The new horror movie cliche!

Well, it's necessary . . . have you seen the "What X Movie Would Have Been Like With Cell Phones" clip? Got to get rid of that capability if the rest of the movie's going to work.
 
I'm with David. It's a necessity.

I mean if everyone had a signal they'd just, oh I dunno, call the cops? Or their friend with a shotgun? Or the god damn army?

It's just as we get more connected, movies need to compensate. So "no signal" is the only way to allow this.

I small a Verizon commercial coming out of this. Actually they already have, they have those 3G commercials with overly dramatic music, with a horror movie feel, then that dude comes in.
 
I've probably mentioned this here before, but so many problems/storylines on Seinfeld would have been resolved if they had cell phones.

I agree with Ryan, writers need to play off the existence of cellphones in plotlines, rather than writing them out of the story.

On a sidenote, I may be one of like five people alive who liked Open Water 2: Adrift.
 
On my current project is use it in a way that helps further establish a character's personality. It makes it feel different.
 
I think you meant that you DO have to deal with the cell phone question, and DON'T have to just accept the cliché easy ways out.
(As you then went on to say you should be aware and try to find new ways to deal with it.)

One example in those clips - I think the bad guy in one pretended to drop it in the dishwater. So if there is a boogyman, make him the agent - as we also saw in the clips when they repeatedly ripped the cellphones in half.

Bad reception is a reality though and can be a part of the environment where the story takes place - an essential part of it just like the fact that being in that isolated area puts the folks at more risk - everything about the area, including the cell phone reception, could be why the killer chooses to lurk behind that particular traffic sign in the middle of the dessert.

Technology has always affected literature and drama - from Shakespeare where messages / messengers took days to arrive - to Star Trek where they can appear instantly anywhere. Tech is one of the reasons it's really hard to do updated productions of Chekhov. His plays were about getting people away from their jobs and careers in the city, getting them into a country house where they had no choice but to think about their lives and interact with each other. Hence all the putting of of plays, piano recitals, card games, banquets. The second someone could get a phone call from work, whip out their game boy or ipod, his plays don't work.
 
You don't have to do it the current cliche' way, but there are only a few things which would prevent cell phone use, and you have to pick one of them . . . so the "cliche" will simply become "getting rid of the cell phone," however it's done. Having no signal is the most likely. Losing your battery charge is probably second.
 
David Jimerson said:
Pretty much everyone carries one (or more), though. It'll be a nagging question if you don't deal with it somehow.
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Very true. But then there are those who have an aversion to cell phones. It's always interesting (to me) how puzzled people are when I tell them I have no need/interest in them...and I've been a computer geek for about 25 years, and probably the only one who doesn't have one wherever I work.

Still, it seems like a plausible scenario that someone just doesn't have one... which is way better than the lost-of-signal or dead battery cliché.

But more on topic, I like the very simple and plausible way they got rid of cells in The Insider. Of course, it makes a lot of sense in this scenario.
 
Denis Haineault said:
Very true. But then there are those who have an aversion to cell phones. It's always interesting (to me) how puzzled people are when I tell them I have no need/interest in them...and I've been a computer geek for about 25 years, and probably the only one who doesn't have one wherever I work.

Still, it seems like a plausible scenario that someone just doesn't have one... which is way better than the lost-of-signal or dead battery cliché.
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Maybe, but you still have to make a point that the person doesn't have it. Like I said, just "getting rid of the cell phone" will be the cliche, much as the various ways of cutting off phone service (cutting the lines, tree branches bringing down the lines, or just the ubiquitous unexplained "buzz buzz buzz" and the hero slamming it down, etc.) became cliches, too, when every normal house had a phone.

But more on topic, I like the very simple and plausible way they got rid of cells in The Insider. Of course, it makes a lot of sense in this scenario.
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Didn't see it.
 
David Jimerson said:
Maybe, but you still have to make a point that the person doesn't have it. Like I said, just "getting rid of the cell phone" will be the cliche...
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Very true.

I guess the moment a character makes a point that he doesn't have a cell phone, well that's it...game over...he's a red shirt.

But more on topic, I like the very simple and plausible way they got rid of cells in The Insider. Of course, it makes a lot of sense in this scenario.

David Jimerson said:
Didn't see it.
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Gah !!

Sorry, I meant "Inside Man"
 
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What's curious, though, is the trend where landlines are starting to disappear. How's THAT going to factor into a script? Interesting!
 
Of course, you could have the character use a cheap cell phone and a cut-rate cell service to explain it all - sort of like a commentary that when you try to go cheap on your projects a lot of things don't work when they're supposed to either.
 
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