Dylan Baker

Five Halloween stories: A principal has a secret life, a virgin is looking for her first time, a group of kids pull a prank, a woman who loathes Halloween does not respect the rules and a mean old man meets a demonic trick-or-treater. Five interwoven stories that occur on the same block, on the same night. A couple finds what happens when they blow a jack o' lantern out before midnight, a high school principal has a secret life as a serial killer, a college virgin might have met the right guy for her, a group of mean teens play a prank that they take too far, and a hermit is visited by a special trick or treater. —Harrypotterfan639 In the Halloween night in Warren Valley, Ohio, Emma blows out a Jack-o-Lantern in front of her home despite the remark of her husband Henry; sooner she has a tragic surprise. Earlier, the virgin Laurie buys a Little Red Riding Hood costume with her sister and two girlfriends and they invite some guys for a party. Meanwhile, the glutton Charlie destroys many Jack-o-Lanterns on the street. When he arrives at the house of the high-school principal Steven, the boy discovers how much the disturbed man respects the dead and the traditions of Halloween. Meanwhile four teenagers invite the outcast Rhonda to join them in their journey to an abandoned rock quarry where a tragic accident on the school bus with eight troubled children happened thirty years ago. They play a prank with Rhonda but when the mean Marcy blows out the last Jack-o-Lantern in the spot, they need the support of Rhonda to escape from the damned place. Laurie sees a stalker that follows her; while walking through the woods to the party, she is attacked and she finally has her initiation. Earlier, the lonely Mr. Kreeg lives alone with his dog Spike and is visited by a scary trick-or-treating creature. —Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil It is said that Halloween is the night when the dead rise to walk among us and other unspeakable things roam free. The rituals of All Hallows Eve were devised to protect us from their evil mischief, and one small town is about to be taught a terrifying lesson that some traditions are best not forgotten. Nothing is what it seems when a suburban couple learns the dangers of blowing out a Jack-o-Lantern before midnight; four women cross paths with a costumed stalker at a local festival; a group of pranksters goes too far and discovers the horrifying truth buried in a local legend; and a cantankerous old hermit is visited by a strange trick-or-treater with a few bones to pick. Costumes and candy, ghouls and goblins, monsters and mayhem... the tricks and treats of Halloween turn deadly as strange creatures of every variety-human and otherwise-try to survive the scariest night of the year. —Warner Bros. Pictures

Mays Gilliam (Chris Rock) is the alderman for the 9th Ward in Washington, D.C. Gilliam works a tough neighborhood with a high crime rate. The local residents trust him as he genuinely understands their problems and tries his best to help people. A local woman's home Miss Pearl is due for demolition after she was paid $40,000 for it. The woman comes back on the day of the demolition as her cat is stuck inside the house. As Gilliam tries to argue with the demolition crew, Miss Pearl goes inside the house and Gilliam learns that the demolition countdown cannot be stopped. Gilliam risks his own life to rescue Miss Pearl before the house is demolished. Gilliam learns that is likely to lose his job as the Mayor hates him. The tendency to help people costs money and it makes the Mayor look bad. So, the Mayor evicts Gilliam out of his office. Even Gilliam's lawyer Bernard Cooper (Keith David) asks Gilliam to fit in. Gilliam is also getting dumped by his girlfriend, Kim (Robin Givens). Kim leaves Gilliam as she thought he had potential, but now she believes that he is stuck in a rut. But then Gilliam is unexpectedly chosen as the Democratic Party candidate for the 2004 presidential election after his party's original presidential and vice-presidential nominees die in a plane crash, and Gilliam is being hailed as a hero by the media for saving Miss Pearl. Assuming the election was already lost to incumbent Republican vice-president Brian Lewis (Nick Searcy), the Democrats (led by Senator Bill Arnot (James Rebhorn), Debra Lassiter (Lynn Whitfield) and Martin Geller (Dylan Baker)) decided to pick a likable but unwinnable minority candidate to improve their chances in the 2008 presidential election. All the other options for the Presidential ticket had one vice or another and were too open to attack on the campaign trail. With Gilliam, Bill reckons that the minorities will be happy with the Democrats and will again vote for them in 2008. Bill intends to run for President in 2008 and offers the running mate position to Debra to get her support. Debra convinces Gilliam that Congressmen and Senators are politicians and Alderman work with the people, hence he is perfect for the role. Bill says that in every situation Gilliam cares about the little people and this would be his chance to make a difference on the biggest stage of all. Mr Earl (Jude Ciccolella) is assigned as Gilliam's security director. Nicollette "Nikki" White (Stephanie March) is assigned as the executive director of Internal Liaison. Martin explains that Nikki's main job is to sleep with Gilliam as the campaigns cannot afford sex scandals. Mays even finds time to romance Lisa Clark (Tamala Jones), a gas station attendant he crosses paths with (she works a second job as a cocktail waitress and Gilliam meets her at one of the fund-raising events), and who has been a huge supporter of Mays. Just as Gilliam hits the campaign trail, Kim returns to Gilliam and claims that they are engaged. Gilliam calls in security to remove her. At first, Gilliam feels he will not be able to succeed as president because he would be representing the entire African American populace and does not want to do anything to damage his reputation. Gilliam is given vague and similar sounding speeches to make at every public rally and his support is stuck at 10%. His brother Mitch joins the campaign trail before his rally in Chicago. Mitch is a bail bondsman. However, Gilliam begins to rise in the polls after his brother Mitch (Bernie Mac) persuades him to speak out for what he believes in. He ditches the bland, boring, and uncontroversial speeches prepared for him and begins to talk honestly about major issues such as welfare, health-care, income inequality, pension reforms, education, and society overall. He knows that most people work 2 jobs just to be broke. He coins the catch phrase "That A'int Right" for everything that he finds wrong with American society and economy. Gilliam changes the entire tone of his campaign to represent him and gives his support to niche minority groups such as gays and escorts. After Lewis runs a series of attack ads including one saying Gilliam supports cancer, Gilliam begins to fight back using what he claimed was "kissing" his opponent (taken from Bugs Bunny-Elmer Fudd cartoons). A part of this strategy includes dubbing a videotape of Osama bin Laden saying he hates America but loves Brian Lewis. This strategy gains Gilliam even more points in the polls. As Gilliam gets to 30 points in the poll, even if he loses, he will be the front-runner for 2008. Bill wants Debra to kill Gilliam's campaign, but now even she supports him and refuses to toe the line with Bill. Lewis refuses to have a debate with Gilliam. Bill gets his investigators to release news footage that show Gilliam in association with known drug peddlers and criminals. As election day draws closer, Gilliam eventually learns the reason why he was chosen as the party candidate, fires campaign operatives Martin and Debra. Martin reconciles with him afterwards and says that he really wants to help Gilliam. Martin convinces Gilliam to come back stronger in his campaign and chooses his brother as his running mate. Mitch again brings the attention back to the main campaign topics and helps erase the negativity around Gilliam. Gilliam hounds Lewis till he agrees for a debate. Gilliam reaches out to Debra to help prepare for the debate. Gilliam manages to win the crowd over by speaking truth about American life. He talks about educating the kids by disciplining them, as much as needed. He suggests putting guns laws on video to educate the people about them. Gilliam talks about paying farmers not to grow food, while millions go hungry, about heroine being cheaper than AIDS medicine, and about spending billions overseas without any impact. Gilliam argues that the country was built by people who were doing things for the first time. Finally, Gilliam ends up winning the presidency, and proposes to Lisa by saying he wants to make her his First Lady.

After the harrowing death of his partner, detective and author Alex Cross retreated to retirement. But when a criminal kidnaps a senator`s young daughter, Alex is lured back into action.

Child psychologist Catherine Deane (Jennifer Lopez) is an expert in an experimental treatment for coma patients: a virtual reality device created by Dr. Henry West (Dylan Baker) that allows her to enter the minds of individuals in a vegetative state and attempt to coax them into consciousness. Her current patient, a boy named Edward (Colton James), seems to be making progress during her sessions with him, but there's no outward sign of improvement in his condition and his parents are beginning to wonder whether Catherine's conversations with Edward might simply be drug-fueled delusions. Far from the research facility, in an underground lair, serial killer Carl Rudolph Stargher (Vincent D'Onofrio) performs the post-mortem ritual on his latest victim. Stargher captures young women, psychologically tortures and drowns them, and then bleaches their corpses completely white. Finally, he clamps a collar around the corpse's neck, making it his possession, a macabre type of doll. Stargher is in the process of stalking and kidnaping his next victim, a woman named Julia Hickson (Tara Subkoff) when the police work of detectives Peter Novak (Vince Vaughn) and Gordon Ramsey (Jake Weber) finally yields a break in the case. The authorities learn the identity of the killer and surround his home. Just before they can finally make the arrest, Stargher suffers a seizure and slips into a coma. Doctors diagnose Stargher with a rare neurological disease that renders his condition irreversible. Meanwhile, Julia wakes up to find herself imprisoned in Stargher's specially designed glass enclosure that is slowly filling with water by means of an automatic timer. It's up to Catherine and Dr. West's team to access the mind of Stargher and persuade him to reveal the location of Julia Hickson in time to save her life. Otherwise, in less than 48 hours, the tank will fill with water and she will drown. Catherine enters Stargher's twisted mind, where she is confronted by the killer's fractured psyche. The boy Carl is too scared to talk, while the adult Stargher rules his inner world like an evil overlord. Another adult version of Carl explains to Catherine that his father abused him and shows her how he began his practice of killing women. Catherine attempts to nurture the innocent side of Stargher's mind, but his murderous half thwarts her at every turn. Eventually the evil Stargher takes control, attacks Catherine and enslaves her mind. Catherine becomes trapped in Stargher's dark dreamscape. Novak volunteers to enter Stargher's mind and attempts to rescue her. He, too is captured by Stargher, but fortunately he manages to remind Catherine that shes dreaming, which breaks her from Stargher's hold. She overpowers Stargher so that they can make an escape. Catherine doesn't manage to get Carl to talk before both she and Peter awaken from the session, but Peter is able to remember a symbol he saw within the dream, a trademark associated with a specialized piece of equipment that leads them to the isolated area where Stargher has built his secret underground room. Novak finds Hickson just in time to save her life. Meanwhile, Catherine decides to reverse the mind link process and pull Stargher's mind into her own to see if she can heal the innocent part of his self. She presents his inner child, Carl, with a paradise, but his murderous side is always present, and manifests as a serpent. This time, however, Catherine has all the power; she attacks the serpent-Stargher, mortally wounding him. Unfortunately, she learns that the two personalities are inextricably linked and the inner child is also dying. Because Stargher's personal mythology equates drowning with being "saved," in the baptismal sense, he dies serenely in the beautiful dream world Catherine created in her mind, his soul finding peace at last as she drowns him in a sparkling pool of water. The use of Dr. West's technology to help the police locate Julia Hickson has given his work new credibility, and Catherine is able to use the reversal technique to bring Edward into her mind, where he will hopefully make new strides with his therapy.

Seattle technology company DigiCom is about to merge with a publishing company, and company founder and president Bob Garvin (Donald Sutherland) plans to retire. Tom Sanders (Michael Douglas), head of manufacturing, expects to be promoted to run DigiCom after the merger. However, he learns that the post instead has gone to operations executive Meredith Johnson (Demi Moore), a former girlfriend of Tom. Meredith is brought on to handle the merger, as Garvin wanted to "break the glass ceiling". Tom lives with his wife Susan (Caroline Goodall), Son Matt (Trevor Einhorn) and daughter Lisa. He is a happily married man. Chindy Chang (Jacqueline Kim) is Tom's PA at office. There are rumors at the office that after the merger, the Austin plant will be sold off. Garvin introduces Meredith to her new subordinates. Co-workers like Mark Lewyn (Dennis Miller) comment to Tom on how attractive Meredith is. Others like chief financial officer Stephanie Kaplan (Rosemary Forsyth) seem to be aware that Tom and Meredith had a relationship in the past. Meanwhile Tom is still wondering if he is out of a job as both Garvin and Meredith evaded the question. Garvin doesn't want Tom to quit, as he wants to project an image of "one big happy family" to the new buyers. And he also believes that when push comes to shove, Tom does not have the guts to quit. Late that evening, Meredith calls Tom into her office, ostensibly to discuss problems with DigiCom's new advanced CD-ROM drive, being manufactured in Malaysia. Instead, Meredith aggressively tries to resume her romantic relationship with him. Tom resists (with difficulty) as he is now a married family man. However, Meredith seduces him. Although he repeatedly turns her down, Meredith ignores Tom, forcing herself on him. Tom allows her to perform oral sex but rebuffs her attempts for sexual intercourse. Tom initially is tempted, but after catching a glimpse of himself in a mirror, he regains control and pushes Meredith to the ground. As he leaves, Meredith screams a threat to make him pay for spurning her. The next day, Tom discovers that Meredith has alleged sexual harassment complaint against him with the help of legal counsel Phillip Blackburn (Dylan Baker). To save the merger from a scandal, causing Garvin to lose $100 million if the deal falls through DigiCom officials demand that Tom accepts an assignment to the company's Austin office. Colleagues refuse to believe his protestations of innocence. Tom does not want to do this, as he would lose his stock options, ruining his career and family. He will be left jobless when the other location is sold following the merger. However, since no one believes his story and Meredith is now his boss, he appears to have no choice. Just as all seems hopeless, Tom receives an e-mail from someone identified only as "A Friend". It directs him to Seattle attorney Catherine Alvarez (Roma Maffia), who specializes in sexual harassment cases. Tom counter-sues, alleging that Meredith is the one who harassed him. At the initial mediation, a tearful Meredith repeatedly lies and blames Tom. Garvin, believing the merger will fail without her, proposes Tom drop the lawsuit in exchange for keeping his position. Tom suspects Meredith's accusations are vulnerable. He remembers dialing a number (by mistake) on his cell phone during the encounter with Meredith, but not hanging up, thus capturing the entire event on a colleague's voicemail. Tom rejects Garvin's proposal and plays the recording at the next meeting, discrediting Meredith. DigiCom agrees to a settlement calling for Meredith to be quietly eased out after the merger. As Tom celebrates his apparent victory, he receives another e-mail from "A Friend" warning him that all is not what it seems. Tom overhears Blackburn telling Meredith that although they lost the sexual harassment suit, they will make Tom look incompetent at the next morning's merger conference since Tom is unaware of what is causing the CD-ROM drive issues Meredith alluded to earlier. Since the production line in Malaysia is Tom's responsibility, he can be fired for cause. It turns out that Meredith and Garvin's legal counsel, Philip Blackburn, had weakened the quality control specifications at the Malaysian plant to cut costs. The changes resulted in severe defects in the drive, and Meredith and Phil are planning to make Tom the scapegoat. Accessing the company database for clues, Tom finds his access privileges revoked. Using a virtual reality demonstration device with access to the company database, he accesses DigiCom's files but finds that Meredith is already deleting them. Tom's Malaysian colleague faxes him copies of incriminating memos and videos. They show that Meredith, and one of the heads of operations in Malaysia, changed Tom's production specifications to gain the Malaysian government's favor and cut costs to make DigiCom appear more profitable to complete the merger. These changes caused problems with the Malaysian CD-ROMs line. To save her career, Meredith (with Blackburn's support) staged the sexual encounter with Tom to falsely accuse him of sexual harassment, forcing him out of DigiCom and covering for her mistakes. When Tom makes his presentation at the conference, Meredith immediately brings up the production problems. Tom publicly shows the evidence that exposes her direct involvement in causing the hardware defects. Garvin, realizing the full extent of Meredith's incompetence and deceit, fires her. While cleaning out her office, Meredith reveals to Tom that she has become disillusioned with Garvin following his unexpected turn against her, further refusing to accept accountability for her mistakes. Garvin announces the merger's completion and names Stephanie Kaplan to head up the Seattle operation, a decision Tom supports. Tom then asks Stephanie's son, Spencer, a University of Washington student, if he knows "A Friend". Spencer confirms he is Professor Arthur Friend's research assistant at the university. Tom realizes that Spencer would have had access to Friend's email account, enabling Stephanie (via her son) to warn Tom as "A Friend", as she knew what was happening involving the CD-ROM drives and Meredith. A grateful Tom happily resumes his position as head of manufacturing.

A soap opera writer gets hit on the head and wakes up as a character in his own show. Jack is the head writer for a successful soap opera, and he's sweet on the show's star, lovely Laura. It's easy for everyone but Jack to see that she's playing him for a sap. But a conk on the head brings Jack some new insights - and some new powers. He finds himself in Ashford Falls, site of his fictional soap opera -- and everything he writes comes true! It's a fantastic opportunity to get Rachel, Laura's character, to fall in love with him. But life isn't easy even in the fictional world, and even when you're the author! —Rick Munoz <rick.munoz@his.com>