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The primary purpose of the SimplyScripts Discussion Board is the discussion of unproduced screenplays. If you are a producer or director lookng for your next project, the works here are available for option, purchase or production only if you receive permission from the author.
NOTE: these screenplays are NOT in the public domain and MAY NOT be used or reproduced for any purpose (including eductional purposes) without the expressedwrittenpermission of the author.
Have to agree here. The Strangers is one of my all-time favs, this sequel was an embarrassment to the original and should never have happened.
I feel like I watched a different version of The Strangers 2 than everyone else. Seriously don't understand the hate it receives. The pool scene alone makes it a must watch.
It's not a better film than the original, but I'd argue it's more entertaining. It probably doesn't hurt that it was filmed in my town.
I like my stories Simple. Straightforward. A to B. No C.
Yes...exactly. Although "anticipation" may not be the right word here.
Anticipation is the right word. Suspense is when the audience is in the dark. We either see what's coming, feel it, or are stuck in it and don't know the outcome. But we're in the know the whole time.
I'd say this hews closer to anticipation (the audience has a good notion of what's coming) than suspense (the audience knows "something is up" but not what to expect). In either case, you can still surprise the audience with the actual execution.
Peripheral to this dramatic irony, which is when the audience knows something the characters don't. There's no real dramatic irony in the Hitchhiker scene... the driver sees the same indicator light that we do. But there is in the Friday the 13th scene because we suspect that Jason is in the vehicle from the beginning and know for certain once the girl is grabbed, but the driver is oblivious.
"There is a distinct difference between "suspense" and "surprise," and yet many pictures continually confuse the two. I'll explain what I mean.
We are now having a very innocent little chat. Let's suppose that there is a bomb underneath this table between us. Nothing happens, and then all of a sudden, "Boom!" There is an explosion. The public is surprised, but prior to this surprise, it has seen an absolutely ordinary scene, of no special consequence. Now, let us take a suspense situation. The bomb is underneath the table and the public knows it, probably because they have seen the anarchist place it there. The public is aware the bomb is going to explode at one o'clock and there is a clock in the decor. The public can see that it is a quarter to one. In these conditions, the same innocuous conversation becomes fascinating because the public is participating in the scene. The audience is longing to warn the characters on the screen: "You shouldn't be talking about such trivial matters. There is a bomb beneath you and it is about to explode!"
In the first case we have given the public fifteen seconds of surprise at the moment of the explosion. In the second we have provided them with fifteen minutes of suspense. The conclusion is that whenever possible the public must be informed. Except when the surprise is a twist, that is, when the unexpected ending is, in itself, the highlight of the story."
- Alfred Hitchcock
I like my stories Simple. Straightforward. A to B. No C.
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