Man, but the folks at Lions Gate have been putting out a lot of terrific titles of late, and though there’s a fair chance you’ve already seen a couple of these, with Halloween coming out, it’s a great time to cover some of the stuff that makes for a great party. And the crew out at Lions Gate sent over copies of Scary Movie 2, Scary Movie 3, and The Crow for us to cover.

Scary Movie 2 rejoins the crew from the original Scary Movie, and this time they’re off to college. And while they’re there, they’ve enrolled in a study geared toward studying sleep patterns. But the study turns out to be of something entirely different, and this is going to put the crew in some reasonably deep trouble at the hands of a sociopathic professor and his belligerently-abled disabled assistant.

If you have a tolerance for–or enjoyment of–movie parodies laden with dick and fart jokes, then you may rest assured that you will be very, very well taken care of here. In fact, it’s safe to say that your enjoyment of Scary Movie 2 will largely hinge on your tolerance for or enjoyment of dick and fart jokes because that’s primarily what’s in here. Of course, horror buffs should have a pleasant time spotting all the in-jokes and subreferences–the bit with Ray and the clown doll is a riot–but there’s going to be plenty in the crass and juvenile department for anyone.

Scary Movie 3 follows the events of Scary Movie 2, sufficiently so to put them in the working world. And while some of the cast has found jobs and is out to set up their lives, larger events in the world threaten to take them away before they can actually begin. There’s a lot more going on than meets the eye, and by the time we find out what’s going on, we find out, in the grandest Scary Movie tradition, how little of it makes sense.

The thing about Scary Movie 3 is that it’s probably the biggest of the series so far, even beating out Scary Movie 4. Any time you bring in Leslie Nielsen to a comedy title, well, you know you’re going for full on over the top. However, in their rush to take refuge in sheer audacity, they lost a lot of what was good about the previous two, notably the depth of parody (this one seemed lighter), and the jokes (lighter here too, it seemed). Still, it’s not without its laughs, just not near so many as you might expect.

Lastly, The Crow takes us out to a world that seems significantly Darker and Edgier than our own–thank you TV Tropes for coining that wonder of a concept–and nudges a bit toward the Crapsack. As a rock star and his fiancee were killed by a gang of thugs, the rock star returns from the dead, aided and abetted by a crow who keeps his spirit tethered to the mortal plane. Kill the crow, and by extension, you kill The Crow. And while The Crow is up and operating, there’s going to be plenty of killing to go around.

If you were around when this movie first came out, you know a whole lot of disaffected high-school loners went totally bughouse nuts over this movie, and as a history lesson (or if you just want to remember what all the fuss was about), you’ll be able to get it in full digital remastering. And yes, this is indeed Brandon Lee’s last film, as he was killed in an on-set accident involving a prop handgun. The end result is rather gritty and stylized, but the story itself is actually pretty well done if you don’t mind a colossal downer in the middle of your day.

So there you go, a fresh set of three titles that ought to put a little extra jump in your Halloween viewing.