Horror movie audiences think they would react with far more cunning than most movie victims. Why, if that were me, I’d grab the nearest sharp object and slice and dice my way to freedom.

Take that, Freddy Krueger.

It’s one reason ‘Kidnapped’ packs such a visceral impact – at first. The Spanish import, which screened at the Mile High Horror Film Festival Oct. 8 but will be available Nov. 29 on DVD,  uses a naked sense of reality to bring us up close to a homeowner’s worst nightmare – the home invasion.

The victims here aren’t heroic or even remotely competent in their own defense. It’s a miracle they survive the film’s first few moments given their boneheaded attempts to save themselves.

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North Korea has taken two American journalists prisoner and charged them with committing “hostile acts” against the regime.

Countries like North Korea, which are the pinnacle of tyranny in the modern world, commit atrocities all the time. What they don’t do is challenge America directly – unless they perceive weakness. The consequence of having a weak president in office is that countries like North Korea are more apt to challenge our resolve. There is no question that by his actions in the last few weeks, taping a message for Iran which legitimized the Islamic government, sending Secretary of State Clinton to Russia with a mislabeled ‘reset’ button, and sending Clinton to Mexico where she blamed the United States for Mexican drug violence, Barack Obama has emboldened all of America’s enemies and emboldened North Korea in this particular case. (more…)