Love, Peace and Horror: Two horror franchises go up against 'Taking Woodstock'

By Sarah Sluis

Where better to put a "solid but minor film from Ang Lee" (according to Kirk Honeycutt) than the last week of summer, when it's the most enticing offering of the bunch? Taking Woodstock, which opened on Wednesday in New York and L.A., expands to 1,393 theatres today. The "low-wattage film about a high-wattage event" is episodic and behind-the-scenes, and focuses on the small, peripheral moments over the big, iconic ones. Fascination with hippie culture has yet to wane, so the subject matter is certain to entice both the original hippies and the younger generations that have adopted some of their core values.

In the horror realm, it's death by serial killer or death by fate Neither Halloween 2 nor The Final Destination screened for critics, though a Variety reviewer did manage to see The Final Destination and pronounce it "as developed as a text message," which should cement its appeal among the text-messaging crowd. The Final Destination will release in 3,121 theatres, including 1,678 3D screens, so the premium ticket prices at half its venues should give the horror flick an edge over Halloween 2. Directed by Rob Zombie, Halloween 2 (3,025 screens) is a remake of the 1981 horror flick--after Halloween 8 or so, they decided to start back at the beginning. Zombie has a legion of fans and is renowned for his mastery of the grindhouse aesthetic, so the movie has a good chance to draw in horror aficionados. However, its off-holiday release date isn't ideal, though it's tough to say how much people will care.

Six screens in the fashion capital, New York City, will show The September Issue, a behind-the-scenes look at the woman who inspired The Devil Wears Prada: Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour. The documentary follows Wintour and her staffers as they create the 2008 September issue of Vogue, traditionally the biggest and most filled with advertising. Like the editors the filmmakers documented, the film itself (and specifically the editor Azin Samari) "stylishly distills hundreds of hours of footage into a vibrantly energetic narrative."

On Monday we'll circle back and see who won the weekend: Will the Nazi killers in Inglourious Basterds have a second week of glory? Will the hippies rise above? And how will horror fans choose between The Final Destination and Halloween 2?