Daily Dialogue — April 8, 2014

ADAM: Help! Someone help me! Is someone there? Hey! Oh shit, I’m probably dead.
OLDER MAN: You’re not dead
ADAM: Who’s there? Who’s there?
OLDER MAN: No point in yelling, I already tried.
ADAM: Turn on the lights!
OLDER MAN: I would if I could
ADAM: What the fuck is going on? Where am I?
OLDER MAN: I don’t know, yet.
ADAM: What is that smell?
OLDER MAN: Shhh. Hang on a second. I’m gonna try something.

— Saw (2004), screenplay by Leigh Whannell, story by James Wan and Leigh Whannell

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Fear, suggested by Gordon. Today’s suggestion by Alejandro.

Trivia: James Wan and Leigh Whannell wrote the script and submitted it to their manager. The manager then sent it to an agent in L.A. who summoned the two of them for a meeting. They were encouraged to shoot a scene from the script as a short film which they started passing around to studios.

Dialogue On Dialogue: Talk about a cold open. No better way to create fear in a character than thrusting them into the unknown in a terrifying way.

NOTE: We could use more suggestions for this week’s theme. What movie moments come to mind in which characters express fear through dialogue?

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