Analysis of the Opening Sequence of The Amityville Horror by Sammy Wood,

The Amityville Horror (Douglas, 2005)

The Amityville Horror is a re-make of the 1979 version. It is an exciting horror film that has many typical conventions of a typical horror movie. The expectations of these conventions are fulfilled in the opening sequence because of the tension created in the first few minutes. The shots are short and jumpy which creates tension from the beginning of the film, and it draws the audience in so that they concentrate on the information that is being shown to them. Other conventions of horror films are also shown in the opening sequence of The Amityville Horror, for example, gun shots creates tension and showing the blood from the dead bodies creates a scary atmosphere. The text also conforms to the characteristics of horror because the opening sequence is based in a creepy house in the middle of nowhere meaning that if somebody was to need help, there is no one around so the person would not get help, which makes the situation scarier. The use of thunder and lightning in the opening sequence creates a scary atmosphere because of the lack of continuously being able to see what is going on in the house, and only being able to see flashes of the scene at certain times.

Mise-en-scene conveys meaning in the sequence because of the use of props, characters, costumes, locations and lighting. A prop that is used in The Amityville Horror which conveys meaning is the Large House in the middle of nowhere, this creates a feeling that if somebody was in trouble at the house nobody would know about it and it creates a feeling of isolation. Another prop that is used is the book which says on the front of it “Evil is proof of God.” This suggests that he has become possessed from it, which is a general convention of horror films. The graduation photos also make the situation even worse because it shows that he is an intelligent person but doing a really bad thing, therefore wasting his life away. A character that is a normal convention of a scary film is a young infant who is vulnerable and innocent; this is shown in The Amityville Horror when using this stock character that gets shot by the possessed man, this makes the situation worse. Also, the creaking sign outside the house is a convention of horror films with haunted houses. Different camera shot sizes are used to convey meaning as well. For example, an extreme close-up is used on his face and eyes to show the reflection of the television in his pupils, this shows that he has been possessed which is a connotation of a horror film. There are also other camera sizes that show the possessed man pulling the trigger, which creates an impact and makes the shot seem more dramatic. There are also a few long shots from when Ronnie is moving from room to room, and this suggests that he doesn’t care anymore. The camera angle also conveys meaning and in The Amityville Horror there is a part where the camera is pedding down to look at the child just before she is about to be shot. This pedding down shows her vulnerability and innocence, because it shows how small she is. The sound in the background also gives meaning. For example, the thunder creates a scary atmosphere, also the sound of the gun being loaded and fired makes you jump, which causes tension in the film. The dialogue of the unknown voice at the beginning saying ‘Catch them, Kill them,’ creates a scary atmosphere straight away because of the disturbing sound of it. Also there are the creaky floorboards and stairs which are conventions of haunted houses. We can learn a lot about characters through dialogue and non-verbal language. We learn a lot about Ronnie in this opening sequence, when he speaks to the little girl, Jodie, he says ‘I love you Jodie,’ this suggests that its not him committing the crime it’s the soul within him that is making him do it. Through non-verbal language, we can see in his eyes that he is scared and isn’t sure what he is doing. The visual techniques that the director uses are the negative effect before he shoots Jodie, this could suggest that because there is contrast between black and white that there is a contrast to his action, because he is not normally like that. Also, Douglas blurs Ronnie’s face at the beginning of the film, this suggests that because you can’t see the screen properly it makes you confused and creates a feeling of unease because you don’t know exactly what is happening. This could show that he has been possessed.

The narrative is structured in a way which is in chronological order. Because it is organised in this way, it shows the audience the consequences for Ronnie’s actions. From this audience view we can get an insight to why Ronnie did what he did. Also we get the privileged view of the situation in the house as it happens. The techniques of identification and alienation are used to find out information about the characters. For example, we identify with the character Ronnie and learn about his reasons for his actions and this allows the audience to make up our own mind on what we think about him. The major themes in the narrative are death and violence; because we see the possessed man killing everyone and another theme is good relationships because he is explaining how he is sorry to the little child. The tension is created and maintained in the opening sequence of The Amityville Horror on many occasions. Tension is created at the beginning of the sequence when there are close-ups on random objects to create an eerie effect. For example, the alarm clock changing, this creates an unsettled atmosphere. Also, the blurred vision of Ronnie suggests that he is possessed and the voice over in the background of this shot saying: “Catch ‘em, Kill, ‘em,” creates tension and is likely to scare the audience. The lightning and thunder also adds to the tension because the lightning allows you not to see everything that goes on, so when you do see flashes of images, I thought that it was quite frightening because your vision of the event is limited.

The social groups represented in this sequence are families and crazy people. The family is represented in a way which shows that they are a close family because of all the family pictures shown in one of the first shots. Also, the shot with Ronnie and Jodie shows that they are very close because Ronnie tells Jodie that he loves her before he kills her, which suggests that he is not deciding his actions for himself. The social group of crazy people is shown through the character Ronnie; this is because he has been possessed by the devil and is committing crazy crimes that are extremely bad. The ideological discourse that is evident is the values of good and evil and this is shown through the characters in the family as good and Ronnie as evil.

The target audience of this film would be late teens and early twenties. I think this because of the fact that it is a certificate 15, therefore it is aimed at older ages than 15 and I think the limit to the age of person to watch the film would be about 25 because I think people older than that age would find the genre not very interesting and wouldn’t necessarily be phased by the horror aspect. Different people have different opinions on certain media texts. The preferred reading of the opening sequence of The Amityville Horror would be that Ronnie will get caught in the end therefore he will get what he deserves. The negotiated reading of the text would be that because of their own values/beliefs, they find the thought of Ronnie being possessed quite disturbing and against what they believe in in their religion. The oppositional reading of the film would be that it wasn’t his fault because he was possessed by the spirit in the house and therefore the blame shouldn’t be on him. My evaluation of the film is that it is quite drastic and extremely violent; I think that this evaluation is influenced by my age because I am more naïve then an older person would be and am therefore more likely to believe the horror and scariness of the movie. Also from a girl’s point of view, I think that girls look more deeply into situations than a boy would, and would therefore find the sequence scarier. Because my family and I have always watched romantic/comedy/action films, I find violence in films very difficult to comprehend.

There isn’t a famous actor that has been used in this opening sequence. This could allow the director to spend more money on other aspects of the film and not waste money on the opening scene that doesn’t need to be spent on because the characters aren’t in the film throughout it. The studios that produced this film are Dimension Films, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, United Artists, Platinum Dunes and Radar Pictures. The budget was $19,000,000. The strategies that were used to market the film were trailers in adverts and in cinemas and posters and advertisements.