Hide & Seek Review

Yesterday, I watched a film called Hide & Seek. It is a mixture of horror & thriller. Its horror elements are easily spotted, such as the fact that one of the final scenes is set in a wooded area/cave with a blood thirsty murderer. The thriller aspects are that the main character is a psychologist and the film revolved around a split personality mental disorder. You have to watch the film and think about what's happening instead of just watching it.

9 frame analysis - se7en

The opening scene of Se7en opens with a detective getting ready, going through his morning routine. As he leaves, he is at a crime scene of someone's murder. Going outside, followed by the body, he meets up with a new detective. Soon they investigate more murders, each relating to the seven deadly sins, this is how it ties in with the title. Whilst the detectives work together, it is clear they aren't the best of friends.  Towards the end, the murderer is then in turn killed by one of the detectives, after killing his wife and giving him a box with her head in, he taunts the detective by claiming she was pregnant and so wrath over takes the detective and therefore there has been a murder relating to each deadly sin. Envy was the sin used to kill the wife as the murderer was jealous of his life. It's very complicated and confusing. However, the film ends with the quote: The world is a fine place and worth fighting for. I agree with the second part. The significance of this is that the world is not a fine place as people enjoy the seven deadly sins, and aren't punished for them, despite 7 people being punished with the ultimate price - death or murder of a loved one.

Word Treatment (My Own Film)

Losing Streak is a psychological/crime thriller based upon the life of one Thomas Daniels, one of the unluckiest men alive. To pay off debts, he learns to cheat at poker, which ends in disaster as he successfully cheats the Mafia boss out of $250,0000. A thriller like no other, as this film pays homage to maybe the best thriller director, Alfred Hitchcock.

Filming the opening

Due to circumstances, I was unable to attend the filming on Saturday but I attended on Sunday and acted and shot some footage. We will now edit it. In my group are Maisy & Abbie.

Title Map

Thriller openings

This could be set up for a flash back through out the film, a non linear thriller. The locations for shooting would have to change - maybe a picture of Dartford town centre on the green screen and edit in the rubble? Or use fake rubble? I used Dartford town centre as it is relatively close and busy, the perfect location for the scene I had in mind. The character I imagined would be in his mid thirties, in a suit, getting up from the rubble. There would be slow music with possible screams or cries in the background, throughout, there would be flashbacks to earlier as the man tries to piece together events from the past which led to this moment. It is not a horror as it does not have an evil mad guy going round killing people, it will be a terrorist attack, as things like this happen in real life. It will have elements of both a psychological and an action thriller. I was inspired by Snakes on a Plane (an unconvential thriller) because I liked the idea of people worrying for their lives yet having viewers have to scratch their heads to try and figure out what will happen next. The Dark Knight inspired me because I wanted to have a hero that not everybody appericated or liked. He could be the hero that people love to hate. Finally Inception inspired me because I wanted to have the feeling of confusing the audience and have them constantly on their toes.

Analysing Ratings

Rear Window is a timeless classic thriller. Most popular with males under 18, this could be down to the fact that older family members are teaching them what a real thriller looks like. 31.4% rated it 10/10. Unsurprising. It just proves that to have an amazing thriller, you don't need the latest technology or the best actors/actresses. If you have a good director and plot line, the film can easily become a classic. Just like the timeless Rear Window.

Dark Knight is the newest Batman film (as of yet.) Once again, we see that the males under 18 are the ones that have watched this most. Already we see a pattern of males under 18 seeing thrillers more often then any other age/gender category. 49.7% have rated it 10/10 which isn't all too surprising. The Dark Knight is truly a bold, yet successful step for the Batman series, but a step in the right direction.

Inception is the most confusing thriller that people have ever watched. The dream within a dream plotline hooks the viewer as they attempt to figure out what is going on. Again, males under 18 watched this most, as with the previous two thrillers. 49.5% recommend it and give it 10/10. Inception is the first of a new line of thrillers maybe? Either way, Inception is a must see thriller.