The Mentalist was once the highest rated drama on television. There was a lot to like here, as I'll discuss throughout this review. But I think most of us had gotten a little sick and tired of the Red John story. The show milked the single case for over five years, and the fan base had dissolved to the point that the once #1 show has been on the bubble for the last two seasons. Next year it will return, but only as a January mid-season replacement, a place many shows begin their lives. Fans' patience has worn thin, but at long last the show's producers discovered what we've known since the second season. It's time to get Red John gone and move the show in another direction. If the show was going to survive, it was now or never. What you likely didn't see coming was a two-year jump in time and a retooling in the middle of an ongoing series. More on that later. Let's get you up to date first, shall we?

Simon Baker stars as Patrick Jane, a psychic who was riding high bilking folks out of their hard-earned money by playing on their desires to contact their deceased loved ones. He justified his con as providing closure for his marks and never looked back. That is, until one day he makes a fatal mistake. He never fooled himself into believing any of it was real. He wasn’t psychic. He just paid close attention. While working with the police to solve a serial killer case, he arrogantly demeans the murderer, known as Red John, on a television show. It was all chuckles until he gets home and finds that he made Red John so angry that he killed his wife and young daughter. Driven by guilt and a desire to avenge his family’s death, he abandoned his con game and decided to use the observational skills that allowed him to play a psychic to assist the California Bureau of Investigation, a sort of state-based FBI, to solve murders. He’s not a cop, but consulted with a tough-crimes division that answers directly to the state’s Attorney General. As he put it, “No gun. No badge. They don’t even give me dental.” While he’s shed his psychic persona, Jane is still incredibly full of himself. Jane is also deeply disturbed, although he hides it well. He still sleeps in the bedroom where his wife and daughter were killed. He never covered the red smiley face Red John drew at his crime scenes to taunt him in the victims’ own blood. A little Helter Skelter meets Barney.

by John Delia

Here’s a young adult targeted DVD that’s based on a graphic novel called The Scribbler. Perfect for those who want to cozy up on Halloween night, this science fiction thriller has a wicked tone and some ghoulish ghastly scenes. Actually, it’s very well acted for a low-budget indie, and the special effects are also a treat. The story gets kinda funky and way off the wall, but that’s what science fiction’s all about.

For fans of many of the ghost-hunting shows, Preston Castle is a location many will already be familiar with.  Once a former reform school for boys that opened in 1894 and finally shut down in the 1960’s, it was a location rumored to hold many atrocities against its young occupants.  Whether you are a believer in the supernatural or not, Preston Castle is a location that upon appearance is beautiful as well as foreboding, and is the perfect location for a haunted house film.  Of course the film boasts that it is inspired by true events, but I don’t think anyone should exactly hold the filmmakers up to a fact-checking examination, but instead just simply sit back and enjoy the ride.

Liz (Mackenzie Firgens) is a young and brokenhearted college student who has returned home.  Thankfully for Liz, her best friend Ashley (Heather Tocquigny) is waiting for her back home and is eager and to do what she can to cheer up her best friend.  From the start what works well for this film is the onscreen chemistry we see between the two actresses.  Independent films usually suffer from poor casting decisions, but this is a case where the two work well playing off one another. It is very believable that these two could be best of friends, and this benefits the film later once things start to go sour.