One on One Thrillers

[ban all music]

I'm going to attempt to write a script with only one person and a killer. (Antonio knows what it's about...) I'm going to do some research on some good thrillers with this same theme; the most I can come up with is Hitchcock films...so does anyone have any suggestions?

[Skaboy18]

No sujesstions here, but it sounds like a great and novel idea!

[Irene Manor]

Dual comes to mind. It is essentially two characters.

Another one is The Hitcher. Although there's a love interest and some by-characters, it may help inspire you.

BAN ALL MUSIC, there are two other horror/suspense films that come to mind which feature isolated characters: THE FOG and ROAD GAMES. In THE FOG, sexy disc jockey Adrienne Barbeau is trapped for most of the film in a creepy lighthouse, while in ROAD GAMES, trucker Stacy Keach (with a little help from Jamie Lee Curtis), tracks a serial killer on a deserted stretch of the Aussie Outback.

More psychothrillers with isolated characters and settings include: Roman Polanski's DEATH & THE MAIDEN, Mario Bava's BLACK SABBATH, THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, CLOWNHOUSE, CUJO, WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE?, THE INNOCENTS, MAGIC, MISERY, THE NANNY, APARTMENT ZERO, APT PUPIL, THE LITTLE GIRL WHO LIVES DOWN THE LANE, SINGLE WHITE FEMALE and WAIT UNTIL DARK.

[ban all music]

Thanks, Antonio, I'll have to check all of those out this week...

[jason13th]

Ban all music, just watch the outstanding Afflication with Nick Nolte, James Coburn and Sissi " Carrie " Spacek.
this is a moody film and you feel sad for the lonely character played by Nick Nolte.
this is not a horror film at all but more a drama. very very good and fairly disturbing.

[WritnGuy]

There's a movie out there called "The Caller," which is a true one-on-one thriller in every sense. There are only two people in the entire film, a mysterious man and, in many ways, an equally mysterious woman (Malcom McDowell and Madolyn Smith-Osborne, if I remember correctly). The movie is about a woman staying at an isolated cabin, visited one night by a man asking to use her phone, yet the audience knows he's been watching her for a while. From then on, they meet again and again, in a seemingly abandoned mountain area, and have the strangest of interactions. Somewhat reminiscent of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" the way arguments and conversations are played like games, and reveal different aspects of the characters. It's a particularly tense movie, and the performances are excellent. An unexpected twist in the end (you will NEVER guess it, I promise you that) comes across sort of sloppy, but it creates a few effective moments in the end, and if anything, is quite innovative. I recommend it, if you can find it. It's a perfect example of what I think you're looking for.

BTW, speaking of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" see that, too. It's not a horror movie, in any sense of the term, but there are elements to that movie that are so suspenseful and so tense that it would probably be a perfect source of ideas. Plus, only four characters in the entire film, so it's a good example of the characters carrying the plot. Good luck.