Horror Trailer Analysis

When The Lights Went Out

The trailer begins with a family driving along the countryside in their car, there is a light piano playing in the background which does not suggest that this is a horror film as the mother and father are making jokes of their stroppy teenage daughter, typical conventions of a normal modern day family who are moving house. The text "based on a true story" also does not give away that it is a horror as the text is in gold and fades softly showing no conventions of a horror. However when the scene changes to the darker surroundings of the woods and the girl says  "I've been in there" "its right mysterious" the music changes to a more eerie and deeper tone suggesting that something is not right and gives the viewers a hint of what genre the movie will be now. The contrast with the bright and happy scene at the start to the darker scenes within the house suggest that there is danger revolved around the house.

The scene of the father in a dark room connotes unknown danger as we hear non-diagetic sounds of banging and scraping suggesting that something else is there in the room with him, his face is shadowed suggesting mystery and eeriness within the room, the non-diagetic voice over of him saying "shes played tricks before" suggests that he believes it is his daughter but in the scene she is not there and he has realized that it something else.

When sally looks through the key hole and asks "why are you crying?" you can hear the non-diagetic sounds of weeping coming from the dark room her father was in. This suggests to the audience that the "thing" inhabiting the house could be a child and also the reflection in the car window of sally is not of her but another child who appears to be dead which could also denote that there are two sides to sally now.

The repeated verse of "the majestic Christ commands you" increased in volume as the scenes become more violent responding to him, building up to a climax of the trailer which will also put the audience on edge as they know something is going to happen when he stops repeating the verse. The last scene cuts to sally, talking to an empty staircase suggesting there is something there and connotes a sense of supernatural, as she tries to run towards the door the music comes back and builds up the more sally is dragged up the stairs by nothing and into a closed room connoting isolation and making the audience want to see the movie to see what happened to sally behind the door.

• -When the lights went out trailer.