REEL LIFE : Cameras Bring Ghosts, Murder to Man’s Home : Filming for ‘Fatally Yours’ has ended at Jim Nye’s house, meaning the bats will again rest in peace.

For years Jim Nye has tried to convince neighbors that the house he lives in isn’t haunted. But movie audiences all over will soon associate ghosts with his Victorian house on Santa Anna Road in Casitas Springs.

“Fatally Yours,” a locally produced movie about ghosts and murder, just finished filming there.

A murder in the house eight years ago started the local mythology of a haunting. The colony of bats living there probably didn’t do much to dispel the rumors.

“They were living under the shutters,” Nye said. “The lights from the filming disoriented them. They were flying all over the place.”

The film finished shooting last week. A local screening of the completed product is scheduled for sometime early next year. By that time Nye thinks the bats will be comfortably returned to their home under his shutters.

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Brush up your Bengali. The Thousand Oaks Library’s Classic Cinema group will present “Distant Thunder,” a 1973 movie about an arrogant young man who, after traveling to a village that’s been destroyed by war and famine, returns a humble and devoted Brahmin.

There’s something else you might be brushing--the dust off your clothes. Director Satyajit Ray created such a harsh and vividly filmed tale that you can almost feel the wind and sand blowing across the screen. The film is in Bengali with subtitles. The movie will begin at 7 p.m. at the library, 1401 E. Janss Road. Admission is $2.

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How long does it take to produce a really good documentary? Two generations, at least in the case of “Children of Fate.”

A stark portrayal of a Sicilian family’s inability to escape the culture of poverty, “Children of Fate” took 30 years to make.

Director Robert Young traveled to Sicily in 1991 to film a documentary about a poverty-stricken mother named Angela. NBC-TV banned the resulting documentary as too gritty for American audiences.

Young’s son Andrew returned to Sicily in 1991 to record the family today. Film from both trips was blended into “Children of Fate,” winner of the Grand Jury Prize for best documentary at the 1993 Sundance Film Festival.

The film will be shown Sunday at 4:30 p.m. at the Ojai Playhouse, 145 E. Ojai Ave., Ojai. Admission is $6.

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Here is a list of the 20 most popular video rental movies as reported by rental stores in Ventura County.

1. Aladdin 2. Loaded Weapon 1 3. Sidekicks 4. Fire in the Sky 5. Indian Summer 6. Groundhog Day 7. Falling Down 8. Alive 9. Point of No Return 10. Chaplin 11. The Crush 12. The Temp 13. Boiling Point 14. Unforgiven 15. Once Upon a Forest 16. Children of the Corn II 17. Mad Dog and Glory 18. The Vanishing 19. Benny and Joon 20. Untamed Heart Pancho Doll compiles Reel Life each week for Ventura County Life. If you have information on local film, television or video events or personalities, write to him at 5200 Valentine Road, Suite 140, Ventura, 93003 or send faxes to 658-5576.