Last night, at Pacific Place in downtown Seattle, I came across this triumverate of fall movie posters and got depressed:

And I thought this was the year of the strong, independent woman. Whither Katniss Everdeen?

Ah, there she is, on the right. For a second I thought this Jennifer Lawrence vehicle was some remake of “Last House on the Left” but apparently it's just another ghost story. Its tagline: “Fear reaches out... for the girl next door.”

Last poster on the left? An evil spirit takes over a young girl. Tagline: “Fear The Demon That Doesn't Fear God.” Fear again. The only thing Hollywood has to fear is that fear doesn't sell.

The middle poster is the most disturbing of all for its shot of big-haired helplessness and implied gang rape, but it's basically the same story. Supernatural presence haunts couple after college experiment. Tagline: “Once you believe, you die.”

The dark is coming, Halloween's coming, and it's time to make money off the fright of pretty women. Katniss is for spring.

But they wouldn't sell if we wouldn't buy.

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