watch it: “Black Button”

Someone posted this short on the DVDTalk message boards. I thought it was terrible.

Yeah I saw this a couple of years ago. I find it hard to believe that they'd never heard of the short story or tv episode. Maybe someone once mentioned the premise in their general vacinity and they went and wrote a screenplay, not realising it's a tale that's already been told.

Actually it's not that bad.

I prefer its "Keep It Simple, Stupid" approach to the story much more than the rather long drawn-out approach used by the 1985 Twilight Zone episode, an episode that apparently so disappointed screenwriter Richard Matheson in its final version that he insisted on being credited with a pseudonym for his screenplay.

(Yes, I've seen that episode recently and it's available online too. However, I won't say more than that.)

Thought I'd plug the "Funny or Die" version again, if you haven't seen it:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/expresident/the-button/

The shout-out to Matheson at the beginning is a nice touch.