> Mm, well, my ticket is dated Thursday 7 pm (day before the day before yesterday). It was a free screening for local journalists and film critics and the like.

I'm jealous. The thing is, I could probably get into a critics' screening purely on the basis of At-A-Glance Film Reviews -- but I think I'd have to go into Boston to do that. I should find out for sure.

> Trouble is, there was nothing in the storyline nor were there any scenes that were genuinely "scary" ... My brain kept kicking in and saying Duh, where's the sense of relentless evil, of one that absolutely could not be escaped by just going outside or finding a silly "hiding place"?

I see what you mean. No, "The Haunting" didn't have that at all. Leen and I thought it was pretty scary, but I truly mean "pretty scary," which may be a feeling you'd prefer to describe as just "tension." There was absolutely no dread feeling of inescapable evil; you're right. But I do think the movie had a thick atmosphere to it, and I would recommend the movie *purely* on the basis of its set design and the set-related effects. The house certainly had a personality all of its own. I *love* movies with a strong sense of place, where the setting is as much a character as the people are. I liked "Anaconda" and "Mimic" (a lot more than "The Haunting," I should point out) partly for this reason. But you couldn't have made your point better than by citing the "groping around in the dark" scene from "Mimic." *That* was scary.