To the person who came here by searching for "sarah mclaughlan [sic] buffy soundtrack:" The song you're probably looking for is "Full of Grace," from her cdSurfacing.

I can't listen to that song anymore without thinking of Buffy running away from home after she killed Angel, and I get all farklempt. Sad, sad, sad. Good song, though.

Speaking of Angel, I saw Valentine this weekend. Honestly, I would have gone to see it even if it didn't feature any Buffy cast members, because I just like that sort of thing. Though, I think I prefer the old school slasher movies, wherein you knew exactly who the killer was and there was none of this trendy "ooh, any of us could be the killer! How scary!" b.s., and it was all about being scared shitless of the Big Hulking Unstoppable Masked Man with a Big-Ass Knife (or the Funny Burned Guy with the Claws, as the case may be, but I don't know if that counts, because after the first movie Freddy just wasn't scary anymore) and guessing which teenager was going to survive until the next movie. With these new Scream-type "hey! we've got an actual plot, and you have to guess the killer!" movies, you're too distracted by the mystery part to really get into the horror part; plus, seeing as how the killer could be anybody, and is not in fact the human equivalent of Jaws, there's a much more likely chance that the killer can be defeated. How scary is that?

So, it wasn't scary. But it did have a plot, and not a bad one at that, wherein a vastly unpopular kid who was a victim of "Carrie"-style junior high school cruelty came back thirteen years later to exact bloody revenge on those responsible. Okay, it's not exactly an original concept, but it played well.

Now, I had a slight problem with this at first. A lot of people (myself included) went through a lot of this kind of crap in junior high and high school, and we eventually get over it, at least to a functional level. Sure, there are fantasies about becoming rich and beautiful and famous and being in a position where those who mistreated you must now kiss your ass, and the comforting belief that what goes around comes around and karma will catch up and bite those bitches in the ass. Or maybe that's just me.

Anyway, we don't go 'round butchering the popular kids of yesteryear. I was thinking, surely this kid had enough other horrific experiences in high school and college and adulthood that the junior high incident would be put into perspective. But then it was explained that the incident got the kid sent to reform school, and from there it was an endless string of institutions, and that, basically, the junior high incident ruined the person's life. Suddenly, bloody revenge doesn't seem quite so out of the question.

I can't really say much else without giving away the identity of the killer. Expect the usual number of red herrings, and a couple of pointless plot cul-de-sacs that serve no purpose other than to ensure that Denise Richards receives her contractual amount of screen time.

Of course, the big draw for me (and for Tess) was the fact that the movie's cast contained one David Boreanaz. We'd never seen him play anyone besides Angel (has he ever played anyone besides Angel? Before this movie, I mean), and I for one was curious to see if he had the acting chops to play a non-Angel character. Of course, given that the role of Angel actually involves five different characters (pre-vamp Liam, old-timey Angelus, modern-day, leather clad Angelus, regular Angel, and Batman (Come on. This new dark and edgy Angel is SOOO Batman, and we both know it)), you have to give the man props for playing his regular character so well; but he has had five years to grow into it. Does that mean he's capable of playing a regular, non-vampire person?

Yes, it does. He did a very nice job playing a real live unbroody guy, and not once did I think of him as just Angel with a tan. Though, he wasn't a real live guy without problems. His character had a drinking problem, and there was one point where he got drunk at a party and I thought "Oh no, it's Angelus! Run!" but he and I both recovered quickly and he was a different character again. Even so, the best moment in the movie (for me) was when his girlfriend, referring to him, said, "He's no angel," and Tess said, "Hee!" That was fun, because it's so incredibly rare that she has a spastic fangirl type reaction to anything. That's usually my department.

So if you like this type of movie, go see it. It doesn't suck. If you like David Boreanaz, definitely go see it, because there's lots of him in it. [[And if you hate Denise Richards, it's an absolute must-see. You will be rewarded.]]