Sinister Trailer Analysis

  From the Sinister trailer, much like the Psycho trailer, allows the viewer to get a summary of the plot without spoiling anything major in the storyline. You are introduced to the main characters, the Oswalt family, Ellison, Tracy, Trevor and Ashley (Ethan Hawke, Juliet Rylance, Michael Hall D’Abbario and Clare Foley), who are shown to move into a house 9 months after a murder took place there. From the scenes shown in the trailer, you get a good sense of Todorov’s equilibrium and disequilibrium, where in the equilibrium the Oswalt family have moved into their new house and act the same way as they have so in the past, children are disobedient and the Ellison is trying extremely hard to write a successful book. However, this equilibrium is disrupted when Ellison discovers the films and realises how many people were involved in these deaths. The new equilibrium that is present in all media texts is obviously not shown; this is a trailer and they want to entice the viewer to see the film with promising snippets that give away enough to keep the audience wanting more.

  One of the things that the trailer does well is it gives us an eerie atmosphere, due to the house chosen for the setting. The house is rather alone in the middle of nowhere, and the attic in particular is extremely claustrophobic and dark. The lighting as well is extremely moody and atmospheric, giving the viewer a sense of dread and fear as the lighting is always quite low key. One more thing that stands out in the trailer is the music, which is very subtle at the start, then gradually gets louder. It’s in a minor key, and also sounds very distorted and electrical, like static. When a jump-scare flashes on screen, the music usually becomes incredibly distorted and loud, creating a scratching noise that makes us cringe and jump. These are quite common in a traditional horror film trailer, and when the viewer sees this, they should become very aware what they are viewing and (if they are horror fans) draw their attention.

There are many themes in this trailer, most noticeably a supernatural theme. This theme is very strong throughout the trailer, as you can see throughout it scenes pictures of pagan rituals, demonic symbols and blood on the wall. However, the strongest supernatural theme in the film is the use of the main antagonist, Bughuul (Nicholas King), and the spirits of the dead children he’s captured. We can see this through the makeup first through the makeup of both the children and Bughuul, the children being pale and damp with dark eye sockets and cracking skin, while Bughuul is wearing all black with white and black makeup that almost resembles war paint. Through second observation, we see that he has supernatural powers and is a formidable, intimidating antagonist. We first see his supernatural abilities when Ellison holds the picture of Bughuul up to the window to align the scenery with his back garden. When he removes the photo, Bughuul is standing in the same spot he was standing in the photo, before disappearing again. We see this a second and third time, secondly when the still picture of him on Ellison’s computer begins to turn his head and stare at Ellison, and thirdly when Ellison enters the attic to find the dead children watching the tapes, and Bughuul jumps out of nowhere in front of the camera. Other themes of supernaturalism can be seen when Trevor’s body rises up from the cardboard box and screams at the camera, as well as when one of Ellison’s helpers was describing Bughuul and telling the audience he’s a pagan god who devours children. The use of this supernatural element not only tells us what sub genre of horror movie this is (supernatural, psychological, ect), it also adds a sense of mystery to the trailer and makes the viewer want to find out what type of supernatural being this antagonist is, making them want to watch the film and see the mystery unfold.

When discussing themes, we can also relate back to Claude Levi-Strauss, as his narrative theory on binary opposites relate directly to opposing themes. There are a few opposing themes we can see in this trailer, such as safety and danger, night and day and family and murder/ life and death. With safety and danger and light and dark, they are both heavily linked. The family and Ellison all seem to be very safe during the day time, Ellison can concentrate on his family and work and everything seems to be happy or normal. During the night/ dark, bad things happen, such as Trevor’s body rising from the box, the appearance of the dead children and the timely appearances of Bughuul. With family and murder (or life and death) we see a contrast of the two a lot of the time when watching short snippets of the old film reels. We first see the old family who lived in the house before the Oswalts, and then we see them all hanging themselves/ being murdered immediately after. This huge contrast between the scenes has huge impact on the viewers, who watch the trailer casually, then snap to attention in fear when the scene of the family being hung gets thrown onto the screen in a flash.

All of these uses of contrasting themes can be very effective on the viewers. When watching the trailer, the quick cuts to seemingly safe, suburban life to horror and death create a feeling of constant unease. While watching just the safe suburban lifestyle, it will keep the audience continuously feeling safe no matter how much you try to advertise it to horror fans, while if keeping it constantly on the horror, the viewer may feel like it’s trying to be shoved in their faces too much, or may become desensitised to it. With this montage of scenes, cutting back and forth between safe and unsafe, it keeps the viewer on edge for what may pop out next.