Certain films require that you suspend your belief entirely for them to work. You might suggest science fiction or fantasy films, for example, as the most likely candidates. Yet upon further consideration, it's probably horror films that demand your utter submission on a level similar to that of joining a cult.

To keep the pace up and for those classic 'jolt' moments, the characters in a horror film need to do the most stupid things. What's the endless fascination with that cellar in the "Amityville" films? Just leave it alone! It's so damn creepy most of us would have coronaries just peering through the door.

In fact, cellars with inferior lighting have always been handy for directors. Hitchcock used one in "Psycho". And in the underrated "Psycho II", a pair of randy teenagers looking for privacy stupidly chose the basement of the notorious Bates house as the ideal place to fool around in. Mother, naturally, disagreed and they soon get their just desserts with no one to blame but themselves.

It would seem that being young also means being thick in a fright flick. If you'd just witnessed the 'Tall Man' tossing a casket into the back of a hearse in "Phantasm", would you then go and explore the cellar of his mortuary under the cover of darkness? Of course not! Yet young Mike does and finds hordes of murderous cloaked dwarves skulking in the shadows.

Mind you, how can you blame the kids if adults don't set a good example? Jeff Daniels is paralysed with fear by spiders in "Arachnophobia". But he's almost constantly putting himself in peril by hanging out in old barns and, unsurprisingly, the cellar too.

Obviously there's no dispute that you have to have disposable wretches do silly things for the shocking set pieces. But what is with Jamie Lee Curtis in "Halloween"? Every time she manages to score a point against the misunderstood Michael Myers, she throws away the weapon and hangs about the house. Still, she's not as stupid as the woman who tries to date "Maniac Cop". Let's just say that their relationship is cut off at a crucial moment.

Silly people keep doing silly things and no-one ever seems to learn. It happens again in "Valentine", and will go on happening with each new sequel or variant on the genre.

Hardcore horror for Halloween.

If you think a wacky title guarantees a good film, think again.