In 1992, future Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson created one of the greatest movies of our time - Dead Alive (A.K.A. Braindead). This splatteriffic comedy gave new meaning to the term "bloodthirsty," and it forever sealed itself as a must-see in the horror community. It could also be said that Dead Alive provided a valuable lesson for filmmakers, a lesson that has yet, to the annoyance of the horror enthusiast, to be fully utilized in films today.

Dead Alive was not a horror comedy as much as it was a comedy that employed horror as the base of its plot, and that's where a lot of horror films fail. Instead of choosing one extreme over the other (in the case of Dead Alive, comedy over horror), filmmakers of our generation decide to throw in elements of both. This tactic leads to a jumble of mixed emotions and sloppy films.

The worst offender of not choosing a solid tone to film is Eli Roth, whose films, tragically, have fantastic premises but are poorly executed. I admit it; I watch Roth's films, no matter how badly I know they will turn out, with the highest hopes that he'll one day understand his mistakes, but, so far, I've been sorely disappointed.

At the top of the list of disappointments is Roth's directorial debut, Cabin Fever, whose premise of a flesh-eating virus is not new, but it's refreshing in the current market of hack-n-slash films. However, the movie was so staggeringly annoying with its lack of one base tone that it failed on so many levels. The first level (and most important level for a movie that bills itself as a horror) is the fear factor. With the addition of characters such as Deputy Winston and the locals, the idea of the audience being even remotely frightened is thrown right out of the window. The second level is the comedy. With the serious nature with which Roth explores the development of the disease, the idea of the audience laughing and continuing to laugh is right out that window with the fear factor. The audience doesn't know what to do. Should we laugh? Should we be afraid? Had he chosen one tone over the other, this film would very likely have worked well, but, instead, we're left with this jumble of... well, I'll let you finish that sentence.

The second offense from Roth is Hostel. Again - fantastic premise, horrible execution. The first half of the film is softcore pornography. Sex has almost become a staple in horror movies, but Roth went overboard. He might as well have continued with the characters

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