Last night, I was reading a story on Twitch, and I noticed a banner ad trumpeting the DVD release of something called Valerie On the Stairs. My instant reaction was, “Uh-oh. That’s going to be really confusing, what with Hannah Takes The Stairs opening next week.” Upon further research, I discovered that Valerie was directed by Mick Garris, for Showtime’s Masters of Horror series. In the interest of obliterating any further confusion, I made the following side-by-side comparison of the two films:

Valerie: About spooky goings-on at “a large apartment filled with unsuccessful writers where they can live rent-free until they make their first publication.”
Hannah: Director Joe Swanberg and his actors/co-writers shared an apartment for a month in Chicago while filming.

Hannah: “A sexy slacker tale.” — Gerald Peary
Valerie: “A sexually-charged tale of terror.” — Some guy on Wikipedia

Hannah: Not literally about stairs.
Valerie: Literally about stairs. Ghost stairs.

I assume you’ve figured out by now that this post is just another excuse to plug the upcoming New Talkies festival, which begins a week from tomorrow with the premiere of Hannah, and continues at the IFC Center through Labor Day weekend. My associated coverage will begin on SpoutBlog later this week. In the meantime, if you’re going to be in New York during the festival, you can and should buy tickets now via IFC’s website.