Intertextuality

Intertextuality is when films borrows features from other inspirable films, which can be spotted through the use of camera angles and shots, editing, sound and mise en scene. After I've watched the remake of the 1987 original 'The Stepfather', I've noticed that this film was inspired by well known films such as 'Psycho', 'What Lies Beneath' and 'Fatal Attraction'.

During the violent scene where the Dave (the murderer) is chasing the woman in the bathroom, I've noticed that this film was inspired by the famous shower scene from Psycho through Mise En Scene because in Psycho, the woman gets stabbed in a white bathroom and in this film, the bathtub, walls and shower curtains are white. In Psycho, when the women gets stabbed viciously, she rips down the shower curtains and takes them down with her and in The Stepfather, when Dave gets stabbed, the shower railings and curtains falls on him, this is shown through a high angle camera shot. Also in both scenes from Psycho and The Stepfather, we can hear the sound of water, In 'The Stepfather' we hear heavy rain drops and in Psycho we hear water from a shower. Also the knife that Dave uses to chase the woman is similar to the one where the murderer stabs the woman in 'Psycho'.

In the film 'What Lies Beneath' we see a man carrying a woman up the stairs which are round, there are also round stairs in 'The Stepfather'. The bathroom in What Lies Beneath is white, same as the bathroom from Psycho, the bathtub is shown from a high angle camera shot.

What I like about Intertextuality is that I like to spot things out from the film which I've noticed from other films. Also I get to know what films that the directors were inspired by.