'Surveillance': Here Be Monsters, By Kurt Loder

"Surveillance" started out as a script about witches. Director Jennifer Lynch took a whack at it and made a movie about devils — the human kind. The picture is twisted and disturbing and funny, too. Lynch has pushed the material to the wall — she has a gift for violence and perversity, and she never pulls back.

A trail of brutal serial murders has wound its way across the country and now arrived in a remote, unnamed desert community. The movie begins with a recent atrocity, a man and woman slaughtered at their home. Then there's another bloodbath, out on a lonely highway, which leaves several people dead. We don't see this massacre — yet. The story really gets underway in its aftermath.

Three survivors have been brought to the local police headquarters: a wounded cop named Jack (script originator Kent Harper), a hopped-up young blonde named Bobbi (Pell James) and an eight-year-old girl, Stephanie (Ryan Simpkins). Jack and Bobbi are liars, with much to lie about; only Stephanie has information that could be of help, but she's a kid, and nobody pays attention. Soon, to the resentment of the police chief (Michael Ironside) and his remaining force, the FBI takes an interest, and two agents, Sam Hallaway (Bill Pullman) and Elizabeth Anderson (Julia Ormond), show up to lead the investigation.

The movie flips back and forth in time. In a scene set earlier, we observe that Jack and his partner, Jim (French Stewart), are corrupt, half-crazy dirtbags. To pass the dead time, they sit in their patrol car, parked near the desert highway, and shoot out the tires of selected passing vehicles, which they then approach and detain. The vicious good-cop/bad-cop psych-outs they inflict on these unlucky motorists are among the most alarming things in the movie. Which is saying something.

One of the cars we see the rogue lawmen intercept contains little Stephanie and her family. Then a second car is halted at the same spot, this one carrying Bobbi and her big-lunk boyfriend Johnny (Mac Miller), fresh from a drug rip-off. We still don't see what happens next, but soon.

Back at headquarters afterward, the three witnesses are being questioned separately. Stephanie keeps trying to tell anyone who'll listen that she saw something out on the highway earlier: a mysterious white van, a black-gloved hand, blood. Her story doesn't register. Then comes word that three more bodies have been discovered. Agent Anderson and two of the local cops set out for the scene. The picture ends in a bonfire of depravity, played for both shocks and laughs.

Lynch's first movie, the 1993 amputation love story "Boxing Helena," was savagely reviled, and for that and other reasons it's taken her 16 years to release a second one. "Surveillance" has some of the drifting unease we associate with the work of her father, David Lynch (who lent his name to the project in order to get it made, and also contributed music to the soundtrack). Some of the visual details (a demented face growling up on a monitor, a crushed bird in the road) have a touch of dad about them, and a long shot of the highway under a vast sky stacked with clouds recalls his 1999 film, "The Straight Story." But his daughter has her own ticklingly gruesome sensibility, and no reservations about deploying it. She and Harper have cooked up some wicked lines, too. When Agent Anderson threatens the uncooperative Bobbi with a full cavity search, the younger woman says, "I haven't done a girl since art school." Says Anderson: "It's like riding a bike." The movie's fake-out conclusion is something else: It's like falling off a cliff.

Don't miss Kurt Loder's review of "The Hurt Locker," also new in theaters this week.

Check out everything we've got on "Surveillance."

For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.

'Twilight' World Comes To Life In Forks, Washington

FORKS, Washington — If you're like many "Twilight" fans, you cherish every word of Stephenie Meyer's novels, gush each time Robert Pattinson runs his fingers through his hair and celebrate the birthdays of the Cullens as if you're part of the family. But if you haven't been to Forks, you're missing out on a truly once-in-a-lifetime experience.

After all the time that I've spent covering the "Twilight" beat for MTV, I was extremely honored to be asked to attend Summer School in Forks: A "Twilight" Symposium, a real-life fan event that allowed Twilighters to attend classes, go to a prom and enjoy field trips around the real-life town that Meyer immortalized by making it home to her beloved characters.

"We're having Summer School in Forks right now," beamed Kaleb Nation, a.k.a. the "Twilight" Guy, a popular blogger/author. "We have all these bands up here for the 'Twilight' prom. I gave a speech earlier, and we have all these speakers that have been talking about the series. We have the woman who [voices] the audio books here. It's been an amazing event for a bunch of Twilighters to get together in Forks."

Driving into the small town (population 3,000), the first things you see are the enormous trees, the gorgeous beaches — and the pouring rain and overcast skies that make it such a perfect place for sexy vampires to call home. Then, when you pull into town, you see a quaint Disneyland for Twilighters: A motel sign screams "Edward Cullen Slept Here," a local Chinese restaurant features a "Twilight Dinner" and every third storefront sells Robert Pattinson cardboard cutouts, custom-made T-shirts and other "Twilight" trappings.

"I've had the flower shop for about 14 years — my mom owned it before me," explained Charlene Cross, owner of Lepell's Twilight Central (where an employee dressed as Alice sells lollipops that read "Bite Me" and bumper stickers that say "Warning: I Drive Like a Cullen"). "Business is three times what it normally would be. [Before the novels became popular], when I sold flowers strictly, holidays, funerals, weddings would be a good time. Now it's a daily thing, and I think it's only going to get bigger."

"The town was having some major economic issues, because their major export was logging — and then 'Twilight' came along," Kaleb explained. "And if you look at Forks now, Stephenie has transformed this town into a 'Twilight' tourism economy. It's crazy."

"None of our students are vampires — at least, not that we're aware of," grinned Kevin Rupprecht, the real-life principal of Forks High School, who promised me that he resists the daily temptation to call Edward Cullen to his office over the loudspeaker. "Thousands and thousands of people come through this town, just to see the 'Twilight' setting, every month. We do have a couple of lockers, for the fans, that are designated for Edward and Bella. People like that. And we do know which parking spot the almost-accident occurred in. So we direct fans to that; they eat it up."

Forks High was the site of the Symposium. And although it was fun to see all the fans wearing T-shirts that read "Jasper Says Relax" or fathers dressed up like Carlisle (complete with brown contact lenses), they were here for some serious business.

"We got to listen to a lecture by John Granger, who is the author of many [books about] Harry Potter," explained Maddi of "Bloodsuckers," a "Twilight" podcast, who attended Granger's class on religious themes within the pages of the popular novels. "Stephenie Meyer is a Mormon, and we didn't realize how much her religion played into the 'Twilight' series. ... He told us about how Bella and Edward, in the series, represent the relationship between man and God. Edward is God, Bella is man, and when he leaves she feels an absence in her heart. That was really interesting."

Another interesting part of the weekend was Saturday night's "prom" in the Forks High gymnasium. With attendees of all ages dressed in their best evening gowns and suits, popular "Twilight" acts the Bella Cullen Project, Bella Rocks and the Mitch Hansen Band sang odes to the Cullen clan. The YouTube sensation Hillywood Players walked amongst them dressed as Bella, Jasper, Alice and Edward — the latter had his shirt open to reveal his chest, naturally. After sniffing a few potential mates, "Edward" chose his dancing partner from among the blushing fans.

"It's been totally inspirational," Mitch Hansen said of his first time in Forks, saying that he was moved enough to write some new lyrics. "It's mind-blowing."

On Sunday, yours truly got to deliver the keynote speech to the "graduates" during a ceremony that saw them all receiving diplomas. As we stood in the real-deal Forks cafeteria, it was hard to deny the feeling that Edward could come strolling in at any moment, grab a tray of food that he would only poke at and stare longingly at Bella from across the room. As the line between fiction and fact continued to blur, the Twilighters exchanged hugs and phone numbers, taking home the memories of a lifetime along with their diplomas.

"We ended up taking the same flight Bella took to get to Forks in 'Twilight,' " explained Maddi, remembering the journey that she and her friends had taken to get to the tiny town Meyer selected for her novels despite the fact that she had never actually set foot here. "We went from Phoenix to the Seattle airport, then took a puddle-jumper from Seattle to Port Angeles and got to see all the beautiful scenery.

"We ate at Bella Italia, which is where Edward and Bella had their first date. It was pouring — just like it should be — when we got here," she continued, saying that even when there isn't a scheduled fan event, Forks is still a Disneyland for Twilighters. "Everywhere you go, you can just imagine Bella and Edward walking down the street in this cozy little town. It really is like being in the home of 'Twilight.' "

Check out everything we've got on "The Twilight Saga: New Moon." For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.

'Twilight' Actor Michael Welch Talks 'New Moon' Mini-Movie Details

SANTA MONICA, California — It's a beloved moment in the "New Moon" novel, a rare moment of comic relief as Bella Swan attempts to get over her Edward Cullen-induced heartbreak by going on what becomes a three-way date with the love-struck Jacob Black and Mike Newton. Recently, actor Michael Welch made big news by assuring Twilighters that the scene would be in November's "Twilight" sequel — and now, we've got the scoop on the key tweak masterminded by director Chris Weitz.

"I really should've checked with someone if this is information I can give away or not," grinned Welch, the fan favorite who plays puppy dog-like Mike Newton in the blockbuster series. "But, whatever — here we are."

Welch stopped by the MTV studios to discuss such far-ranging topics as his concern for Robert Pattinson's safety and the "three-way date," a scene that has Bella, Mike and Jacob at a movie theater, watching a horror film. But, in the grand tradition of such films as "The Player," "Bowfinger" and "The Purple Rose of Cairo," director Weitz is inserting his own mini "movie within a movie" into the mix.

"The film is called 'Face Punch,' " revealed Welch, telling us about the tongue-in-cheek movie that Bella, Mike and Taylor will be seen watching on the big screen. "It's an action film."

When the cast of "New Moon" began planning out the pivotal date scene, they got a laugh out of some of the silly, fictional action-movie names that Weitz and his crew had assembled. But in the end, "Face Punch" was the winner.

"We started out with a few other comical names, but it turned out those were actual films so we couldn't use those titles," Welch laughed. "I forget the first few titles, but it was like 'Crazy Explosion' — and it turns out, there actually was a 'Crazy Explosion.' "

"Chris came up with the title," he continued. "And apparently there is no 'Face Punch' that we know of."

And although Welch and the other "New Moon" stars weren't able to watch "Face Punch" while they shot their scenes inside the movie theater (they were repeatedly shown the trailer for "Defiance" while Weitz's camera caught the flicker on their faces), he hopes that the filmmaker will shoot some silly action footage for his "Face Punch" mini-movie.

"That'd be interesting — maybe for the DVD, if there's a 'Face Punch' trailer," he grinned. "That's actually not a bad idea."

Check out everything we've got on "The Twilight Saga: New Moon." For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.

Michael Jackson's Screen Legacy, From 'The Wiz' To 'The Simpsons'

Michael Jackson's talent as an entertainer was arguably beyond comparison, yet his music was only the starting point for a career that spanned multiple mediums: film, television (including a Jackson 5 cartoon), video games, theme-park attractions and more. While his appearances in films were relatively few and far between, his magnetism translated easily to the big screen.

Jackson's first major film came in 1978, with director Sidney Lumet's "The Wiz." In the musical fantasy, adapted from L. Frank Baum's "The Wizard of Oz," Jackson starred as the Scarecrow alongside Diana Ross' Dorothy, Nipsey Russell's Tinman and Ted Ross' Lion. "The Wiz" is an urban fairy tale set in a tripped-out reinterpretation of New York. It remains an enduring classic for effectively casting the state of racial affairs at the time against Baum's colorful backdrop.

The 1982 release of his album Thriller — the top-selling album of all time — was accompanied by 1983's landmark, 14-minute music video for the title track. Working with director John Landis ("The Blues Brothers," "An American Werewolf in London"), Jackson put together a video that forever changed the way people thought of the music-video format and can be considered a short film itself.

The video delivered a gentle play on horror-movie staples, featuring dancing zombies and a shocker of a final moment. It premiered on MTV a few weeks before Christmas in 1983 and was screened in theaters with Disney's "Fantasia" in order to qualify for an Academy Award.

As high-profile as the Lumet and Landis associations were, the best was yet to come for Jackson's film career. In 1986, Disney launched a 3-D film attraction in its theme parks featuring the short sci-fi film "Captain EO." Produced by "Star Wars" creator George Lucas and directed by Francis Ford Coppola, "EO" was an immediate sensation.

Jackson starred as Captain EO, a heroic space captain who brings the gift of song to the Supreme Leader (Anjelica Huston), a tyrannical alien queen of a broken and rotting world. The film featured a pair of then-new Jackson songs — "We Are Here to Change the World" and "Another Part of Me" — along with a score by Oscar-winning composer James Horner. Rounding out the powerhouse crew was Vittorio Storaro, the cinematographer who manned the lens on such classics as "The Last Emperor" and Coppola's "Apocalypse Now."

A year later, Jackson again collaborated with a silver-screen legend for another landmark music video, "Bad." The 18-minute epic was directed by Martin Scorsese from a script by Richard Price ("Clockers," "The Color of Money"). Also appearing alongside Jackson in the video are Roberta Flack and a very young Wesley Snipes.

A couple of years after "Bad," a new pop culture sensation swept its way across the planet: Matt Groening's hit TV series "The Simpsons." Jackson was a fan of the show. He was also rumored to be an uncredited contributor to the writing of "Do the Bartman," the hit single featured on the 1990 release The Simpsons Sing the Blues. A year later, the pop star lent both his voice and his musical talents (uncredited again) to the third-season premiere, "Stark Raving Dad," though no one realized it at the time.

In the episode, Simpson family patriarch Homer is committed to an insane asylum. There he meets Leon Kompowsky, an overweight white man who believes he is Michael Jackson. The actor credited with voicing Kompowsky is John Jay Smith. In actuality, it was Jackson, who agreed to appear in the episode — and contribute the song "Happy Birthday Lisa" — only on the condition that be credited under a pseudonym.

Jackson's film and TV career settled down considerably after his "Simpsons" appearance. He starred in the horror short "Ghosts," directed by Stan Winston, who also co-wrote the script with Mick Garris. Many probably remember Jackson's all-too-brief cameo in "Men in Black II," in which he poked gentle fun at his surgically altered appearance by playing an alien disguised as a human. Jackson's final film appearance came in 2004's "Miss Cast Away," starring Eric Roberts.

MTV will be paying tribute to MJ throughout the weekend with music videos, exclusive performances and calls and tweets from celebrity admirers and friends.

Share your Michael Jackson memories by uploading video and comments to Your.MTV.com or joining the discussion below.

'Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen' Breaks Wednesday Box-Office Record

Big robots, bigger explosions — biggest Wednesday movie opening in box-office history. "Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen" powered its way to $55 million in domestic ticket sales on its first day in theaters, according to Variety.com.

That number outflanks by more than $10 million the previous Wednesday box-office champ, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," which pulled in $44 million on its opening day in 2007.

Playing in 4,200 theaters, "Transformers" grossed $16 million during its midnight showings, also a record for a Wednesday opening and the third-best for any day of the week, behind "The Dark Knight" ($18.5 million, Friday) and "Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith" ($16.9 million, Thursday).

"Transformers" has a distinct possibility of having the highest-grossing Wednesday-to-Sunday opening run ever, possibly besting "Spider-Man 2," which raked in $152.4 in 2004.

The first "Transformers," which debuted on a summer Tuesday in 2007, took in $124 million over a five-day period. The movie went on to gross $319 million at the box office. "The Dark Knight," which opened on a Friday, has the highest ever five-day debut, grossing $205 million, followed by the Thursday opening of "Revenge of the Sith" ($173 million).

Paramount, the studio behind "Transformers," will release its official numbers on Thursday.

This summer movie season has been somewhat slow compared with last year's, when films like "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," "Dark Knight" and "Iron Man" soared past the $300 million mark. The highest grossing summer '09 flick thus far is "Star Trek" ($241 million). After Sunday, however, "Transformers" should be well on its way to crossing the $300 million threshold.

Check out everything we've got on "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen."

For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.

'The Hurt Locker': World Of Warfare, By Kurt Loder

"The Hurt Locker" is a movie about war, and it's set in Iraq, but it's not another Iraq War Movie. Director Kathryn Bigelow and the screenwriter, combat journalist Mark Boal, are too smart and tough-minded to inflate the story with windy political pieties. It's a film about war as an every-damn-day environment, and about the men who have to live in it — and to accept the fact that they may die in it, too, very suddenly.

The picture is set in Baghdad in 2004, one year after the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein. We're on patrol with a three-man bomb squad charged with disarming the deadly Improvised Explosive Devices, or IEDs, with which terrorists have littered the city and its environs. The team consists of Sergeant J.T. Sanborn (Anthony Mackie), Specialist Owen Eldridge (Brian Geraghty) and Staff Sergeant Matt Thompson (Guy Pearce), the team leader. The robot bomb-sniffer they send wheeling out ahead of them has located an IED. Thompson clamps on the moon-man helmet of his armored bomb-squad suit and clumps off toward the suspect device to disarm it. We immediately realize that this could be a job with a high turnover rate. Then, in a nearby building, we see a civilian onlooker holding a cell phone, and suddenly, in one thunderous moment, the unit has a new leadership vacuum.

The team now has just 38 days left in-country — 38 days till they rotate back to the States. Sanborn and Eldridge are praying that Thompson's replacement will be a level-headed pro who won't get them killed before they can get out of this hellhole; but the new man turns out to be Staff Sergeant William James (Jeremy Renner), who appears not to care if he gets himself killed. James isn't fearless in a showboating way — he simply has no fear. Walking out on his own to neutralize a bomb-rigged car, he strips off his bulky armored suit and says with a smile, "If I'm gonna die, I wanna die comfortable." James is a good guy, a buddy. He sincerely wants to protect people from getting hurt. And it's clear that he's very good at what he does — he's still walking around after having disarmed several hundred bombs in various other hot, dusty and godforsaken locales. But the man is a puzzle, even to himself. Knowing that he has a wife and child back home, Sanborn asks James why he does it, why he takes the risks. "I don't know," he says.

The movie was shot mostly in Jordan, on a very low budget, with hand-held cameras. This works to its advantage — it feels like a documentary. (Cinematographer Barry Ackroyd also shot Paul Greengrass' semi-improvised "United 93.") Bigelow, whose rйsumй includes such pictures as "Strange Days" and the great "Near Dark," is an action director with ideas and a talent for manipulating tension. She pumps it up in a desert shoot-out with terrorists, then eases back as the confrontation subsides into a standoff, and the sequence becomes an essay in heat and sweat and flies as the soldiers wait and wait for a target to nail. It's an uncommonly evocative depiction of the sheer exhausting drudgery of modern combat.

There are some vivid passing touches, too, like a soldier wiping blood off of bullets so they'll fire when he clips them into his weapon. The great overhead shot in which we see James carefully lifting a suspicious red wire out of the sand — and slowly revealing a web of deadly explosives all around him — has an almost sci-fi eeriness. And in a sizzling raid on a makeshift terrorist bomb factory, the movie delivers its most horrific surprise.

The three lead actors are a convincing team; and Renner, last seen in "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford," is a quiet revelation (and, as of here, a star). His character is affable and even warm-hearted (his friendship with an Iraqi boy selling bootleg DVDs outside the army base is a significant subplot). He seems like a guy we might know — but never really know. Unlike his two comrades, he's not desperately counting down the days till he goes home. He seems at home right here, in a world of round-the-clock hostility and death. By his bunk he keeps a tangle of components from the many bombs he's disarmed. "This box is full of stuff that almost killed me," he says. He knows this collection could suddenly be rendered complete at any moment, and he doesn't know why he doesn't care.

Don't miss Kurt Loder's review of "Surveillance," also new in theaters this week.

Check out everything we've got on "The Hurt Locker." For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.

'Twilight' Actor Michael Welch 'Concerned' About Robert Pattinson

SANTA MONICA, California — When Robert Pattinson was grazed by a moving taxicab recently, the news rocked legions of "Twilight" fans who feared for their favorite actor's life. His series co-star Michael Welch, however, was surprised to hear the news when he sat down with MTV News on Tuesday.

"No," marveled the actor, who plays Mike Newton in the films. "You are how I stay in touch with this stuff."

Once we briefed Mike on the recent near-tragedy, the affable actor expressed concern for RPattz's health — and a hope that the star's skyrocketing fame crests soon.

"I've said over and over: Literally, right now, Rob Pattinson and Barack Obama are the two most famous people in the world," Welch said.

But as the cast of "Twilight" are discovering these days, Pattinson's fame is getting dangerous.

"I don't see how this is sustainable — is this gonna keep going for the rest of his life?" Welch asked of recent video footage that has Pattinson fleeing sobbing fans trying to hug him. "I understand it, it's Edward Cullen, I get it. But he's still Rob Pattinson first — he's still his own guy. Is it time to start getting concerned here?

"He's an actor who likes to prepare out in public — he likes to read a script at a coffee shop where there's people walking by and there's noise; he prepares that way. And he can't really do that anymore," Welch explained. "It's tough, man ... I don't know where his life is really headed."

And while some young actors might look at Pattinson's A-list, sex-symbol status as something to strive for, Welch said he wouldn't trade places with his famous friend.

"Man, no, I don't wish I had Rob's life at all," Welch reasoned. "I'm glad he's OK. And as long as people don't start ripping at him and breaking him in two, I think we'll be OK ... I wish him the best, and hope he's going to be all right."

Check out everything we've got on "The Twilight Saga: New Moon."

For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.