Analysis of horror trailer: Hostel

Analysis of Hostel trailer

Hostel is a film within the horror genre, falling under the recently named “toture porn” sub genre. This is due to the amount of gory imagery within the film, including blood and graphic violence. It was written, produced and directed by Eli Roth and released in 2005.
The trailer starts with an establishing shot of an old, disused building which, due to the use of natural lighting, seems very eerie. The slow fade to black between the next clip, and all clips thereafter, creates a sense of the unknown as the audience is temporarily given just sound, with no images and this causes the audience to feel uneasy as they do not know what the next clip will be. The next images, of what appears to be a sewer and blood running into a drain, are very dark and have no light focused on them, making the colours seem grim and dull. This shows the audience this is a film likely to be within the horror genre.
The non-diajetic sound accompanying these clips is very slow and daunting, creating a feeling of tension within the audience as it is certainly not cheerful, and it matches the mood of the trailer – the soundtrack is contrapuntal. The dripping of water is also a sound that is iconic to the horror genre, so the audience is under no illusion to what type of film this trailer is for.
The text overlaying the images is a bright orange, and it appears to be burning metal, the type one may use to brand something. This gives a hint as to what the movie is about, as branding can be used as some kind of torture device. The text is compiled of short, dramatic statements, such as “sickest fantasies” and “or kill” which will install feelings of fear within the audience as these statements are short and will stick in the audiences’ minds. When they appear into the trailer, they are accompanied by a sound which is alike to that of blades being sharpened, and this again is a sound typical of the horror genre, as it is associated with weapons and violence, or in this case torture.
Other clips within the trailer install fear in different ways. The image of a man being released from the constraints of a sack on his head affects the audience as he is obviously in pain and upset, and it is made clear he is a victim by the distraught facial expression on his face. This is done to make the audience feel sorry for him, as horror films always contain a victim that the audience can relate their feelings of fear to. The high angle of the tools makes the audience fearful through restricted narrative, as the image is on for around a second and then fades to black, which causes the audience to think what these tools could be used for, and causes them to think of them no more as simple tools but as weapons capable of torture. Another use of restricted narrative is the image of the toe in the pliers, as the audience most likely thinks that they will see the pliers closing on the toe, but the images fades to black. Instead, the audience is given a clamping sound followed by a female high pitched scream. This is a diajectic sound so it must come from someone, but as the audience is left with no image to relate it to, they are forced to use their imaginations to complete the image. Therefore this image, and their feelings related to this image, will stay in their memory. It is devices like this that make the audience remember the trailer and therefore want to watch the film.
The mise en scene within the trailer fits the conventions of this sub genre. There are many characters in leather aprons, holding weapons such as drills and chainsaws. Spotlights and masks are also used, and the whole trailer is shot in a dirty, dark location. This creates feelings of suspense and tension, as the audience are only seeing small snippets of what could potentially be violent scenes.
As the trailer progresses, the speed of the clips increases, to give the audience more clips but less developed, so the clips include screaming, whimpering and disturbing images of people being dragged across floors. These images are sometimes seen in inverted colours, which also makes the audience feel confused and shocked, as they are not expecting to see this. The speed, content and colour of the clips leave the audience exasperated until the final image, which is a black background with “Hostel” glowing in the centre. This sudden halt in the speed of the trailer causes the audience to remember the name of the film, and therefore want to come back to the cinema and watch it.