Sinister (2012) Film
Review
Brief Plot
Outline:
Within this film a crime writer discovers a collection of
videotapes showing several brutal murders that took place in the house he just
bought and is currently living in with his family. Each videotape contains a
curse which causes the child to murder its family and after to enter into the
videotape itself with a mysterious masked man.
Which two scenes impressed you the most and why?
A particularly impressive scene I found was when the young
girl is sat on her bed facing a dead female child. Here close up shots are used
to show the fear and emotion on the girls face. The use of low key lighting
creates deep shadows and an eerie atmosphere for the audience. Body horror on
the dead girl makes you feel uncomfortable and uneasy and this also ties in
with the theme of feeling trapped and being isolated. The beginning scene
establishes a shot with a family hanging from a tree in a back garden; this is
a very long take and is used to force you to watch what is happening. There is
use of video camera and point of view shots; this helps the audience to feel
like they are part of the scene and perhaps witnessing something that they shouldn't be seeing.
This technique is also used quite successfully in the film Cloverfield as it really draws you into the action and makes you feel present.
How has watching
this film helped you understand this genre of film making? Which features on the
genre checklist did you spot in the film? When? How?
One of the features I spotted was parallel music which
occurred as the father enters the loft, this creates suspense as he is climbing
the ladders and fits the mood of the scene. There is low key lighting within
the house at night time to give a creepier setting. Pathetic Fallacy can be
seen as there is wind and rain to show a dampened mood. Close-ups are used cleverly on the
father's face as he is being tied up and about to be killed allows us to see the
emotion on his face, this makes you feel uneasy and you know what is about to
happen to him and therefore you want to sympathise with the character. A similar scene to this is in Henry's Portrait of a Serial Killer which is a lengthy scene dragging out the death and forces the audience to watch it. We are
also able to see the stereotypical male hero in that of the dad (Elliion) of the family.
He invests his time trying to figure out and resolve the crimes he has
witnessed but dies as a consequence of this while trying to protect his family.
Other archetypal features of Ellision are being strong, attractive and masculine
help him with fitting in with this particular character stereotype. Another powerful
feature used in order to set the genre of the film is collision cutting, as the
father is looking at an image with the man wearing a mask there is silence. As
he removes the image away from his face the same masked man appears and there
is loud screeching music. The cutting between these two opposites maximises the
emotional effect of the shot. This contrast gains the desired reaction from the
audience jumping.
.
Which aspects of the film would you like to include in your own trailer and why?
I was impressed with the use of montage in this film and feel it would be an effective feature to use within my own trailer. As the father is walking down a corridor he sees a moving box and slow editing is used as the audience is forced to follow the box and open up very slowly this drags out tension and making the audience wait. The box finally opens to reveal the son who is having a fit and climbing out of the box backwards, this shock surprises the audience. This is used effectively in Psycho (1960) where the switch from slow to quick to slow montage again such as in the shower scene really grabs the audiences attention. I would also perhaps include slight body horror and this works well with making the audience feel uncomfortable, such as when the children have dead like faces within this film. I would not use an excessive amount of body horror as I feel this would take away from the psychological genre which my trailer would be. I am inclined to replicate the enclosed location such as the house used in Sinister in order to create an isolated and claustrophobic feel typical for the horror genre. One of my favourite techniques to try and use as I feel it would have the most impact is restricted narration. An example of this within the film is the young girl attacking her father with an axe. We do not actually see any contact of the axe with the father but the use of shadows and blood allows the audience to create an image within their mind of what is happening. This is a good way of keeping the violence off screen but giving an implication of it.
Which aspects of
the film would you like to avoid in your own trailer and why?
It would be a
better idea for me to remove the character of the slow moving monster from my
trailer and replace it with a fast moving monster or serial killer as I feel
this is a more modern character type and would receive a better response from the audience. There is a lot of use of hand held camera in this film with the recording of the murders. This is a useful technique is used in small amounts as it puts you in the killers shoes, feeling like you are in their position making you feel quite uncomfortable as it’s a realistic feeling. However overusing it would create a quick, jerky and amateur like trailer which I would like to try and avoid.
What was the best
aspect or more enjoyable moment of the film, why? Can you recreate this in your
own trailer and how?
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