I didn't care much for The Salem Branch, but I absolutely adored Angelique's Descent.  The latter was filled with historical aspects.  Ms. Parker evidentally did her research.  The revelation that Anglique was mulatto was simply stunning and how her white father used her was shocking.  One can understand why she did all the things she did.  She grew up used and abused.  She, as a child, saw her best friend murdered brutally.  To me, Angelique's Descent was a powerful book.  It explains so much.

Gerard

David, you always do such a marvelous job!  I wish I had your talent and ability!

Gerard (A Writer Wannabe Tha'll Neverbe)

Some of the pieces are incredibly difficult to play - more sharps and flats than the AlCan Highway.  A friend of mine has advanced degrees in music and he had to struggle with them a few times before finally being able to pound them out correctly on the ivories and he still occasionally had to "inovate" in order to make them sound right in an easier way.

Gerard

If one hasn't seen Karen Black in Dan Curtis' original Trilogy of Terror, here it is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qs-KEsse0Jk

Twenty years later, Dan Curtis did a sequal starring Lysette Anthony (Angelique - DS91) including a follow-up to the Zuni fetish doll that features a special surprise for DS fans:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32nuCB9nPdA

Gerard

Did you say "Twilight," MB?  Twilight?  Oh, ick, shriek, scream, agggg!  Now, anything with "Twilight" in it, I would consider a "disaster" film. 

As an aside, speaking of The Conjuring, I attended a lecture by Ed and Lorraine Warren (who are featured in the film) back in the mid-80's.  The briefly mentioned the case, even playing an audio tape from it (part of it featured in the film), but would say nothing more, stating that it had been "too personel" for them.  Ed Warren passed away a few years ago.  Lorraine Warren has a cameo in the movie.

Gerard

I didn't the SLR, not because I thought it would be bad, or because of marketing, but because I've never been into the Masked Man.  I had absolutely no interest.  Could that be a reason why quite a few also didn't attend it?  Was there any real interest?  I don't know.  Was there a particular audience for which it was targetted (not counting Lone Ranger fans)?  However, it would seem aiming for a specific group of people would spell possible economic problems, as any film should try to broaden its appeal.  But that's neither here nor there.

I'm sure there are cirtics and pundits out to "get" Depp.  That happens when someone or something is popular.  In an attempt to be "sophisticated," some find it necessary to be contrarians.  And when "sophistication" is established, then everyone starts jumping on that badwagon.  They don't want to appear "untrendy" when going after what is "trendy."  I can kinda understand that because I'm a bit of a contrarian myself.  I loathe, for example, facebook.  I refuse to become a part of it and wallow and relish in belittling it to friends who can't live without it.  I tell them I will join it when it is no longer "trendy" and is down to its last three members only because it will be contarian to then be a subscriber.  But back to Depp, as to why he's been singled out when other actors/actresses are just as popular is a mystery.  Meryl Streep makes like 80 to 90 movies a year and any year cannot go by without her receiving at least one Oscar nomination.   Maybe it's because so many of her films are more "artsy" and, save for maybe one that turns into a blockbuster, people aren't storming the theaters to see her latest flick.  How many saw Julie and Julia?  I saw it with friends.  Other than with a half-dozen, at most, other patrons, the cinema was empty.  We enjoyed it.  Those who saw it enjoyed it.  The critics loved it.  No one else saw it.  Most have never heard of it.  That makes it "artsy" and "sophisticated," at least to the critics.

It does seem that the big F-X, bang-'em-up,, all-action, monsters-stomping-Tokyo, super-heroes-everywhere movies are all the rage.  If it can't be done with CGI, there's no point in doing it at all.  In a way, The Lone Ranger was part-and-parcel of the bang-'em-up, all-action, big-hero thing.  So why didn't it draw in a crowd?  Maybe because no monsters were stomping Tokyo; maybe the Lone Ranger hero just doesn't resonate anymore; who knows?

But I must bring up a point of disagreement with you, oh magnificent MB!  It seems to me that supernatural thrillers have done quite well in the past few years, both critically and financially.  They rarely get kudos when it comes to dishing out the "major awards" because the "sophisticated" don't like to take them seriously, even if they like them (some films like The Exorcist and Silence of the Lambs noteable exceptions, the latter being considered the only horror movie [albeit not of a supernatural subject matter] to win the Oscar for Best Picture).  The Conjuring has cleaned up in both reviews and revenues.  World War Z has done the same (and everyone was expecting it to be a flop).  So why was DS12 so dragged through the coals by a goodly number of "critics" (but certainly not all of them, not by a long shot, but enough to declare it a "flop" even though it wasnt, again not by a long shot)?  Because it was Depp.  So why this anti-Depp "hysteria?"  See above.  Depp has become the contrarians' facebook - too trendy so he has to be untrendy.  If he made a movie that would put Citizen Kane to shame, they would lambast it and do everything in their power to keep people away.  After all, that's "sophisticated," at least for now until that trend passes.

Gerard

In Bram Stoker's classic novel Dracula, the count was able to tolerate limited time during the daylight hours.  In Francis Ford Coppula's film treatment, the count was also seen, on occasion, in daylight, but like Barnabas in DS12, he was heavily covered in clothing and hat and wore sunglasses.  It was during one of his quick daytime sojourns that he met Mina, the reincarnation of his beloved from centuries past who committed suicide by jumping to her death.  Sounds vaguely familiar, doesn't it?

Gerard