Narrative technique · used in 6 films
Placing a menace in crowded or ordinary places such as streets, parks and suburbs, so ordinary spaces turn unsafe and bystanders offer no protection.
Examples
Fritz Lang · 1953
Bannion has a quiet home life with his wife Katie. The mob reaches into that home, so ordinary rooms and cars stop feeling safe.
Where to see it: The car bomb: a bomb kills Bannion's wife Katie, which turns his investigation into something personal.
Martin Scorsese · 1991
Cady sits in front of the Bowden family at a movie theater, lights a cigar and laughs loudly. Nothing happens, and that is the problem.
Where to see it: The Problem Child screening: Cady blocks the screen in front of the Bowdens, smoking a cigar and laughing like a hyena.
Todd Haynes · 1995
The danger is in places that should be safe. Carol coughs near truck exhaust, has a panic attack at a baby shower, gets a nosebleed during a perm and collapses at a dry cleaner being fumigated. Nothing in her routine is safe anymore.
Where to see it: The dry cleaner collapse. Carol falls over at a dry cleaner that is being fumigated with pesticides.
Steven Spielberg · 1997
In the last act a Tyrannosaurus escapes onto the streets of San Diego. Cars, shops and neighborhoods suddenly look fragile next to it. You get a disaster movie out of a place you could have been standing yesterday.
Where to see it: The San Diego rampage: After a ship crashes into the dock, the rex gets loose and tramples through the city streets.
Zach Cregger · 2022
The danger is in an ordinary rental house on an ordinary street. A booking mistake puts two strangers in one house. The most normal things, such as an open bedroom door, become unsettling.
Where to see it: The double booking. Tess arrives at an Airbnb in Brightmoor and finds Keith already there, then wakes to a bedroom door that is open.
Sam Esmail · 2023
The danger shows up in a beach, a pool and a quiet house in the woods. Deer stare at the family and flamingos turn up in the pool. Safe places stop feeling safe, and nobody around can help.
Where to see it: The beach tanker. The family dodges an oil tanker that crashes ashore while they are at the beach.
Questions