Research Into Similar Films

As our film is a psychological thriller centred around psychic ability, I decided to do some research into similar films in order to come to terms with the conventions and ideology of the genre. Many psychological thriller films involving psychics are in fact adaptations of Stephen King novels, so this is where I started my search for similar films.

The film that is arguably the most similar to ours (in that it was the main inspiration for the concept) is 'The Dead Zone' (1983), the film adaptation of Stephen King's novel of the same name. It features the main protagonist Johnny Smith (Christopher Walken) waking from a coma following a car accident to realise that he has developed a new psychic ability: he can have visions of the past, present and future via physical contact with people or inanimate objects. Johnny uses his powers to help others, such as aiding the local sheriff George Bannerman (Tom Skerrit) in solving a series of grisly murders. He later learns that not only can he predict the future, he can also change it. The film's villain is a conniving populist politician named Greg Stillson (Martin Sheen). After shaking his hand, Johnny foresees him becoming the president and starting what is presumably World War 3. Johnny therefore attempts to use his ability to assassinate Stillson. Johnny fails to assassinate Stillson, but is successful in ruining his chances in the election, shown when Johnny has a vision of Stillson committing suicide.

The Dead Zone was very well received by critics, with a rating of 90% on Rotten Tomatoes (click here for page). The critic consensus was "The Dead Zone combines taut direction from David Cronenberg and and a rich performance from Christopher Walken to create one of the strongest Stephen King adaptations." The renowned film critic Roger Ebert gave the film 3.5/4 (click here to see full review), saying: "'The Dead Zone' does what only a good supernatural thriller can do: It makes us forget it is supernatural. Like "Rosemary's Baby" and "The Exorcist," it tells its story so strongly through the lives of sympathetic, believable people that we not only forgive the gimmicks, we accept them. There is pathos in what happens to the Christopher Walken character in this movie and that pathos would never be felt if we didn't buy the movie's premise."

Lily's psychic abilities were inspired by that of Johnny Smith; the difference being that Johnny can see visions of the past, present at future, whereas Lily can only foresee people's deaths. Both Lily and Johnny begin to question their own sanity in their respective films, although Johnny arguably less so. While Johnny uses his powers to save lives (as he does so several times), Lily seems somewhat incapable of controlling her powers, and unlike Johnny, her powers seem to be more of a curse than a gift; resulting in nothing aside from misery and hysteria.

Another similar film to ours is another Stephen King novel adaption: 'The Shining' (1980). In this film, Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) becomes winter caretaker at the isolated Overlook Hotel in Colorado, hoping to cure his writer's block. He settles in along with his wife, Wendy (Shelley Duvall), and his son, Danny (Danny Lloyd), who is plagued by psychic premonitions. As Jack's writing goes nowhere and Danny's visions become more disturbing, Jack discovers the hotel's dark secrets and begins to unravel into a homicidal maniac hell-bent on terrorising his family. Much like 'The Dead Zone', 'The Shining' received very positive reviews from critics with a rating of 8.4 on IMDb (click here for page). Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a rating of 91%, (click here to see review) with the critic consensus saying "Though it deviates from Stephen King's novel, Stanley Kubrick's The Shining is a chilling, often baroque journey into madness -- exemplified by an unforgettable turn from Jack Nicholson".  Roger Ebert was likewise impressed, giving the film a perfect score of 4/4 (click here for full review). He says "Stanley Kubrick's cold and frightening "The Shining" challenges us to decide: Who is the reliable observer? Whose idea of events can we trust? In the opening scene at a job interview, the characters seem reliable enough, although the dialogue has a formality that echoes the small talk on the space station in "2001." We meet Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson), a man who plans to live for the winter in solitude and isolation with his wife and son. He will be the caretaker of the snowbound Overlook Hotel. His employer warns that a former caretaker murdered his wife and two daughters, and committed suicide, but Jack reassures him: "You can rest assured, Mr. Ullman, that's not gonna happen with me. And as far as my wife is concerned, I'm sure she'll be absolutely fascinated when I tell her about it. She's a confirmed ghost story and horror film addict."
This film's similarity with ours is that it involves a young psychic that has the unwanted ability to foresee oncoming death and disaster. Lily shares several similarities with Danny, both are able to predict imminent death while they have no ability to understand or control their ability. Furthermore, it also results in the two characters exhibiting symptoms of mental illness, with Lily becoming paranoid and delusional, and Danny with 'Tony', the former's imaginary friend that "lives in his mouth", as well as Danny's 'redrum' phase (a word he keeps repeating; it is murder spelt backwards). In addition, both films present a homicidal maniac hell-bent on terrorising their loved ones following their descent into insanity (albeit arguably less so for Lily). Their attacks were both likewise foresaw via psychic premonitions, although Jack was unsuccessful in killing his family, while whether or not Lily successfully killed Brett is ambiguous.

A short film that has several similarities to our own is a Spanish short film known as "La Culpa" (2012), know in English as "The Guilt". It concerns a man named Leo, who's wife is murdered and then seeks revenge on the killer. He arrives at the killer's apartment armed with a pistol. He confronts the killer and shoots him repeatedly; killing him. The killer's son then arrives home, causing Leo to flee the scene. However, when attempting to descend the spiral staircase to leave, he somehow keeps ending up back at the killer's apartment, as if he hadn't moved at all. The killer's son then stabs Leo in the back with a pair of scissors, causing him to flee into another apartment, at which point he somehow returns to the point before he shot the killer. This time however, he chooses not to shoot the man, and instead asks him why he killed his wife, to which the man defensively claims 'It was an accident' (though this seems unlikely to be true as he stole her bag). The man then steals the gun from Leo and tells him to leave. He does so, finding that now he is able to descend the stairs. However, the killer then pursues Leo down the stairs, still holding the gun. The film then ends. The film was critically acclaimed, winning 1st prize in the "Your Film Festival" hosted by YouTube. Feedback from YouTube and IMDb have also been very positive.
One of the main similarities between this film and ours is that it is often nebulous as to what is real and what is not. It is debateable as to whether Lily's visions are an accurate reflection of true events, just as it is debatable as to whether Leo shooting the killer and being unable to descend the stairs are an accurate reflection of true events. In both cases, it is ambiguous as to whether or not certain parts of these films are real, or whether they are a product of mental strain. It could be argued that Leo shooting the killer and being unable to leave are simply his premonition of a scenario that could ensue if he underwent the act. Ergo, both films involve a protagonist attacking another person following a premonition, after which they seemingly come to their senses. They also both adopt an eerie tone of delusion and despair. Hence, this film is likely to operate as one of our sources for inspiration.