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I've been meaning to purchase and wear this t-shirt since I learned of its existence a couple of months ago, but I figured I'd better let the Twilight: New Moon hysteria die down first. It would appear, after all, that openly declaring one's hostility toward the Twilight franchise on one's person, even with a statement as unquestionably correct as "Vampires Don't Sparkle," is just asking for trouble. You do not want to mess with a gaggle of rabid Robert Pattinson fans.

I do not hate the Twilight franchise, actually, though I would like to suggest that the Twilighteers may live to regret sinking so much time and emotion into something so utterly banal. But I seem to be one of the few who occupy the middle ground. Twilight might be the most divisive love-it-or-hate-it phenomenon of the last few years. Not everyone adores Harry Potter, but most people have at least a grudging respect for it; Twilight has as many haters as fawning admirers.

You gotta admit that if you can use a movie to start an argument, it's at least good for something. Here are seven other movies that seem to disproportionately divide the moviegoing population into adoring fans and angry detractors.

1. Titanic - To get the obvious out of the way. It's amazing to me how often people make offhand derisive mentions of Titanic, as if its awfulness were well-established and self-evident. As with Twilight, of course, the surprisingly widespread disdain of this movie is a backlash against its army of obsessive partisans (and from a similar demographic to boot) -- the folks who showed up on local news shows in 1997 bragging about having seen it 16 times in the theater, etc. The fact that Titanic is a fantastic film -- and not really (or at least not only) for the reasons many of its fans think -- tends to get lost in the shuffle, sadly.

Well, it's October now, and just as all sites set their... well, sights on all things horror, Horror Squad's been ahead of the curve by covering it all year round! A-ha!

Seriously, though, as Weinberg told you, we've kicked off our Fates Worse Than Death series -- today's entry from yours truly regards that ever grisly Event Horizon. (Your suggestions are also welcome.) Peter's got the latest on the best in this week's genre discs (Trick 'r Treat, ho!), and newbie Brad McHargue keeps up the Fantastic Fest coverage with his look at Jake West's horror-comedy, Doghouse.

Mind you, the Sci-Fi Squad crew ain't slouching either, whether it's concerning their new genre DVDs of the week, their Fantastic Fest interview with Stingray Sam director Cory McAbee, their wonderfully gonzo glimpse at next month's disaster-tastic 2012, and a gallery of the downright geekiest tattoos I have ever seen.

So get crackin'! After all, this October only comes one time a year... or something.

It's hard enough to make either a good sci-fi flick or a horror movie, one that avoids the tired stereotypes yet embraces the aesthetic, with a smart script that provides something fresh and new and solid direction that establishes a proper atmosphere and allows for surprising developments. And performances that don't camp it up but are sincere and convincing. Combining the two genres is much trickier than blending peanut butter and chocolate. That was my thinking when compiling this list. Your comments are more than welcome. What are your personal favorites? Here are mine:

1. Alien
I don't know if Ridley Scott actually realized he was making a sci-fi horror movie, so much as he thought he was making a stylish thriller. Call it willful ignorance, but that may have contributed to the refreshing absence of overcooked ideas, which typically pop up like dandelions for directors new to either genre. Like the original, original Star Wars (before George shined it up), Alien resides in a future which feels lived in and used up, from the battered old Nostromo to the planet that harbors the seeds of the crew's destruction. By keeping the alien (mostly) out of the shot, and showing instead what the creature has done, the level of terror keeps rising. A distinct sense of dread permeates the picture, and it still makes me shiver.

Read the rest over at SciFi Squad

I was 13 years old in the summer of 1997. I don't know if it's my favorite movie summer, but I do know that it was seminal -- at least in the sense that it was the first summer when I made a concerted effort to keep up with Hollywood's weekly output and see as much of it as I could. Already, I was jotting down my thoughts on everything I saw, fancying myself a budding film critic. The following year, I would start my own website on the now-defunct Geocities, and the rest would be history.

But, 1997. I didn't see everything (so I won't try to cover everything), and there's a lot I haven't caught up with. Still, looking back, I can see the beginnings of my current tastes and predilections. And amazingly, I can still remember the circumstances under which I saw some of these movies. Here are some of my memories.

May 23

The Lost World: Jurassic Park: I remember the talk about whether The Lost World would join the exclusive $200 million club, which just seems so darn quaint now. (It did, by the way.) I also remember the hype about it being the largest opening ever (3,281 screens). I saw the actual movie while visiting family friends in Tennessee. I loved it. Arguably, it began my love affair with Steven Spielberg (I had not, at the time, seen Raiders of the Lost Ark, though I believe I had seen E.T.)

What are you renting this week? Let us know in the comments! To get you started, here's our look at more than a dozen new releases.

Serenity
Joss Whedon's TV series Firefly inspired a rabid fan base, myself included. The sci-fi Western featured good-looking, likable characters, witty dialogue, and a breezy pace. The 2005 movie was a thrilling, fitting capstone for a series that ended far too soon, but stands on its own just fine. Previously released on DVD and HD-DVD, the Blu-ray version adds several new features (detailed by Peter Bracke at High-Def Digest). Serenity is buoyant entertainment and rewards repeat viewings. Buy it.

Woman on the Beach
A sublime tale, Woman is a leisurely, dramatic battle of the sexes that's funny and insightful. J. Hoberman of the Village Voice described it as "a rueful tale of karmic irony, self-deceived desire, squandered second chances, and unforeseen abandonment." He noted director Hong Sang-soo's affinities with Eric Rohmer and Albert Brooks "in his deadpan presentation of absurd antics." In Korean with English subtitles. The DVD includes a "making of," interviews, and a trailer. Woman on the Beach is an ideal choice for date night. Rent it.

Towelhead
Directed by Alan Ball (American Beauty, Six Feet Under), this "controversial and polarizing" drama relates what happens to "a 13-year-old Lebanese-American girl living in Texas during the first Gulf War," per our own Eric D. Snider, who was writing in response to an Islamic group's call for a title change. The DVD includes a two-part featurette, "Towelhead: A Community Discussion." Sight unseen (by me), it sounds like a sure cure for a New Year's Day hangover. Rent it.

Also out: An American Carol (DVD; Blu-ray next week) and Surfer, Dude (DVD and Blu-ray).

My earliest recollections of the Castlevania video game series are of a little guy side-scrolling through a haunted castle, stopping occasionally to whip a skeleton/ghost/vampire and climb a whole lot of staircases. I loved it. And even though I know next to nothing about the later Castlevania games (and there are several), I'm still fairly psyched for Rogue's new big-screen version to hit the scene.

What's that? Castlevania is being written and directed by Paul W.S. Anderson? The man who gave us Mortal Kombat, Resident Evil and Alien vs. Predator? And Soldier and Event Horizon? Yikes ... Hey wait, I really like Event Horizon! And Resident Evil (PART ONE!) And I certainly don't think that Anderson is as bad a filmmaker as the rantier fanboys seem to think he is. And, to his credit, Mr. Anderson is approaching this Castlevania flick with what I consider to be a very solid perspective. "You could also call this movie Dracula Begins," says Anderson as he practices his fan-friendly sound-bites and settles into direct what could be a fairly fine horror/adventure-type flick. (Just please don't go the PG-13 route. Please.)

For those who've done things other than play video games for the past 16 years, Castlevania "focuses on the duel across the centuries between Dracula and the vampire-hunting Belmont family, played out within Dracula's vast, labyrinthine castle." Yep, the Rogue folks are most definitely thinking "franchise" on this one. Fingers crossed, vamp-fans!

And yes: I called Anderson the "video game movie king." Any five random frames of Resident Evil are better than the complete and collected works of Uwe Boll -- and who else out there makes these movies?

Those gore-lovin' knuckleheads over at Bloody-Disgusting.com spent a few days on the set of Resident Evil: Extinction (surrounded by women like Milla Jovovich, Sienna Guillory and Ali Larter, those lucky bastards) and while they haven't come back with their full set report (which, frankly, doesn't even interest me all that much), they've gleaned a few choice nuggets from the cast and crew members.

Oded Fehr will be returning for RE3, and he dropped a vague little tidbit regarding a certain looming sequel: "From what I know ... they're writing one that's totally different, in a different time. Brendan (Fraser) and Rachel (Weisz) are in it." Hmph. The Mummy Returns Again? We'll see.

Stopping by to chat with Ms. Larter, the BD.com boys learned that she will not be reprising her role in the upcoming sequel to House on Haunted Hill -- even though she signed on to star in the second sequel to Resident Evil. Oh well, moving on, the gorehounds hit the mother lode when they sat down to chat with producer Jeremy Bolt, a guy who's made a lot of movies with the fanboy-controversial Paul W.S. Anderson. (Anderson directed Mortal Kombat, Event Horizon, Soldier, Resident Evil, and Alien vs. Predator, if you must know.) The partners' next project will be a "less parody, more reality TV" remake of Death Race 2000, an NES-to-celluloid rendition of Castlevania, and a sequel to this movie, which looks so sinfully bad that I can't wait to see it.