Writing the Thriller Film: The Terror Within

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Summary: This book ...!
Review: After buying this book, I had to send it back. Oh sure rerading the title you think your in for a book who is going to at least touch base on the different types of thrillers ie. Psychological thrillers, etc... Instead the stupid book talked only about spy thrillers. The text was very boring and I could have doen without the write talking over my head the entire time. If your going to write a thriller do yourself a favor and go get the "Writing the Thriller" By T. Skillman. It's out of print but it's worth it.

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Summary: Worth every penny
Review: As a language arts teacher and story writer I found his analysis of genre to be absolutely amazing. Not since reading Marie von Franz and other Jungian views of genre and the shadow world have I found such clarity. Don't listen to those who put it down. It was obviously over their heads - as stated by one reviewer directly. If you understand Jung and psychology, you'll find this to be an excellent resource in the way Hicks creates the psychological levels of conflict resolution through his labeling of plot components and the protagonist's journey.

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Summary: Terrific Book -- A Must-Have
Review: First, a disclaimer: Hicks and I share a publisher (Michael Wiese Productions) but we've never met. That being said, this is a terrific book. Hicks clearly lays out the elements necessary to create a tight, emotionally-satisfying thriller. He outlines the narrative structure of a solid thriller in clear, helpful language, and goes on to explain the characteristics of a strong protagonist and antagonist. He also offers an explanation of the differences between an action film, a detective film, a horror film and a thriller -- and he provides examples and script excerpts from great thrillers (such as North By Northwest and Breakdown) to demonstrate his ideas. If you want to write a thriller script, or just get a better idea of what it takes to create and structure a solid thriller, this is the book for you.

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Summary: HOW TO MASTER THIS EXTREMELY DIFFICULT GENRE
Review: I bought this book to help me with my current script. I thought I was writing a thriller, but after reading it, I have discovered that I am really writing a horror story! At last, someone has finally dissected what a thriller IS and ISN'T. I need to see the RULES, and they are all here. Now I understand the genre. Mr. Hicks has done an outstanding job by explaining what it is and how to do it. His screenplay excerpts are excellent. I'm going to rent "Breakdown" this weekend and study the form.

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Summary: Want to understand the Action Adventure Genre? This is it!
Review: If you want to understand the Action Adventure Genre, this is THE book. Great models, insights, rules to use or break.
Neill Hicks is a screenwriter who's written scripts that have been made into successful hit movies -- Rumble in The Bronx, First Strike. There are a lot of books on screenwriting written by people who are still trying to see their script go to production, let alone be a hit. This book's wisdom, insight and practial observations and advice shows why Hicks made it.
He has a very nice across genre model of protagonist characteristics which he also mentioned more briefly in his previous book, Screenwriting 101-- another excellent source.

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Summary: Required reading for writers and lovers of thrillers
Review: Mr. Hicks explores every aspect of the classic Hollywood thriller, from the biological basis of raw human fear to the morality of the unwilling protagonist. The "Cosmos of Credibility" is compared and contrasted with other genres across the Genre Continuum first introduced in his Screenwriting 101: The Essential Craft of Feature Film Writing. With a writing style that is both tight and literary, Hicks has crafted a necessary resource for every writer of thrillers.

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Summary: A lot of fluff
Review: Not a lot of substance here. I did not find this book at all useful, a waste of money over all. A lot of talk about nothing specific, writer wonders around willy nilly, and no real how tos. Information such as formatting of action elements, or just how specific you should be when writing action scenes would have been much better served here, but alas, not to be. Books such as Crafty Screenwriting or Screenwriters Bible go much, much further.

Rating:
Summary: Don't Waste Your Money
Review: The positive reviews here obviously come from Hicks' pals (check out his website). The book is poorly-written, incoherent, and gives no specific (or recognizable) advice on how to write an action film. It is basically a rambling (and very odd)discourse on the history of war movies.

I can highly recommend Tobin, Epstein, Martell, and Walker if you want to learn how to write action--or any other--films.

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Summary: A straightforward, sensible, "user friendly" primer
Review: Writing The Action-Adventure Film: The Moment Of Truth by professional screenwriter Neill D. Hicks ("Rumble in the Bronx"; "First Strike") is a straightforward, sensible, "user friendly" primer for creating a solid screenplay specifically for one of the most popular movie genres in America. Individual chapters specifically address issues of characterization, plot structure, pitfalls, and the strengths of the Action-Adventure film genre, as well as what the audience expects when they go to see the latest action movie. If you are contemplating, or already involved in, scripting an Action-Adventure screenplay, then give Neill Hicks' Writing The Action-Adventure Film an immediate and careful reading.

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Summary: What the movie genre of the "thriller" expects
Review: Writing The Thriller Film: The Terror Within by professional screenwriter Neill D. Hicks ("Rumble in the Bronx", "First Strike") is a practical guide to creating a professional quality, tension-inducing, commercially viable movie script. Intended for authors who are already familiar with the basics of screenwriting, Writing The Thriller Film concentrates on what the movie genre of the "thriller" expects from a good script, how to make the narrative credible and engrossing, the qualities and actions needed for an engaging conflict between protagonist and antagonist, dramatic action as hard choices forced upon the characters, and more. Writing The Thriller Film explores the much-beloved genre in-depth and is an excellent and recommended primer for aspiring thriller and action movie screenwriters. Also highly recommended are Neill Hicks two other outstanding "how to" screenwriting instructionals: Writing the Action-Adventure Film: The Moment Of Truth (0941188396...), and Screenwriting 101: The Essential Craft Of Feature Film Writing (0941188728;...).