the sixth sense
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starkrayz — 16 years ago(August 09, 2009 02:31 AM)
Actually, a Stir of Echoes was released nearly a half century agoin novel form. Shyamalan was sly to avoid all comparisons to the movie when 6th Sense came out because of how much he plagiarized the novel.
Since then, I think most people have realized how much of a sham he is. And no doubt on second viewings, "Echoes" is clearly the better film. -
joshzancan — 16 years ago(August 20, 2009 11:41 AM)
Aside from basic thematic similaritieswhat did he plagiarize? Yeah, they're both ghost stories. In Stir of Echoes the ghost is trying to tell him something, and in the 6th sense a girl tries to tell Cole (I think that was his name) about something regarding their death. What else is there?
And yes, I have read Matheson's book.
"you're a handsome devil. what's your name?"
grosse pointe blank -
starkrayz — 16 years ago(August 26, 2009 05:14 PM)
Both feature:
A cute little kid who can see dead people
A melancholy dad who is disappointed in his life & relationships
A murdered girl's ghost who tries to make contact with the living regarding her death
I'd say those are compelling similarities. -
joshzancan — 16 years ago(August 27, 2009 10:23 AM)
Similarities, yeah, but to say that he plagiarized Matheson is a very bold claim. Inspired by? Sure. To say that he pulled from? Yeah. But plagiarize? No. A person can write the same situation without it being plagiarized. Shyalaman (or however the hell you spell it) could have just been like "oh, that was a cool thing, I'll include a little side plot with a girl who was killed." Inspired by. Not plagiarized.
They both wrote something about mass suicide. Did Shyalaman plagiarize Lemmings when he wrote The Happening?
"you're a handsome devil. what's your name?"
grosse pointe blank -
starkrayz — 16 years ago(September 11, 2009 05:55 PM)
Lemmings isn't necessarily plagiarized because you're talking about a general subject (suicide), not specific ideas like I listed. Now, if Shyamalan had shown people drowning themselves in the ocean, that would've been closer to how he took ideas from Stir of Echoes.
The definition of plagiarize is to "take ideas as your own," and I listed 3 pretty specific ideas that Shyamalan took as his own. Pretty obvious. -
ThreeSadTigers — 13 years ago(September 04, 2012 04:31 PM)
Both feature:
A cute little kid who can see dead people
A melancholy dad who is disappointed in his life & relationships
A murdered girl's ghost who tries to make contact with the living regarding her death
I'd say those are compelling similarities.
Those same three elements are also found in The Innocents, The Shining, Poltergeist, Ring, The Grudge, Dark Water, The Others, Silent Hill (replace father with mother for a few of these), A Tale of Two Sisters, The Woman in Black, Insidious and no doubt countless other horror movies from the last 30 to 40 years.
Is every zombie movie since 1968 automatically a rip-off of Night of the Living Dead, because I'm pretty sure they all contain plot points consistent with the Romero film? -
koffeenkreame41-1 — 12 years ago(April 21, 2013 08:47 AM)
^^This. There are similarities but it doesn't mean repeated the whole formula verbatim. Danny Boyle is a HUGE fan of I Am Legend and thought of 28 Days Later as the way he would've done that film, doesn't mean he stole the idea though. Shymalan was a big fan of 12 Monkeys, that character Willis played was Cole and that character says at one point that all he could see were dead people, so he had wrote the famous "I See Dead People" in the film and had the young Cole say something similar as a nod to 12 Monkeys.
The Shining came out AFTER The Amityville Horror, both films feature the male lead wielding an ax in a place with ghosts, a woman & kids inside. Did the Shining rip-off Amityville, which is based on a true story? No. Many films have similarities. Cole was scared out of his mind seeing dead people, he even tells Bruce Willis in the room. Jake wasn't scared at all, he thought it was cool talking to dead people, he was only freaked out when Samantha kept NOTLD on his TV & the feathers incident he knew was coming.
"I am the ultimate badass, you do not wanna*beep*wit me!"- Hudson in Aliens. -
svalinanikola — 11 years ago(November 21, 2014 02:25 AM)
Those same three elements are also found in The Innocents, The Shining, Poltergeist, Ring, The Grudge, Dark Water, The Others, Silent Hill (replace father with mother for a few of these), A Tale of Two Sisters, The Woman in Black, Insidious and no doubt countless other horror movies from the last 30 to 40 years.
Yeah, I'm guessing OP didn't watch many ghost movies because a lot of them have those three things he mentioned.
I mean, is
The Others
a rip-off of The Sixth Sense because they have a similar ending? A lot of movies have an ending like that. -
mcornett — 9 years ago(October 29, 2016 10:45 AM)
I know it's four years later, but you cite a movie called THE INNOCENTS as having those three elements. Are you referring to Jack Clayton's 1961 film based on Henry James' "The Turn of the Screw"? Because if you are, that comparison is way off-base. There are children in the movie, but they don't see any ghosts. There's no melancholy parent in it at all. There's what might be the spirit of a deceased governess, but she wasn't murdered (she died of illness) and she never tries to impart any information, just stands around and may be a figment of the governess' imagination.
"Value your education. It's something nobody can ever take away from you." My mom. -
randrox — 9 years ago(November 11, 2016 11:52 PM)
I'm in the middle of watching "Stir of Echoes" so don't have a firm opinion on it yet, but so far, pretty good, although I have to admit that I love Kevin Bacon in just about anything. But, I did recently rewatch "The Innocents" with Deborah Kerr and wished to add some points to your assertions about it.
You said
I know it's four years later, but you cite a movie called THE INNOCENTS as having those three elements. Are you referring to Jack Clayton's 1961 film based on Henry James' "The Turn of the Screw"? Because if you are, that comparison is way off-base. There are children in the movie, but they don't see any ghosts. There's no melancholy parent in it at all. There's what might be the spirit of a deceased governess, but she wasn't murdered (she died of illness) and she never tries to impart any information, just stands around and may be a figment of the governess' imagination]- We don't know if the children see the ghosts or not, they say they don't, but are implied to be aware of their presence, and indeed to be under the control of the male malevolent ghost who doesn't wish them to acknowledge that they do, in fact, see the ghosts. That's the main dilemma of the movie - Are the ghosts really there, or are they the hallucinations of a sexually repressed governess who perceives evil in expressions of sexual activity not sanctioned by the church (i.e. in the bonds of matrimony.) She is so hysterical about it that she seems to end up contributing to the death of one of her charges, either that or he is killed by the trauma of her trying to remove the control of the male ghost from his body and mind.
- It's true that the parents are dead, and the uncle is disinterested, almost repulsed by his custodian role for the children. The new governess, in that case, fulfills the melancholy (or tormented) parent role.
- The previous governess may not have been murdered, but she was also tormented by her sexual slavery to the male (can't remember his name at the moment)and it is implied that she may have committed suicide in a sense, due to his abuse and mistreatment of her. I think the deceased governess is trying to impart information. What about when she is heard and seen sobbing in the old schoolroom, pacing across the hallway in front of the new governess, standing silent and staring at Deborah Kerr and the little girl. If she had nothing to impart, why would she even appear at all? I think she is trying to warn Deborah Kerr's character about the enthrallment of the children, especially Miles, to the evil spirit of the man. Either that, or she's just a figment of Deborah Kerr's imagination! But, my point is that, even though the parallels are not exact, the basic structure of the script does contain many of the same elements as "The Sixth Sense" and many other movies of this ilk.
OK, that's my take on that. And, now that I've watched more of "SOE", I have to agree that it's pretty bad. Too many cliches, indeed. Kevin Bacon and the other actors are decent with what they are given to work with, and the dialogue is pretty good, but there's no real tension created, and it's lackadaisical and uneven in its pacing. I don't agree with the haters for TSS, though. I still think it's one of the best scary movies ever made, and I still don't watch it late at night by myself if I want to sleep without a light on! The performances were excellent and the surprise twist was done so well, that I really was shocked and surprised at the end. SOE I'll probably rate about a 4.
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juxtapose70 — 12 years ago(August 15, 2013 02:17 AM)
The Sixth Sense is the best Shyamalan is ever going to do. His subsequent movies have been mediocre (aliens who are killed by water attempt to take over a planet that is seventy percent water?)- even "Signs" - whilst interesting, was silly on it's face.
Stir of Echoes was a wayyy better ghost story. We have a basic young family with very disturbing things happening and without knowing why. The Sixth Sense was hyped because of the twists (which I thought were obvious). And if Toni Collette hadn't been in it, I'm not sure it would have been that great at all.
"I have nipples, Greg. Could you milk me?" -
Wooley12 — 12 years ago(October 22, 2013 02:27 PM)
Wow, when will I ever learn?
Dont go on imdb to read about movies I havent seen. And under no circumstance scroll to far down so I can see the messageboard!!
There's always some idiot who doesn't care about whether I've seen the movie or not. Either that or your just not intelligent enough to think beyond their own nose.
Please think about your headline next time, theres no need to ruin the movie for people who havent seen it!! -
mrseasons — 12 years ago(January 13, 2014 08:25 PM)
I didn't realize this movie came out when The Sixth Sense did. That might be why I didn't see or hear about Stir of Echoes until years later. When I first caught Stir of Echoes on cable I loved it and wondered why I hadn't heard about it before.
I saw Sixth Sense in the theater when it first came out and it's one of my favorite movies of all time. I enjoyed the Sixth Sense more than Stir of Echoes mostly because the plot twists were more cleverly hidden then revealed in due time with The Sixth Sense. Stir of Echoes seemed to play all its cards at once. It left very few, if any, surprises. Stir of Echoes still manages to be a good film, worth watching due to its great acting and interesting story line, but nowhere near the suspense and surprises that the Sixth Sense held. Just my Two Sense*
*yes, the misspelling is intentional -
eoval — 12 years ago(January 15, 2014 09:51 PM)
Regardless of any person's judgement - 6th was a one trick pony and Echoes is still great after 10 watches. Schlamaramadanadingdong is not a "great" storyteller (I love Signs though?)
ACUPUNCTURE - "Really! You'll feel better if I stab you with needles repeatedly!"