Mystery surrounds Potter review
13.56PM BST, 29 Aug 2002

Mystery surrounds a 'review' of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the teen magician's as yet unreleased film.

A keen nethead has posted an article about the film on the web, despite the fact it is not due out until November.

The review is on the notorious film gossip website Ain't It Cool (www.aint-it-cool-news.com), and describes the film as 'funnier and spookier' than the original, though slightly more complicated.

The author, who styles himself Walkabouter, concludes: "Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets has some things really going for it.

"There are improvements, there are smiles and there are scenes of fancy.

"But there are drawbacks, too, though few and far between. Secrets seems to have taken three steps forward but one step back."

The filmmakers, Warner Brothers, have dismissed the article as completely false.

But it is not unknown for well-informed 'advance reviews' of upcoming flicks to appear on websites - placed there by Hollywood sources or other insiders for amusement, revenge or (whisper the word!) publicity.

Harry Knowles, who founded the website in 1996, is known to have more than 1000 informants in the film industry and was named in a magazine as one of Hollywood's 100 Most Powerful People.

He told a newspaper: "Walkabouter has been with me for years. He's as solid a spy as we get. He's so inside he scares everyone at Warner Brothers.

"He was dead right about the first Harry Potter and dead on about Scooby-Doo. He is the man!"

Top of Page

Date: