Monday Trailer: Coven

For my first Monday Trailer post in quite some time I have something a little different; the 6th teaser trailer for the third season of American Horror Story, Coven.

American Horror Story: Coven

Monday Trailer: The Conjuring

I had a trailer post for today planned out and ready to write up when, about an hour ago, one of my housemates asked me if I had seen the trailer for a new film called The Conjuring. As soon as I began loading it I realised that I'd heard of it before, as the follow up film from the makers of Insidious.

The Conjuring

The film focuses on a family of seven who, after suspecting they are not alone in their home, call in renowned ghost hunters Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga) to seek out and destroy the evil that is terrorising them. Unlike both of the trailers that I have posted about so far this one is entirely focused on narrative, to the point that it plays out almost as a stand-alone sequence taken from the film. With Insidious and his earlier film Dead Silence, director James Wan displayed a great prowess within the horror genre and, in particular, an adeptness at crafting clever and suspenseful scares, and that is brought in full force within this trailer. 

The premise of the trailer focuses on two sequences which feature the mother of the family (Lili Taylor) playing hide and seek with her children and investigating a noise from the basement. Both feature slow pacing and a reliance on extremely creepy jump scares that, rather than being predictable, build up and surprise. The trailer also features two brilliant uses of contrapuntal music, the first being the jovial song that opens the trailer and evokes a more family-friendly film, and the second being the old familiar eery music box tune that has become a stable of the genre. 

I find it interesting that the trailer has avoided divulging any of the ghost hunter storyline and also fails to acknowledge it's two biggest stars in Wilson and Farmiga. I'm sure that this trailer is being used to preview the style of the film and to set a tone for what is to come in the finished product. I think that its extremely effective and it has definitely gained my immediate interest in this film. The Conjuring is released on July 19th.

Tuesday Trailer: Evil Dead

Yesterday was rather hectic with an assignment due, a lack of sleep and a Tomb Raider marathon to complete the story mode. So this weeks trailer post got delayed till today. I know it's not a great start to what will hopefully become a recurring post, but it did result in a nice bit of alliteration for the posts title.

EVIL DEAD
*Warning: Red Band Trailer contains extreme gore and violence*

The reason I chose the newest Red Band trailer for Evil Dead for this week is simply that it got me so insanely hyped up for this film that I felt I needed to acknowledge and praise it in some manner. I saw the original in several parts when I was younger, and had what I later realised was a re-watch of the sequel quite recently. Neither of them gave me as much satisfaction as the immense fan-base these films have seems to suggest they should have, but I can see exactly what is so appealing about Sam Raimi's films. My first exposure to this reboot//remake//re-imagining//re-whatever was through the first poster to be released (pictured above, left), which I absolutely loved. Trailers soon followed and the more footage I see from this film the more interest it generates within me. 

Firstly I think the fact that this film is clearly benefitting from high production values helps, especially as I'm sure the badly aged effects of the originals factored into my lack enamour with them. I'm also extremely impressed that the film is made up completely of practical effects, something that is extremely encouraging as we live in an age where the overuse of CGI seems integral to most horror films (Mama, I'm looking at you). Most surprisingly, although the cast is nothing too spectacular, what I've seen in these trailers from Jane Levy has really impressed me. This gore-heavy sub-genre of the horror film isn't exactly known for standout performances but she really does seem to be giving her all in this role and I'm excited to see how she carries the full film. 

My favourite aspect of the trailer by far is the fact that rather than using any form of music, the soundtrack is entirely made up of sound effects. The way this is used is brilliant and I love the rhythm that they've created using these effects in conjunction with sounds from the film, like screaming, chainsaw buzzing and Levy's extremely creepy 'Cut" sound bite. Like last week's trailer, Stoker, this one doesn't really divulge a lot of plot and instead focuses on the striking and terrifying visuals, the extreme gore and Levy's central performance. That it seems this trailer is being used to display the gore of the film shows that the studio knows who it's targeting and that this film will draw people in just by promising to be the most f*cked up thing you'll see all year.

 It seems that if theres any kind of body horror that gets under your skin this film is going to feature it. Mine would be the sequence in which someone seems to be pulling something from out of their eyelid, but this trailer is clearly being used to display the vast range of sickening scenarios they've  manage to pack into the film. Perhaps the most exciting aspect of this trailer is that it is showing just how well made this film seems to be. This kind of horror film rarely features any form of impressive cinematic techniques, while the Saw and Hostel franchises toyed with interesting cinematography as soon as the gore became the focus the scenes got too messy for anything truly creative. However just within this trailer there seems to be an abundance of incredibly well composed shots which makes me hopeful that there will be some visual substance to the film outside of it's impressive effects.

I'm really hopeful for this film and cannot wait to see if it'll meet my expectations. It's the directorial feature debut of Fede Alvarez and opens in the UK on April 19th, and I'll be sure to review it on here as soon as I've seen it. 

Are you looking forward to Evil Dead? Let me know your opinions on the trailer and if you have any suggestions for others I could look at. 

Monday Trailer: Stoker

In my first year of Film Studies at University, one of our pieces of coursework was to create a presentation analysing any film trailer of our choice. We had to look at the use of sound, image, editing etc., and how these were presented and for what purpose. I was recently thinking back to this project and felt that doing something similar for you guys on a weekly basis would be a really good way for me to once again create a blog post that is regular and film related, and also encourage me to keep on top of recently released trailers. Obviously these post will be a lot more causal than that presentation, and with so many great trailers being released all the time, I'm sure this will be something I'll enjoy doing every Monday.

So here is my first:

Stoker

 

Throughout it's marketing campaign I've seen three different trailers for Stoker. The other two (also great, here and here) are probably more useful in regards to giving an insight into the plot of the film, but my mind works on a far more aesthetic level and this trailer sent me into sensory overload. Firstly, the trailer seems to have been put together with the sole incentive of putting images into the viewer's head that are going to stick. By using rapid jump-cut editing we get the multiple shots from the same sequence disjointedly cut together which, by either slowing down or speeding up the scenes, draw's your attention entirely to the imagery. It's no accident that this trailer is made up predominantly of striking images and features minimal amounts of dialogue, the focus here is entirely on the look of the film and how these disturbing events have been captured through beautiful cinematography.

The sound editing is equally as effective. I'm not sure if this is a sample from Clint Mansell's soundtrack for the film (fingers crossed) or just an appropriate track the editors dug out, but it works wonders for the trailer. Matching the cuts in the visuals to the music only emphasises the impact that has already been created visually. The way the audio track slows down towards the end of the trailer is also fantastic, easing us out of the sinister world we are being presented with. What little dialogue that has been chosen clarifies the sinister nature of the plot and the importance of family within it and by not delving into any dialogue heavy scenes the trailer keeps our attention with quick bursts of information. It also manages to display all of Matthew Goode's creepiness in one single three-word line, 'to be friends'.

I've been repeatedly impressed by the marketing for this film, and everything I've seen has only made me want to see the film more. I recently saw this trailer in the cinema with a friend, her immediate response was 'I don't have a clue what that is about, but I want to see it', so I guess it's working. If you would like to know what it's about, Stoker follows India (Mia Wasikowska) and her infatuation with her charming, but mysterious, Uncle Charlie (Goode) after he comes to live with she and her unstable mother (Nicole Kidman) after the death of her father. It is the American feature debut of Oldboy director Chan-wook Park and I think it looks incredible! I'm extremely excited to see this one.

I'd also like to just acknowledge the posters for the film, which have all been fantastic. I love that they've implemented green as the focal colour as it is so underused in film posters (unless you're a hero with green in your name, a wicked witch or grew out of a garden rather then being born). The use of it and particular shade for this series of posters is great. While I was in London last week I saw the left-hand poster all over the tube stations and every time I was completely captivated by it. Gorgeous work!