My Germ Or Yours?

Though I don't remember what originally motivated me, years ago I got started on a quirky project. I researched to find the names of people who had died the day I was born in the city of my birth. After choosing one (I'll spare you how I made that choice), I then went back to that person's birthdate to find people who'd died that day and chose one. I got as far back as a 16th century birth/death convergence before stopping. I said it was quirky, didn't I?

Back on earth, circa mid-September 2011: I notice a movie called "Birth", starring Nicole Kidman, in the library DVD section and read the box. The central premise: A young boy, claiming to be a woman's deceased husband, begins trying to convince her of that. OK, now the weird part: The boy's age is identical to the number of years her husband has been dead. And, there's a murky scene early in the film that seems to suggest a connection between the husband's death and the boy's birth. Goosebumps, anybody?

After licking my wounds and discarding a ridiculous fantasy about an unsupportable claim of plagiarism against the screenwriter, I settled in to watch. I most enjoyed the matter-of-fact way this movie presented the intriguing premise; a little Gothic, perhaps, but I loved that I did not know where it was all going to land. (Hey, that's also kind of like my project!) There is one very disturbing sexual scene in the film so this posting is not a recommendation, per se. But the un-predictability was wonderful. What was the last film you saw that surprised you a lot?

More to the point: What were your private thoughts when you've had a similar experience to mine, i.e. a germ of an idea you've had later becomes reality, however altered?  I'm now dusting off my project. Though I liked this movie, there's more to my idea than what the movie used. When I finish they can come after me.