The overall gist of the reviews on Rotten Tomatoes is this: The new 'Activity' is dumb, strained and obvious. But you'll be scared all the same, and nothing else matters. With a review like that, I'd go see it. It's not fresh and different, but it does the essential thing a horror is supposed to do -- scare you. Didn't see the bombs you mentioned, but they didn't look particularly scary to me. Just dumb and contrived.

If the younger folks aren't showing up, where are the adult-oriented movies?

Scott, that's what a lot of people have been asking on this blog -- myself included -- for years. Hollywood and Madison Avenue have been obsessed with young adults (especially males) for decades. But there does seem to be something of a shift at work. Even as recently as this post from April 16, 2009, Hwood people-in-the-know were pronouncing the death of adult dramas. But then last year happened -- per this post -- with successful adult dramas including The King's Speech, The Social Network, True Grit, The Fighter, and even Black Swan, each a significant ROI on budgets in the $30-40M range. And now this year -- per this post -- you have one studio [Sony], whether intentional or not, which is releasing a slate of movies heavy with adult dramas. Will it work? Depends upon the quality of the movies. Baby Boomers have proven over the years they will show up in numbers if the movie is any good. The thing is, as I have discussed before, Baby Boomers and Senior Citizens grew up loving movies, they were a primary form of entertainment. We still love movies. They also represent cumulatively the two largest demographic groups in the U.S., have the most disposable income and the most discretionary time. I know people over 40 years old may not be sexy or all that interesting, but in uncertain economic times, it shocks me it's taken Hollywood all this time if, indeed, Sony's path is a deliberate one, for some studio to aggressively go after that demo group. We shall see. Moneyball worked. My guess is it gets nominated for several Academy Awards and waltzes to $100M B.O. Hopefully a good sign for Sony's other adult dramas. Meanwhile will the number of young adults continue to shrink at the box office? And as I asked in the OP, why?

A little bit off topic but at least we do have a few actual adult movies being made. The American with George Clooney being one I would put in that category.

@Annika: Say it ain't so! You officially can't complain about unoriginal sequels clogging up theaters ever again ;). I didn't go see any of the PA movies because they look horrifically stupid. (On the flipside, I absolutely love their business model and release strategy and cannot for the life of me understand why studios aren't quicker to take advantage of this mindset) That being said, this October has to be the first October that I can ever remember that had less than what...5 choices for horror movies? IT'S OCTOBER! There were TWO this year. And The Thing isn't really a typical horror movie, so really one and a half. So in that way, there just wasn't really anything in the horror genre for anyone to come out for, much less young people. And speaking as a member of that younger audience that has gone missing from theaters, I couldn't really tell you. One thing that I know has stopped a lot of my friends from going to see movies is that we're all kind of broke... I budget for movies before I budget for food, but most people do that the other way around. I feel safe in saying that your average 23 year old trying to hold down an entry level job--or trying to find an entry level job--somewhere is probably going to prioritize spending money on going out with friends for a drink at the end of the week over going to see a movie. @F. Scott: I've actually thought that the past two months have seen a spike in the adult-oriented fare. In that time frame, we've had a decent amount of adult-oriented films either opening at number 1 or holding in the top 5. Drive, Ides of March, Moneyball, The Help and Contagion come to mind. And we're plowing full-steam ahead into Oscar season too. The Rum Diary, J Edgar (shameless Oscar bait that it looks like), Melancholia, The Descendants, A Dangerous Method, The Artist, Shame--all those are coming in the next two months I think. Definitely not the majority of films hitting theaters, true. But still. I think last years Oscar nominees for Best Picture being dominated by adult-driven movies has gone a long way towards helping rejuvenate that market. And the majority of the results of that won't hit theaters until 2012. I remain guardedly optimistic.

Nate, I'm almost positive the reason there are so few horror movies in theaters this October is because of what happened last October. If you check out this post from last year, you'll see there 9 horror movies released in October. I don't have time to track down the B.O. figures -- maybe somebody with free time can -- but I'm willing to bet most of them tanked. And nobody does a knee-jerk reaction better than Hollywood. I predict next year, you will see at least 4 horror movies in theaters in October. That is unless young adults continue to absent themselves from movie theaters.

Yeah, willing to bet a lot of money that it was for exactly that reason. Knee-jerk reactions, like everything else, are only good in moderation apparently.

@Nate. Take Shelter might be another half of a scary movie to add to your count. (The last scene is a doozy and like the first PA or one of my favorites -- The Strangers -- it has a lingering effect that sticks with you after you walk out the theater.)