The Forsaken ( 94 mins, 18) Directed by J.S. Cardone; starring Kerr Smith, Brendan Fehr, Carrie Snodgress
Scary Movie 2 (82 mins, 18) Directed by Keenen Ivory Wayans; starring Marlon Wayans, Shawn Wayans, Anna Faris

J.S. Cardone's The Forsaken is yet another nightmare tale of vampires stalking unwary Americans going about their lawful business. Sean (Kerr Smith), an editor working for a poverty-row company in Los Angeles, is on his way to his sister's wedding in Florida, his expenses paid for by driving a restored Mercedes convertible to be delivered to its owner. He is talked into giving a ride to a seedy hitchhiker, Nick (Brendan Fehr). The latter, it transpires, is a 'hunter', a man contaminated by vampires but not yet one of the undead (or the forsaken as they're here called) and bent on saving as many vampires as he can and saving their victims.

It's a violent, bloody, would-be erotic affair with as ill-mannered a band of young vampires as ever brought disgrace on Transylvania, and a rare guest appearance by Carrie Snodgress as a Texan widow. The film has a couple of good moments, but they come from Delmer Daves's 3.10 to Yuma which the hero watches on TV at a motel in Yuma County, Arizona.

One hopes after seeing Scary Movie 2, directed by Keenen Ivory Wayans and starring himself and his brothers Shawn and Marlon, that the producers have reached the limits of their numeracy. This is another of those so-called comedies in which bad pastiches are garnished with gross-outs and passed off as affectionate satire.

The film chooses as its prime target those tales of assorted folk, in this case Professor Tim Curry's students, lured into spending a night at a haunted house. When invention flags, as it often does, urine flows by the gallon.

Don't let it be said that current British culture isn't making an impact in America - a student is reading a book called 'Harry Pothead' and a parrot says of someone about to die: 'You are the weakest link, goodbye.'