Gestalt on 11/10/2006 at 19:40

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The Others was a pretty good ghost story, and it would be an interesting one to compare with The Sixth Sense.

Oneiroscope on 12/10/2006 at 01:58

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You don't need my permission to use the quote, lol. Though if at all possible you should probably hunt it down yourself since I don't remember it word for word. As I recall it was in a foreword he wrote for a collection of short stories. I am sorry I can't remember the title, I read it years ago and even then it was an antique book you arent likely to find. Anyway, I hope you can find it.

But even if you can't find the quote, it shouldnt stop you from using the idea.

Another great movie to use might be Marathon Man. There's a great torture scene in that flick. "Is it safe?" Plus it has Dustin Hoffman in it, so your teacher will probably hump your leg.

Maybe you could play up the use of terror/horror for dramatic effect in otherwise mainstream films or something. I dunno.

I gotta say, though, why the heck is your teacher against using horror films? Sounds like the age old bias against the genre to me. As if horror movies somehow don't count in the history of cinema. Puh-leeeze.

Hmm, how about Reality Bending/Shifting? A sub genre of horror that involves the complete redefinition of the characters' perceptions of reality and how they adapt to that shift. In The Mouth Of Madness, From Beyond, and other Lovecraftian flicks might fit into that niche quite nicely.

ercles on 12/10/2006 at 04:36

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Didn't Hitchcock pretty much master the psychological thriller? Something like "Rear Window" was pretty darn spooky, and would have volumes that you could write about...

Haegan on 12/10/2006 at 12:33

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I am aware that the following film is rubbish.

However....

I think it is trying to be presicely the type of film you need:

'The Blair Witch Project.'

OOH! BLOKE STANDING IN CORNER! BIG CLIMAX!!!

LesserFollies on 12/10/2006 at 14:46

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a couple of oldies:

--The Haunting, based on Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House, does a good job of making a person pee his pants using only some voices and a shot of wallpaper. The old version! Not the fairly recent piece of crap with Liam Neeson (which also incites terror, but only because it's so BAD.)
--The Innocents, based on Henry James' The Turn of the Screw. Again, you want the crispy old b&w version, this one starring Deborah Kerr. A lot of the effects are done with simple light and shadow and ambient noise. Very creepy.