Beware animals and slashers in 'Furry Vengeance' and 'Nightmare on Elm Street'

By Sarah Sluis

This weekend at the box office, everyone is out to get you. If you're with kids, go for Furry Vengeance (2,997 theatres), the environmentally friendly family comedy about a real estate developer (Brendan Fraser) in a losing battle against the animals defending their forest home. Their defense involves bodily emissions,

as might be expected, leading to an overall feel that this movie is going for the "lowest common denominator," according to critic Sheri Linden.

For horror fans, there's the remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street (3,332 theatres). It's pretty hard to top an original movie, and this remake is no exception. Critic Maitland McDonagh summed it up like this: "The new Nightmare is just another generic horror movie that hits its marks and delivers its blandly anonymous victims into the jaws of malevolent fate. It's perfectly watchable, but nothing to lose sleep over." One interesting casting choice: Jackie Earle Haley as dead child molester Freddy Krueger, his second time around the block playing a child molester.

So maybe you missed Please Give at Tribeca, but saw my post yesterday praising the movie. You're in luck if you're in one of the six locations releasing the film this weekend. Director Nicole Holofcener's strong and incisive film led Ethan Alter to happily conclude that "It's a low-key slice-of-life story that, in its best moments, feels like real life."

On Monday, we'll see where these films ended up. Elm Street will probably finish higher than Furry Vengeance, especially because horror movies open strong. How to Train Your Dragon could end up ahead of Furry Vengeance due to its long legs and continued presence in 3D and IMAX locations.