The short story The Lottery (by the late great Ms. Jackson) has three major points that make it gut-wrenching:1.) The fact that a woman is stoned to death 2.) The fact that the woman had participated in stoning people up to the time of her death 3.) The fact that, in the story, this is an accepted American pastimeThis movie (if you can call it that) completely forsakes No. 3, and all but ruins No.'s 1 and 2. After an endless and pointless journey into a small town with a secret, a forgotten past, and a love story (it sounds stupid already), we finally get to the Lottery. The events don't come as a surprise, even though they should. Then the movie wraps itself up into a neat little package complete with an ending as lackluster as a lump of coal. The truly sad thing is that I saw this movie in a Liturature class. Bottom line: They ought to be ashamed of themselves.

This spooky, intelligent television horror movie moves at a good steady pace, building towards its nightmarish climax, with a perfectly achieved sinister small town atmosphere. A clearer explanation of why the townsfolk do what they do would help, but the acting and writing keep you interested throughout. It's a classy excursion into horror from the writer that gave us "The Haunting".

The problem with this movie is that there really aren't any surprises. It takes Shirley Jackson's very short story about a New England town's annual ritual and uses it as a basis for a detective story as Dan Cortese comes to New Hope, with the hope of uncovering his past and his father's deathbed request. Even someone who has never heard of Shirley Jackson can figure out the town's secret long before Cortese does (it gives it away right in the opening credits!). The direction is okay and the acting passable, but the script fails to bring out anything new in the familiar story. ****spoiler warning**** Don't you think the FBI would be on to the town after fifty years and be grateful when a witness came forward?

This film is truly an illustration that some traditions shouldn't be kept. If a tradition that has long been upheld causes extreme cruelty or death of those who follow it, then it should be abandoned. There are still traditions out there that are just as gruesome in real life and yet, just as the one in the film, are allowed to continue. Just as in the film, people become so blinded by their traditions that they sometimes forget the difference between right and wrong. Unspeakable acts are committed, yet those blinded by tradition just stand by and allow them to take place.