Amityville Horror Trailer Analysis

The trailer begins by using the diegetic sound of gunshots to establish its threatening atmosphere. The screen remains black and the audience is focused upon these menacing sounds creating a sense of curiosity on the viewer’s behalf. The trailer is then kicked to life by the sound of a television switching on accompanied by a quick distortion on screen; this makes the events appear factual because its being presented as a television broadcast. The grainy black and white picture also establishes the time period of the events in addition to accentuating the sinister feel of the trailer because of the harsh contrast between the blacks and whites.

The editing is quick with the sound of razors on violins prompting a numerous amount of cuts. A lot of information is transmitted in this opening sequence. There are close-ups of newspaper headlines, one reading ‘possessed’.

There are also interviews with police officers who narrate the action which is happening on screen giving the details of the horrific events “I have never seen anything like that…” The non-diegetic sound of a low pitch instrument (most possibly a drum or a bass guitar) accompanies the diegetic sound casting and continuing the overall ominous tone. Throughout this sequence, and the trailer, the text fades onto the screen almost like it is slowly condensing giving the trailer another depth of tone; a cold and eerie one.

The purpose of this opening sequence is to establish the threat before introducing the helpless to it.

Once a familiar style title, which helps the continuity of the piece, informs the audience that the ‘Luta Family’ has moved into the house we are presented with a home video of the Luta family moving in. The smaller square aspect ratio of the film and the sound of active film reels once again emphasize the time period that the piece is set in.

This would be a happy and perhaps comfortable sequence for the audience if it were not for the distortion made to the sound of laughing children. It makes it a more disturbing experience because the symbol for innocence, children, have been made into an unsettling reflection upon the house. This sequence serves to set up the family whilst foreshadowing their sinister fate.

After seeing the home video we enter the final part of the trailer. This is characterized by the mix of diegetic and non-diegetic sound. For example, the sound of lighting and screaming is mixed with the amplifying sound of violins. It is interesting to note that nature (explicably weather) is used to reflect the atmosphere and emotions of the characters (pathetic fallacy). In the home video the weather was calm and sunny (almost representing the calm before the storm). The use of quick cuts, usually in time with flashes of lighting, quickens the pace of the trailer intensifying the threat through the action taking place on screen. We see a variety of frightening images, for example: arms appearing out of a bath, strange pale eyes, a face of what would seem a dead man etc.