Don’t panic, it’s just Home Alone for adults

PANIC ROOM is another of Hollywood’s entries into the woman-in-peril genre that will keep audiences at the edge of their seats. The story unfolds with newly divorced Meg (Jodie Foster) and her diabetic daughter Sarah (Kristen Stewart) moving into a Manhattan townhouse.

The sprawling residence comes complete with a panic room — a hidden, impregnable space encased in concrete and steel, equipped with a phone line and security monitors.

The panic room allows owners to lock themselves in and contact the police should anyone break into their home.

When intruders do break into their cavernous mansion one night, that’s exactly what Meg and Sarah do — but there are two catches.

The phone line inside the panic room hasn’t been hooked up yet; and what the three burglars (Forest Whitaker, Jared Leto and Dwight Yoakam) are after happens to be inside that very room, and they are not leaving without it.

The interesting premise of Panic Room offers fertile ground for scriptwriter David Koepp, and he has a field day devising tricky situations for our toughie mom to get out of. Some have described Panic Room as Home Alone for grown-ups, which is not entirely off the mark.

The film’s other weapon is director David Fincher, who impresses with his technical finesse. Fincher literally sends his camera everywhere; zooming into a keyhole, swooping through pipes and hurtling into air ducts. The former MTV director also uses long panning shots to work within tight spaces, so heightening the sense of anxiety.

Our heroine Meg is played by the incomparable Jodie Foster with a mix of strength and vulnerability.

Kudos must also be given to veteran Forest Whitaker for playing Burnhum, the conscience-laden burglar, with understated pathos.

Panic Room is a well-crafted thriller of immense sweaty-palmed fun.

Queen Of The Damned: His thirst for life enchanted her. His thirst for fame awoke her. His thirst for power may kill us all. Legendary Vampire Lestat (Stuart Townsend) has risen from a decades-long slumber, determined to step out into the light. No longer content with life in the shadows, moving among mortals who never truly see him for what he is, Lestat has reinvented himself as the closest thing to a god on Earth: a rock star.

The intoxicating lure of his music has snaked its way around the globe, ultimately finding the ear of the slumbering ancient Queen Akasha (Aaliyah) in her crypt beneath the Arctic ice.

Mother of all Vampires, Akasha has been resting for centuries, waiting for the right time to rise again and dominate the world. Lestat’s music is what she has been waiting for, and she wants him to rule beside her.

But can Akasha be stopped? Her malevolent power may be too great for even the most ancient of the immortal Vampires to combat — she created them, and their survival depends on her own.

Akasha is used to getting everything she wants — and all she wants is Hell on Earth.