).

Other adults, good and menacing, figure in the farce that finds the kids auspiciously occupying an old hippie hangout in the woods (HR 8/26-28).-- David Hunter

THERE GOES MY BABY

Orion

An ''American Graffiti''-ish take on the personal and social upheavals surrounding Westwood High's 1965 graduating class, ''There Goes My Baby'' is U.S. social history as writ by the jukebox. Featuring a venerable slew of Golden Oldies from the '50s and '60s, this long-shelved Orion release cruises best during its tune times but stumbles when the narrative spins onto the scene.

The imminent demise of Westwood High School's popular burger hangout, which is to be torn down and replaced by a shopping mall, is the Joni Mitchell-ish metaphor for this story of change.

Indeed, writer-director Floyd Mutrux's central thesis focuses on the growing pains between the Age of Eisenhower and the Age of Aquarius. In his 45-rpm-deep scenario, the central characters are a representative stockpot of Westwood High graduating seniors.

As far as recapturing the days when the '50s met the '60s, ''There Goes My Baby'' succeeds about as well as those '50s-themed franchise burger joints succeed in recalling the era -- all the right sounds but a synthetic feel (HR 8/26-28).-- Duane Byrge

WAGONS EAST!

TriStar

This season's western crop hasn't exactly been burning any holes in the boxoffice. With the exception of ''Maverick, '' the other oaters, including those Kevin Costner, Billy Crystal and Woody Harrelson-Kiefer Sutherland vehicles, fell considerably short of expectations.

Which is reason enough to hold out little hope for ''Wagons East!, '' a slapstick take on the Old West that arrives with the built-in notoriety of being the film that John Candy had almost completed at his untimely death.

Given that the finished product is often tasteless and remarkably unfunny, making little use of Candy's comic genius, it is a milestone best left forgotten.

Matthew Carlson's first feature screenplay wants very much to be another ''Blazing Saddles, '' but

the crass, half-baked result can't hold a candle to vintage Mel Brooks.

Director Peter Markle does little to improve the situation, letting things run their predictable course (HR 8/24).-- Michael Rechtshaffen

Other reviews

Also reviewed last week were the films ''A Simple Twist of Fate'' (HR 8/29), ''Princess Caraboo'' (8/29), ''Kabloonak'' (8/29) and ''Mustang: The Hidden Kingdom'' (8/29).

(c) The Hollywood Reporter...