Midnight Premiere

Three-time Stoker-winner Piccirilli (""Headstone City"") takes a very Hollywood gamble with this uneven collection of 18 movie-themed horror tales from screenwriters, actors and directors, who write with more veteran authors. The self-referential stories by former child zombie actress Kyra M. Schon (""Arlene Schabowski of the Undead"" with Mark McLaughlin) and B-movie star William Smith (""Humps in the Field"" with Del Howison) fall flat. Queen of the B movies Linnea Quigley does better, teaming up with Michael McCarty on the beautifully grotesque ""Wizard of Ooze."" The bloody penalties for cinematic ambition are detailed in prolific writer-director Mick Garris's ""Ocular,"" John Shirley's ""Seven Knives"" and Piccirilli's own ""Shadder."" The most successful contributions blur the boundaries between cinema and verité Gary Braunbeck's opener, ""Onlookers,"" is a shiver-inducing tale of observations that create reality; Jack Ketchum's ""Elusive"" makes a common question deeply disturbing; and Ray Garton's ""Everything Must Go"" is a heart-pounding, heartbreaking story about knowing when to believe your eyes. ""(Dec.)"" .