House Of Wax - Trailer Analysis

I analysed the House Of Wax trailer, looking for codes and conventions found within trailers.

The Lost Boys (1987) Analysis

The Lost Boys is a 1987 Comedy-Horror film directed by Joel Schumacher known for other successful 80’s teen films such as St Elmo’s Fire (1985) and Phantom Of The Opera, a commercially successful 2004 Romantic Musical.  The movie is about two brothers and their mother that move to a new town and become aware that it is inhabited by a group of teenaged vampires who belong to a motorbike gang. It stars Kiefer Sutherland and Corey Feldman, famous 80’s teen movie actors. The screen play was written by Janice Fischer, James Jeremias and Jeffrey Boam and the film was produced and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures.

The Lost Boys perpetuates the Bulgarian structuralist linguist Todorov’s work mostly, as it does follow the basic of beginning with an equilibrium, which is disrupted by an event setting off a chain of events, creating disequilibrium. This is then resolved by the denouement and a new equilibrium is settled at the end. However, there are moments in the film that trick the viewers into thinking it is resolved before it really is. An example of this is when it turns out Max is actually the head vampire right at the end. The start of the film, Michael and Sam move into their grandfather’s house with their mother in a new town and go exploring the carnival. This gives time for the audience to identify with and discover the personalities of these characters and be introduced to the motorbike gang who you can tell are going to be a negative influence. The event that sets of the chain of events leading to disequilibrium and the discovery of the gang being vampires is when Michael drinks some of the blood some the chalice, thus turning him into a half vampire without him realising it. The disequilibrium is the knowledge of the gang being vampires and Michael trying to get Star to like him while defeating the vampires and not turning into a full vampire himself. The side story is Sam and his two friends from the comic book store trying to discover if his mother’s new boyfriend is a vampire. The end is resolved with a fight resulting in the death of the gang and Star and Michael becoming human again.

When an audience goes to watch a horror film, there are certain elements they expect to see in order for them to properly identify with it being a horror film. Much of horror films is actually suspense and in order to create this, the film has to create the right atmosphere. The elements of The Lost Boys that perpetuate the genre include camera work, lighting and iconography. However, the setting is very different to the usual horror genre as it is not an isolated setting; it is a large, thriving tourist town. On the other hand, this is combatted by most of the film taking place at night. Technical code such as lighting from unexpected angles, unsettling jumps in editing, and the use of ambient sounds such as footsteps and heartbeats are also made use of in this film and the genre in general to create for the audience.

As Horror dates back to the very early 20th century, there has been plenty of time to create the genre expectations as mentioned before, however these can be very useful for film directors to oppose as well, shocking the audience into a false sense of security, then frightening them suddenly. This can also be used in the narrative structure of films and by contrasting to the usual expectations that the viewers have, such as making Max the head vampire, you can confuse them which creates more disconcertment. The end of the film where it is revealed the granddad knew about the vampires all along adds a humorous edge after all the bloodshed.

Although Splatter films had been present before the 80's, in this decade there was an emergence of 'Slasher movies' which are a different genre as it typically involves a psychopathic murderer who stalks and kills many victims, usually in a very graphic and violent way which a cutting tool that is often a knife or an axe. This decade also became known for its 'B-movie' films that are now considered cult classics including The Lost Boys (1987) which, although doesn’t fit into the Slasher or Splatter genres, is quite gory for 80’s standards. The Lost Boys is an alternative to other 80’s teen movies which the majority of were ‘Brat Pack’ movies like The Breakfast Club and Pretty in Pink.

A Russian theorist named Propp examined hundreds of examples of folk tales to see if they shared any structures and identified 8 characters that were mostly present. They were: the villain(s), the hero, the donor (who provides an object with some magic property), the helper that aids the hero, the princess (the sought after person) who is the reward for the hero and object of the villain’s schemes, her father who rewards the hero, the dispatcher and the false hero. Although horror films obviously differ from folk tales analysed a century ago, many of these character types are still visible in the horror genre, but often slightly tweaked with flaws. The character types obvious in House Of Wax are the hero (Michael), the villains (motorbike gang), the helpers (comic book store boys) and the princess (Star). Another theorist who is important when looking at horror film analysis is Levi-Strauss who looked at narrative structure in terms of binary oppositions. These are sets of contrasting values which show the structure of media texts such as films. The binary oppositions set up in The Lost Boys are good/evil, vampire/human, reality/fiction and morality/immorality.

In conclusion, I find The Lost Boys to be not only a traditional horror film, but also one that clearly belongs to the 80’s because of the actors, soundtrack and production. It adheres to many of the main conventions found in the horror genre such as technical codes, narrative structure and character types. However, the use of comedy and false endings make it more involved and entertaining, and to a modern viewer with an interest in 80’s movies, although it lacks realistic gore or a many truly scary parts, it is a brilliant horror film.

House Of Wax (2005) Analysis

House of Wax, also known as Wax House, Baby is a 2005 horror film directed by Jaume Collet-Serra (known for thrillers such as Orphan in 2009 and Unknown in 2001) about a group of teenagers stranded by a strange wax museum that have to fight for survival to avoid becoming a new wax figure at the hands of the town’s only surviving members. It is loosely based on the 1953 House of Wax, but has been revamped with a different storyline. The film's screenplay was by Chad and Carey Hayes and was distributed and produced by Warner Bro's Entertainment.

‘House of Wax’ perpetuates the Bulgarian structuralist linguist Todorov’s work, as it does follow the basic of beginning with an equilibrium, which is disrupted by an event setting off a chain of events, creating disequilibrium. This is then resolved by the denouement and a new equilibrium is settled at the end. At the start of the film, the 6 teenaged friends head off on a road trip to a football game which is a typical scenario for an American movie. This usual, everyday situation allows time for the movie to explore the characters personalities and for the audience to understand the dynamics of the friend group. The event that sets off a chain of events leading to disequilibrium is when their car is sabotaged and they have to ask the hunter (that turns out to be a third brother) for a lift to the nearby town. Disequilibrium is everything that takes part within the town as the main characters discover that almost everyone in the town is a wax figure leading to the climatic melting of the waxhouse, killing Vincent. After this a new equilibrium is created as the brother and sister will have to live on without their 4 friends, however, this calm at the end of the film is disturbed because of the revelation that the hunter is one of the brothers.

When an audience goes to watch a horror film, there are certain elements they expect to see in order for them to properly identify with it being a horror film. Much of horror films is actually suspense and in order to create this, the film has to create the right atmosphere. The elements of House Of Wax that perpetuate the genre include setting, camera work, lighting and iconography. The film is set in a secluded, rural community which promotes a feeling of isolation especially when the characters discover everyone else in the town is made of wax except the murderers. The town has a past, specifically the boys past in which Bo was abused and turned psychotic by his parents and Vincent was the conjoined twin who ended up with a deformed face which leads to the creation of his wax face, perpetuating the convention of a covered/hidden face and ambiguous identity. The use of underground passages where the brothers turn people into wax and control the town is usual of horror films as basements and underground lairs are supposed to connote our primitive instincts. Technical code such as lighting from unexpected angles, unsettling jumps in editing, the use of ambient sounds such as footsteps and unusual, expressive shots are also made use of in this film and the genre in general to create suspense and shock for the audience. Iconography in the film was the use of very pale skin matched with long dark hair on Vincent to create a ghostly look not dis-similar to The Grudge which audiences would associate with fear.

As Horror dates back to the very early 20^th century, there has been plenty of time to create the genre expectations as mentioned before, however these can be very useful for film directors to oppose as well, shocking the audience into a false sense of security, then frightening them suddenly. This can also be used in the narrative structure of films and by contrasting to the usual expectations that the viewers have, such as allowing the final girls brother to survive as well, you can confuse them which creates more disconcertment. The ambiguous ending of the film where you discover the hunter is actually a third brother creates an unsettling atmosphere and the possibility for a spin off sequel about him.

In terms of House of Wax’s place in the history of horror, gore returned with a vengeance in the 2000’s and the terms 'gore-nography' and other similar terms came into existence to describe the new breed of movies that try to titillate the audience with excessive amounts of gore. This spawned series of movies such as Hostel (2005). House of Wax isn’t quite ‘gore-nography’ as the story line isn’t only focused on violence, however there are many deaths and gory attacks in the film which meet this genre. An example of this is Paris Hiltons death which goes on for many minutes as she is chased in her underwear from the campsite and ends up impaled on a pole.

A Russian theorist named Propp examined hundreds of examples of folk tales to see if they shared any structures and identified 8 characters that were mostly present. They were: the villain(s), the hero, the donor (who provides an object with some magic property), the helper that aids the hero, the princess (the sought after person) who is the reward for the hero and object of the villain’s schemes, her father who rewards the hero, the dispatcher and the false hero. Although horror films obviously differ from folk tales analysed a century ago, many of these character types are still visible in the horror genre, often tweaked such as the idea of the hero. The hero in horror films now tends to be a ‘final girl’ who is often in need of rescuing (the princess) but ultimately defeats the villain. The character types obvious in House Of Wax are the hero, the villains and the dispatcher (who turns out to be a villain himself). Another theorist who is important when looking at horror film analysis is Levi-Strauss who looked at narrative structure in terms of binary oppositions. These are sets of contrasting values which show the structure of media texts such as films. The binary oppositions set up in House Of Wax included good/evil, natural/artificial, life/death and sanity/insanity.

In conclusion, I find House Of Wax to be a traditional horror film as it adheres to the majority of the main conventions found in the genre. It perpetuates the genre in this way as it shares many of the common settings, technical codes, narrative structure and character types found commonly in horror. However, it tries to make the story line more interesting with the addition of slightly unexpected story twists such as two characters surviving instead of just the final girl and the hunter turning out to be one of the brothers.

3 Horror Film Poster Analysis

This movie poster for ‘Let The Right One In’ a Swedish  adaptation of  John Ajvide Lindqvist’s best selling book about a vampire is very typical in it’s colour scheme to other posters of the horror movie genre, which is black, white and red. The simple but bold layout and presentation reflects the cold atmosphere of the movie which is set in winter in Sweden. The poster shows a vague outline of who you assume is the vampire girl pressing up against an icy window as if asking to be let in which ties in with  the movie title and the myth of vampires not being able to enter a place without permission. The presentation of Eli is mixed as she looks underfed and in need of care but the alien-like distortion of her fingers on the glass and the way her you can only see a vague outline of her features (not to mention the smudges of blood on the window) add a predatory side to viewers interpretations of her. The ambiguity of her appearance is common in horror films and posters because not knowing entirely who someone is, and what their motives are, adds to the audiences fear of the character.

 This movie poster for ‘One Missed Call’ also matches the common colour scheme of black, white and red which enforces the dark storyline, also the contrast of these colours make the monsters face stand out more and be very eye catching. The caption ‘What will it sound like when you die?’ gives the audience some foreshadowing as to the movies plot, tying in with the movie title and the use of the mobile as a crucial prop. The monsters face is disturbing because of the unusual mouth shape and the use of a womans mouth as eyes. The open mouths seem to be screaming signifying their death and also inferring that there is a series of killings. The use of  these mouths as eyes to create a distorted image hint at a twisting story line and that things are not as they seem. The face seems fake and like a mask because of the waxy colouring to its skin showing that the killer might not be a living human.

This movie poster for 'Shutter Island' a psychological thriller, again like the other two I've analysed has a colour scheme of black, white and red. The rain and choppy sea that is present surrounding the image of the island used pathetic fallacy to create a dark and troubling atmosphere for the poster. From the caption 'Someone is missing' and the match that the actor is holding give the impression he is searching for whoever is lost on the fortress like island. However, the way that his face is cast in shadow could infer to the audience that he is dangerous or mysterious himself. Also, the use of 'someone' instead of a specific name hints at the plot of the film as he has a identity he's made up to cope with the reality of the situation and maybe that 'someone' is himself. The image of the island looks intimidating and inescapable which is unnerving for the viewer as they realise that the island itself is dangerous.