LIFE AFTER DEATH LEAVES ‘EM REELING

” We make all kinds of films over here, but one thing we don’t do is make films where people die and come back to life.”

That said, Cannon Films Executive Vice President Tom Berman blamed a projectionist at the Pacific Theatre chain’s Metro Theatre in Westwood for showing the reels of “Death Wish 3” in the wrong order on opening day. The error resulted in The Times’ Patrick Goldstein criticizing the film for a “glaring error of continuity”: Charles Bronson’s love interest appeared to be killed in a fiery car crash--only to return a reel later to serve dinner.

According to Berman, Goldstein wasn’t the only one who was puzzled. He said Cannon received “numerous” complaints from filmgoers about the mix and match scenes.

“The problem was that the theater projects the film on a platter system instead of with individual reels and they didn’t want to break down the film and change the order,” Berman said. “Finally, I said, ‘What are you going to do--show it in the wrong order all weekend?’