Where have I seen this before? HELP!

kathryn

kathryn

Cathlete
I've been seeing commercials for a new movie called "The Box" starring Nicole Kidman, and I KNOW I've either seen the plot on some old TV show, or read a short story about it. Basically, people get the offer to press a button to receive $1 million...but someone, somewhere will die.

Sound familiar to anyone else?

(It's been driving me crazy trying to place it).
 
Kathryn,

I think it was some kind of an ethics "game" or "exercise" from wayyyy back. There were a bunch of questions you had to answer. One was would you push someone in the path of an oncoming train if you knew that doing so would prevent that train from crashing further down the line and killing hundreds of people. I don't remember anymore, but the ladies at work remember going through the questions. The button one was just one of them.

p.s. Someone online claims the button question was a short story published in 1970 called "Button, Button". I can't confirm that though. There was also a Twilight Zone episode that was very similar.
 
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graffiti_press_button_receive_bacon.jpg


I tried googling for you and didn't find anything. But I did find this. And I think it's HILARIOUS! :)

http://jacksonville.skirt.com/files/u10691/graffiti_press_button_receive_bacon.jpg
 
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All I know is that it's directed by Richard Kelly (Donnie Darko) and Arcade Fire did the soundtrack. I'm there!!!!
 
That's it!
I used to read a lot of short Sci-fi fantasy (and I wonder if it was also a Twilight Zone episode, because I think they used a lot of Matheson short stories as their source material)

(Oh, and it is Cameron Diaz, not Nicole Kidman, oops!)
 
It is by Richard Matheson. The book is based on some short stories the title is called BUTTON BUTTON uncanny stories. I love this book. I just read this book a few months ago. By the way does anyone want me to spoil it for you?
 
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janie1234 said:
It is by Richard Matheson. The book is based on some short stories the title is called BUTTON BUTTON uncanny stories. I love this book. I just read this book a few months ago. By the way does anyone want me to spoil it for you?
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I remember the punch line, but I doubt that the new movie is just like the short story, because they were able to condense the story into a Twilight Zone episode (I did some searching, and found out that it was an episode of the 80's version of TZ).
 
kathryn said:
I remember the punch line, but I doubt that the new movie is just like the short story, because they were able to condense the story into a Twilight Zone episode (I did some searching, and found out that it was an episode of the 80's version of TZ).
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I just loved Twilight Zone, . .the black and white version too. The whole book reminded me of a Twilight Zone marathon. If you have not read it you should. You might enjoy it.
 
janie1234 said:
I just loved Twilight Zone, . .the black and white version too. The whole book reminded me of a Twilight Zone marathon. If you have not read it you should. You might enjoy it.
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Thanks for the tip!
I used to read short sci-fi and fantasy stories a lot, but haven't had the time to read much just-for-fun lately.
I just went to audible.fr to see if they had this (in French, prefereably) and found they had the unabridged collection caled "The Box". Added it to my 'library'.
 
kathryn said:
Thanks for the tip!
I used to read short sci-fi and fantasy stories a lot, but haven't had the time to read much just-for-fun lately.
I just went to audible.fr to see if they had this (in French, prefereably) and found they had the unabridged collection caled "The Box". Added it to my 'library'.
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Yes! Kathryn, it was originally published "The Box" but they republished it and for some reason retitled it, . . .possibly they added a few more short stories? I hope you like it.
I'm sure as a professor it must be hard to find extra time to read just for fun. I have terrible insomnia so I read late into the night. Sometimes I freak myself out when I read scary stuff. Halloween seems worse for some reason. You might also like the short stories in his "I am Legend" book.
 
janie1234 said:
. You might also like the short stories in his "I am Legend" book.
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Another one to put on my list.

I'm finding that by the time I go to bed (that is, on nights when I don't fall asleep on the sofa, like I did yesterday, LOL!), I'm too tired to read much, or if I start, I only make it through a little ways before drifting off (same with my audio books: I end up listening to--or at least remembering only--5 -10 minute blocks at a time before nodding off, then waking up in the middle of the night and there's already been a third murder! And I have to backtrack next time I listen to find out what's going on).

ETA: audible.fr has "I am legend" in the French version (I'll pick that up next month!). They also have several other of his collections. Man, that guy was prolific! And many of his stories were made into movies and episodes.

I wonder if "The Box" collection was retitled after the Twilight Zone episode (called "Button, button") came out, to take advantage of the recognition factor? That would be my guess.
 
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I got to listen to "Button, button." I'm now thinking that I must have seen it on TZ, because the ending of the short story isn't the ending that I recall, so evidently it was "adapted" for TV (or at least for whatever show I saw).
 
kathryn said:
ETA: audible.fr has "I am legend" in the French version (I'll pick that up next month!). They also have several other of his collections. Man, that guy was prolific! And many of his stories were made into movies and episodes.

I wonder if "The Box" collection was retitled after the Twilight Zone episode (called "Button, button") came out, to take advantage of the recognition factor? That would be my guess.
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You know that is a great thought. I wouldn't be surprised if that was why it was renamed. I'm also not surprised that a lot of his stories became movies, . . . although I never really knew this till recently. I've never been one of a short story reader because I always feel like I want to read more but his short stories truly remind me of a Twilight Zone marathon, . . they make for great reading. I hope that when you find the time to read it you enjoy it as much as I did. :)

I agree that he was prolific. I never realized how long he's been around. Aparently his writing influenced and inspired the likes of Stephen King and Ann Rice.
 
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