Remedies To Film Scenes

The War of the Worlds

Problem: 

Robbie Acts Like A Jerk & Leaves His Family Behind During The Military Strike

Remedy:

Here's how you sort of save the Robbie character from being a total imbecile when that scene takes place. Perhaps they could've inserted a story in the beginning where Robbie wasn't accepted in the army because of [insert some medical, physical, or mental flaw] which also adds to his character's constant emotional flaring. Robbie and his father constantly gets into heated discussions about it which mostly ends with Robbie saying that he'll never be able to prove himself in anything that he does. This concept alone immediately gives the character more layers to work with as a viewer watching than just basically coming across as a constantly angry rebellious teen.

This then carries over to the scene where Robbie tried to join that squad of soldiers who were driving pass them which led to a huge argument between him and his father. He is constantly compelled to join these soldiers as some self fulfilling mission. So, when the moment finally comes on the hill to where he can actually physically run up towards the soldiers and join them in the fight, he's finally given some sense of peace and redemption within himself due to the lack of obstacles in his way at that point. 

Now, I'm aware that this still doesn't completely remedy the little sister being left behind scenario (poor Dakota Fanning), but I feel that a simple "You take care of her now, Dad. She's safer with you than she is with me" line would've truly rescued that scene significantly. It may not be the best fixer upper, but it does work circles around what we were given in the film.

Annabelle Creation

Problem: 

The Sheet Ghost - A Huge Missed Opportunity

Remedy:

I'm a big fan of subtle horror, and it seems like this film had the potential to psychologically terrify its audience. However, the filmmaker(s) would, at several times, slip up by escalating things to a ridiculous level. With this scene in particular, I'd have everything play out the same with Janice throwing the sheet over the doll and turning around. The audience would now witness the sheet lift up off the chair as the camera turns just in time to effectively plant that creepy little seed into our brain. 

However, I would not have followed this genius set up with what is basically a laughable "sheet ghost" walking towards the girl completely destroying the eerie atmosphere that was laid out. Again, escalation can sometimes ruin a great scare. How about just having her turn around as the camera pans back to find the sheet laying beside her feet (never showing the entity's travel). The camera then stops at a frame to where you can see the girl breathing heavily looking at the creepily lit doll in the distance.

The scariest thing about the idea of haunted inanimate objects is what we individually fear about their capabilities. This is why some of the most effective scenes with this concept are psychological in nature.

Films like these work best when the audience's imagination is going insane with horrifying thoughts. We escalate things in our own mind causing us to essentially scare ourselves with worst case scenarios. A cliched sheet ghost is the writers' way of saying "Hey, we'll do the heavy lifting for ya. Hope you like it". Yes, this is a visual medium, but sometimes it's a lot better for a film (especially with this premise) to sometimes have the audience engineer scary imagery and ideas in their own minds. The film can simply lay out the foundation for such nightmarish creations. This is one of those horror scenes that are perfectly designed to succeed in exploiting the viewer's vulnerability, but unfortunately the creators had a different vision in mind.