Sinister Trailer Analysis

Sinister Trailer Analysis

The trailer begins with an establishing shot of a house in the dark. From this we can connote that this is where the majority of the movie will take place, and this is conventional for a horror as big, detached homes are a great setting for horrors, especially those involving paranormal beings and demons. This is because it shows that whoever lives there are on their own, with no help and neighbours close by from that which you would get in an apartment building or attached homes. The trailer shows the house at the start to already give the audience an idea what the movie will be like. One way the movie already subverts horror conventions is that the house is quite a modern and tidy building, whereas usually horror movies would have old, crumbling houses that make it seem dangerous and creepy. As the house is modern, we can connote that the story of the film is in the present and that the problems that they face are not very traditional, but are very different to what you would normally think of horror genres. This shot is played for a couple seconds before an image flashes with a screech sound. The audience can already tell from this that this symbol has a massive role in the story of the movie, and the symbol seems to be written blood on a white, cracking wall, while the symbol itself looks very demonic, indicating to us that something with paranormal/demonic powers will be at work during the movie. After this shot is shown for a split second, the shot of the house returns and so we already know that the house is in imminent danger, and the people living there are to.