I loves me some high concept.
Paid to Kill (1954) a Hammer film noir with some actual noir content! Also suspense, betrayal, and a huge company with a meaningless name!
Comments
Comment from Nathan Shumate
Time: April 29, 2008, 9:17 am
Bah. Those sarcastic comments come from elitists who only respect French cinema about two men discussing their bicycle for ninety minutes.
High concept really means that the idea is the star; the twenty-five-words-or-less pitch is cool enough that someone wants to see (or make!) the movie even without any box-office stars.
Comment from Blake Matthews
Time: April 29, 2008, 10:50 am
You guys should do a Roundtable built around High-Concept movies.
Comment from Blake Matthews
Time: April 29, 2008, 2:14 pm
“Teeth” would count as High Concept, wouldn’t it?
Comment from Nathan Shumate
Time: April 29, 2008, 3:20 pm
That’s a little vague. As far as I know ALL the B-Masters have teeth!
Comment from lyzard
Time: April 29, 2008, 5:35 pm
the twenty-five-words-or-less pitch is cool enough that someone wants to see (or make!) the movie even without any box-office stars.
Twenty-five words or less, of which four must be: “….and then - get this! - “
Comment from Blake Matthews
Time: April 29, 2008, 7:08 pm
Hmm…How about: “A young girl has teeth at the opening of her [flower], and then - get this! It bites off the guys’ members.” That’s a high concept, right?
Comment from Nathan Shumate
Time: April 29, 2008, 7:24 pm
Nope. That’s a setup, but not a STORY concept; it doesn’t give any clue where the story’s got to go. (Except direct-to-video, with Julie Strain in a supporting role.)
Comment from Matthew Fudge
Time: April 30, 2008, 6:57 am
it’s a bit similar to the strangers on a train concept, no?
Comment from Blake Matthews
Time: April 30, 2008, 7:46 am
Leonard Maltin used the term a number of times in his books, the most memorable was for “Space Jam”, which he called “a high concept movie that actually works.” I think he called “My Stepmother is an Alien” high concept as well.
Comment from PCachu
Time: April 29, 2008, 8:57 am
It’s weird that before this review, the only sense in which I’d seen the term “high concept” used was the sarcastic one - to wit, “a central conceit so dumb that your greatest viewing challenge will be simple suspension of disbelief”. Nice to know it also has a positive definition.
Gotta agree about how it applies to this little B-feature, too. This is a plot long overdue for a badly-bungled remake.