By BARBARA VANCHERI, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The ad in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette carried this pledge: "If 'Night of the Living Dead' frightens you to death, you are covered for ... $50,000."

TORONTO -- Bill Maher knows that some moviegoers won't want to touch "Religulous" with a 10-foot staff of Moses."That's OK. That's any movie. What movie appeals to everybody? Not even everybody went to see Batman."

Drew Barrymore's vulnerable, little-girl voice is perfect for the pampered pooch, Chloe, in "Beverly Hills Chihuahua," a Disney film that is more adventure than comedy.

Every year, when the Academy Awards ceremony pauses for a solemn remembrance of lives lost in the previous year, some names and photos spontaneously produce applause while others pass in silence.No single life is worth more than another, but if ever anyone deserved an audible affirmation during the Oscar telecast in February, it would be Paul Newman.

TORONTO -- Don't put "Miracle at St. Anna" in a box stamped "African-American film" or "African-American history."

TORONTO -- Lawmen and outlaws alike have a history of violence in "Appaloosa," Ed Harris' adaptation of the Robert B. Parker novel.It was the history of friendship, however, that convinced Viggo Mortensen to star alongside Harris in the movie set in the Old West territory of New Mexico in 1882.

Ray Eddy (Melissa Leo) isn't just living on the edge. She's clinging to it by nibbled frozen fingernails in Massena, N.Y.Her husband is a gambler who disappeared with the down payment for their double-wide trailer. She works at a dollar store where the young unsympathetic manager won't bump her from part time to full time.

TORONTO -- No kissing. No nudity. No talking to himself onscreen.Those were among Ricky Gervais' ground rules for "Ghost Town." Director and co-writer David Koepp said the British comedian told him, "I don't kiss anybody. Nobody wants to see that. If you can't handle that, then we shouldn't do the movie."

TORONTO -- Leading-man roles are good for the ego, concedes Brad Pitt, whose ego would seem to need no enhancement these days. Wherever he goes, hysteria follows.

No one connected with making "Baghead" need hide his face, the way the mortified fans of the New Orleans Saints once did, under brown paper bags. But moviegoers watching this film may want to have a passing knowledge of "The Blair Witch Project" or the culture of struggling actors desperate for even the most modest success.