5

SATURDAY

Sometimes you have to wonder: Were the characters in horror movies forbidden to watch anything over a PG-13 rating growing up? Because R ratings impart valuable survival skills. For example: If you go wandering into a creepy abandoned house and find a voodoo doll and a book warning of an ancient curse, you should really consider leaving immediately so as to avoid certain and violent death. I suppose that stopping to play with said voodoo doll, all the while tempting a centuries-old, pissed-off spirit, is an understandable impulse—for someone trying to die, at least. Anthony H. Nguyen’s Ringu-inspired horror short Black Thread screens with Ham Tran’s award-winning short The Anniversary and Victor Vu’s debut feature, First Morning, as part of CineFest Vietnam 2004, beginning at 2:30 p.m. at George Mason University’s George W. Johnson Center, 4400 University Drive, Fairfax. $6. (703) 598-9676. (Jason Powell)