Oshin Gurung

Choose a horror trailer and analysis in light of the theories studied.

The trailer of Goodnight Mommy explores Todorov’s narrative theory as, in the beginning of the trailer everything looks equilibrium for example the setting of the scene is quiet, bright, colourful and peaceful. However, as soon as the scene shows two kids entering the house the brightness from the first scene is gone and the darkness is filling inside the house.

Also, there is a slow non-diegetic sound playing in the background which is slowly building up tension while the kids are walking up the stairs to meet their mum. When one of the kid calls his mum and as soon as she turns around the non-diegetic sound which was slow before, is now suddenly fast-paced and there is this anxiety and fear which is creeping up that indicates the equilibrium from the first scene is gone and the moment of disequilibrium is about to being.

Furthermore, after looking at the trailer we get an idea that the mum is the villain in this film, as in the rest of the trailer it shows only the mum acting suspicious and behaving differently as the kids also says “she’s so different”. Also, the fact that the mum’s face is all covered up with bandage makes the film However, at the end of the trailer there is only one boy shown when throughout the trailer it shows two boys.

This creates an enigma because while watching the trailer from the beginning you start to pin point as the mum to be evil one but, that last 2 seconds of the trailer makes you confuse and more interested to find out what actually happens. Not only that in the picture we don’t see the kids’ dad so this creates some mystery for example when the mum was gone who looked after the kids? It is unclear in the trailer and this builds up more tension as to what is the full story. This trailer uses Barthes’s enigma code theory to create an element of mystery and suspense to make the audience more curious and intrigue them to watch the film.

The trailer uses some binary opposition for example near the end when the period of disequilibrium continues on and it is building up tension with jump cut of scenes, there’s a slow non-diegetic sound playing which is a lullaby and this conflict with scene which helps to create more fear. Another example of binary opposition is whenever the mum is shown the visual of the scene is most of the time dark whereas when the kids are shown the setting is always light and this constant creation of conflicts shown in the trailer makes the audience consider that maybe the mum is the evil one.

Also, in most supernatural horror film the ‘ghost’ is always the kid who gets possessed but however by looking at the trailer of Goodnight Mommy when the scene showed of mum being kind of possessed indicates the mum is the villain in this film. As well as, after seeing that scene we as the audience have this sixth sense and we can guess what happens but there is another layer of pleasure to be held when the unexpected happens.