Twixt

The fact that Francis Ford Coppola's glory days are long behind him is evident in this genuinely ridiculous horror movie that offers a visual feast but narrative famine. A bloated, sleepy Val Kilmer stars as Hall Baltimore, an author whom one character dismisses as a third-rate Stephen King. On a low-rent book tour for his latest potboiler about witches, Hall drives into little Swan Valley, sets up his table in a hardware store, and sells nada. But he's approached by the goofy sheriff (Bruce Dern) to collaborate on a book about a local serial killer, and that same night he's visited by the pale apparition of a murdered girl (Elle Fanning), who was apparently one of the victims. Hall is also accosted by the spirit of Edgar Allan Poe (Ben Chaplin)—who encourages the author to take up the yarn, offering some advice about structuring the mystery—and even further visitations add what appear to be vampires to the brew. While there are some haunting images in the dream sequences, the only real interest afforded by the ludicrous plot lies in its vaguely autobiographical elements: Coppola devises an ending here revolving around the writer's grief and guilt over the loss of his child in a boating accident that is eerily reminiscent of the death of Coppola's own son Gian-Carlo in 1986. Optional. (F. Swietek)