Can the horror genre degenerate any further? I think not.Recently, my friend dragged me to sit through the thriller "Valentine."Scary, no. Suspenseful, maybe. Cliched and predictable, yes.

The filmstarts off with a slightly eerie prelude that tells the story of a junior-highnerd. At a Valentine's Day dance, he is harshly blown off by five girls. Jumpahead 13 years; the girls have all graduated, one is in med school, two share anapartment and, amazingly, they all still live in the same city.

This iswhen there's a pathetic attempt to make things scary. On a dark and stormy night,one of the girls is brutally murdered by a goon wearing a Cupid mask. What asurprise. The other four girls begin to receive strange and threatening Valentinecards, which I think may have been an attempt at suspense. Uh oh, who's next?

Throw in an over-zealous detective, a few stupid twists, some looselyconnected suspects and various implements of death and, voila, you have a lamehorror flick. Oh, and don't forget a cute little ending that sets up a sequel.But who's thirsting for more?

This movie is rated R. All thoseunder 17 must be accompanied by an adult.