p Author Ann Marlowe comes to Ann Arbor. Marlowe comes to Shaman Drum bookstore to discuss her book "how to stop time,"a quasi narrative drug memoir. OI~ Ld jgan Datj Tomorrow in Daily Arts: 0 Check out Breaking Records for reviews of the new albums by Counting Crows and Marcy Playground. Monday November 1, 1999 NW 'Haunted Hill' spooks with tired frights By Joshua Pederson Daily Arts Writer There once was a movie that was eased to a wide audience. It was billed as a horror blockbuster. It cost millions to make. It was concentrated.on its spe- cial effects value. It was called "The Haunting." And frankly, for all its advance hype, and for all its special effects, "The Haunting" just wasn't a very good movie. It turned out to be too much computer animation crammed into V. House on Haunted Hill At Quality 16, Showcase and Briarwood not enough plot, with horrible act- ing and a trite screenplay to b o o t Furthermore, the storyline was implausibly pre- sented, and the viewer couldn't identify with any of the characters, good or evil. Hence, the "hor- ror" film just was- n't that scary. Audiences Courtesy of Warner Brothers Famke Janssen gets busty as Evelyn in "House on Haunted Hill." reacted to this sub-par effort by showing up at the theaters in respectable numbers near the movie's opening, but in steadily dwindling figures as the summer months progressed. Yes, "The Haunting" was officially a flop. Little did audiences know that they Id Id be subjected to an almost identi- ca debacle only months later, coming in the form of fellow remake "House on Haunted Hill." Paying no respect to the intelligence of audiences around the globe, Hollywood decided to release more or less the same film as "The Haunting," hoping that its Halloween release date would bolster ticket sales. With a little bit of luck, the movie viewers in the United States will prove themselves smart watchers, recognizing this clone for what it really is and doom- 'ing it to its predecessor's fate. But these days, a little bit of luck is hard to come by. "House on Haunted Hill" starts out looking eerily like a Nine Inch Nails video gone horribly horribly wrong. And it never really frees itself from this stig- ma throughout its full length. A word of advice: Just tape "Closer" and watch it a couple dozen times through. Yes, Trent Reznor is weird as heck, but your time will be better served. So, here's the basic plotline, as if you couldn't surmise it from the previews. Six characters are brought together to spend the night in an insane asylum that was, long ago, the site of a horrible mas- sacre. Though those who survive are promised a hefty sum of money, those who do not are given up to the obvious- ly angry, and obviously deceased tenants of the present-day asylum. "House on Haunted Hill" features a number of notable actors whose careers all take a step or two back because of the tripe that passes for a script. Most prominent among these is Geoffrey Rush, who won an Oscar for his performance in "Shine" just a few years back. Oh, how the mighty have fallen. One wonders to which member of the production team Rush owes his life, reputation or a really great dinner at White Castle in return for this forgettable performance. He plays the wealthy amusement park tycoon who unwittingly organizes the mayhem. Chris Kattan, of rising "Saturday Night Live" fame, plays the caretaker of the asylum, a direct descentant of the doctor who organized the massacre of yore. Kattan actually shows promise as an actor, and may rise to some level of dramatic stardom. But one must look very, very closely to descry this fact, for the script of "House on Haunted Hill" reduces his lines to hackneyed com- ments such as, "It's the house, dammit!" and "We're all going to die, don't you get it?" and "Hey, did anybody see 'Night at the Roxbury' last year?" and "Gosh, I hope no one sees this film, so my career doesn't take the nose dive that it proba- bly now deserves!" The funniest thing about the film is the fact that as soon as the charcters' names are mentioned once, the writer expects the audience to recall the identi- ties linked to them immediately and throughout the film. The writer assumes that his "memorable" personae connect nicely to their witty monikers. However, the likelihood of one remembering the pet name of "Dead Psychologist 3" in his first reference after 45 minutes is pretty darn small. The film's downfall, though, may be its most valuable redeeming quality - there are few things that are more fun than blowing eight bucks on a Saturday afternoon to go and rip on a terrible hor- ror film with one of your most sarcastic friends. This film, though, may not even deserve this dignity. "House on Haunted Hill" is really not worth even close to eight bucks, and really, who has that kind of money to go to a bad film these days anyway? But fear not, dear readers! "The Haunting" is bound to hit a video store shelf near you very, very soon! ALEX WOLIK/Daiky Ibrahim Ferrer of Buena Vista Social Club sings to an enthralled crowd. re Cuban S"ocial Club sparks Hil I loan's sugartwes rock Pontiac show By Curtis Zimmermann Daily Arts Writer It was only fitting that the tempera- ture was unseasonably high Saturday night when the Buena Vista Social Club performed at H ill Auditorium. The rising thermometer combined with the troupe's brilliant performance made it feel as though the concert hall was transformed into a Havana night- club. The artists of the Buena Vista Social Club have emerged in the late '90s as one of Cuba's premiere exports thanks in part to their Grammy award-winning album and documentary of the same name. Its music blends many of the popular styles of 20th Century Afro-Cuban music, including Son, Rumba and Mambo. The two By Erin Podolsky and Ken Barr Daily Arts Writers Normally, Sloan treats the audi- e to every song they've ever r "orded with words that they can still remember. Often, they'll throw in a few songs that they can't remem- ber just for good measure. This cre- ates a relaxed, large-scale garage band, sing-along atmosphere that has been a successful 5 -formula for the past several Detroit shows. Sloan Sloan's recent performance lutch Cargo's before a sold-out Oct. 29, 1999 crowd at Pontiac's Clutch Cargo's consisted of a much shorter set (due in part to the fact that the apparently wildly popular "Latin Dance Night" * scheduled immediately follow- ing the concert) comprised mostly of songs off their newest album, "Between the Bridges." Such old favorites as "Deeper than Beauty" and "Underwhelmed" were axed in favor of the newer "So Beyond Me" and "Delivering Maybes." In addi- tion, Sloan's intensive touring sched- ule has had the (tongue firmly in cheek) unfortunate side effect of pol- ishing each song and developing the band's talent. Despite this horrifying evolution, Friday night's crowd thor- oughly enjoyed every moment of Sloan's exciting concert. And you get the feeling that Sloan also enjoys its reinvented self. Careful concert-goers may have noted a beaming smile on the face of usually stoic guitarist Jay Ferguson at several points during the evening. They may have noticed his homage to The Who as he "windmilled" closing chords instead of trying to sneak a peek at his watch. Both drummer Andrew Scott and bassist/vocalist Chris Murphy played the drums with a passion. Wearing a large t-shirt and strug- gling to keep his glasses from falling off his face, Murphy evoked images of a little kid banging away on his first drum kit. It is these images that will ingrain the show in the minds of fans and that prove the necessity of witnessing a live performance. Slower songs such as "The Marquee and the Moon" were per- formed even more subdued than their studio versions, while fun tracks like "All by Ourselves" and "Anyone Who's Anyone" made it clear than Sloan's tight harmony is legitimate, not the product of studio doctoring. Bualna Vista SoilClub Hill Auditorium Oct. 30, 1999