NC Analysis of 'Amityville Horror'

Genre

• The film is definately of the 'horror' genre.
• The audiences generic expectations are matched, in horror you expect murder and people in fright for their lives and this is exactly what the opening sequence shows. Also horror films are dark moody and 'Amityville' definately portrays dark and moody with it being night time and also the thunder and lightning.

Film Language

• Misc-en-scene doesn't play a very important role because the sequence is very dark, however the misc-en-scene does help with iconigraphy, for example the shotgun, pyjamas, closets and broken tv's.
• The sound is mainly diagetic, with thunder and lightning and the shot of a shotgun but these sounds have been amplified so the only thing you can hear is the thunder and then the shots fired, the sound anchors the image for example when you hear a shotgun fire you know the man has killed someone.
• The man says nothing except murmuring once and the little girl screams, the man standing over the little girl reinforces his power because the little girl is curled and screaming.
• The director fades to black and fades out quickly very often in the sequence, this is too emphasise the lightning and darkness more vividly and also to set the mood for the sequence.

Narrative

• The narrative is linear using continuity editing, no flashbacks or flashfowards in the sequence, the man gets uo and then goes around killing the other people in the house.
• The audience are positioned with the man but oppose him for his atrocities.
• The man is identified with the gun symbolising his control and power, the audience is positioned with him but are stangely alienated from him because of his actions
• Tension is created when he picks up and cocks the shotgun and maintained by the sound of the thunder and flashes of the lightning.
• The major themes in the narrative are murder and a strange sense of power and darkness.

Representation

• The representations in sequence are white American families and people with mental health issues.
• The framework is constructed by semiotics, denotational scenes/images consist of the man's picture of him graduating connotating that he was once a successful person with prospects.

Media Audiences

• The target audience for this film is for people who enjoy psychological and gruesome horror films, the age range would probably be 15-50 year olds.
• The audience reading of the film would be that a 'psycho killer' kills his family and that there is something deeper to the storyline because it seemed he was in some way possessed.
• As a British teenager I find the opening sequence as shocking as it shows a man killing people with a shotgun horrificly, worst of all the young girl. This is because this is something that is certainly not in my everyday life and something that will never effect my life whatsoever, this is why the film is intriguing to me.

Institutional Context

• The film has know bankable stars, not even very many known stars, Ryan Reynolds is one of the few but the again not too well known. The fact that the film has no 'major' names is good because that means the film is more focused upon the storyline rather than who's in it.
• The film was co-produced by 'Radar Pictures' and 'Platinum Dunes'. 'Radar Pictures' are an independent company and 'Platinum Dunes' specialise in horror films.
• The institutional context isn't clear and dry in the sequence although you can tell that the film has a decent budget by the impressive editing and the misc-en-scene.