[the_pauley]

OK; new game - "Spot the Rip-Off" ...

Anyone else out there noticed the distinct similarity between Phone Booth and a Wesley Snipes movie of a few years back called Liberty Stands Still?

In this movie a sniper holds a woman hostage, communicating with her by mobile phone while she is hancuffed to a hotdog cart, while all around people get shot, SWAT teams gather, etc.

Got me thinking about other movies that have "borrowed" from other sources.

For example, a Twilight Zone episode ('80s colour series) called Dreams for Sale. A woman begins to notice glitches and distortions in the world around her only to suddenly wake up in an isolation tank with life support tubes, etc, attached and a fake programmed life being fed into her mind. Camera pans back to reveal enormous complex with millions of people in similar tanks. Sound familiar, Keanu fans?

OK any other contenders?

the thing with the Phone Booth vs Liberty stands still is an odd one. Phone Booth was made in 2000, due for release in late 2001. Then with Sept 11th, they didn't want to release it cause of the mood of the nation. So it was due a summer 2002 release untill the sniper appeared and that forced them to delay release further which is why the film wasn't released untill ealier this year.
I don't actually know what or when Liberty was started but also with Phone booth, it was originally to shoot in early '99 with Jim Carrey as the lead but for whatever reasons he had to pull out.

Maybe long and anal without answering any question but there you go.....

[r47463]

Ghost Ship was just like Event Horizon but on water. The formula was the same - original crew are killed by an evil spirit and new crew is sent to investigate empty ship. Said evil spirit plays with their minds which ultimately leads to their demise. I loved the intro though

[the_pauley]

Ah, but don't forget Ghost Ship is a remake of a 1952 movie of the same name so it was around before Event Horizon .

[Reiner]

National Security steals from MiB - the shooting range scene: one of the "bad guys" is not shot and a very similar explanation is given.

There is also one movie (I always forget it's name) which features exactly the same scene like the ending in The Long Kiss Goodnight, i.e. where the truck explodes on the border bridge and the car makes a gettaway to Canada.
In fact the angle of the camera is so similar if not the same that they might have used the same footage actually. Not sure which movie was made first.

[Mr.D]

The whole fake reality being fed into prone people actually in storage has been used in lots of novels over the years. ( lots of Philip K Dick stories , Mona Lisa Overdrive by William Gibson springs to mind also))was a cliche well before the Matrix came out and if anything the Matrix is all about taking this idea and making it the ultimate cliche.

I even remember some schlocky 1970s film with people waking up in tanks. Welcom e to Blood City is another one.

The idea for Phone Booth was originally concieved in the 1960s by scriptwriter Larry Cohen.

I wouldn't call either of these films rip-offs. They may deal with similar subject matter but you might as well say every Western is a rip-off ofTthe Great Train Robbery because its cowboys in it.