Trailer Analysis: The Uninvited

The trailer for The Uninvited presents many different codes and conventions in order to signal the genre and sub-genre, of psychological horror.

Firstly, much like in Orphan and Hide and Seek, the audience is presented with a character commencing a ‘fresh start’ within their life. We see Anna speaking to a possible therapist or friend within a hospital environment, and she is talking about how she has “no memory” of the night that she lost her mother in a fire. We then see a birds-eye-view shot of her coming out of hospital doors; this shot helps to show the audience her vulnerability and weakness. They will feel powerful by looking at this shot, as they are physically above her upon her release into the ‘normal’ world; since she has been ill, this is a significant time for her, as she could easily relapse back into her unhealthy mental state. After this, there is another birds-eye-view/overhead establishing shot, which shows a car (that the audience will assume Anna is in) going through a windy road surrounded by a forest. The windy road appears to be on the edge of a cliff, and below it is water, whilst the trees are tall, green and leafy, and the weather appears to be hot and sunny. This could be said to signify the optimism that this fresh start will bring (much like the opposite of the forest featured at the beginning of the Hide and Seek trailer), therefore, overall, the trailer starts on a positive note. This works in order to contrast with the ending, which is extremely scary and haunting; if the beginning wasn’t so optimistic, the ending of the trailer wouldn’t seem so bleak.

As the trailer goes on, mise-en-scene elements begin to signal the horrificness of the narrative in the film. It could be argued that the conventions within the trailer link somewhat to the slasher sub-genre, even though the film is psychological horror; Anna’s father’s new girlfriend, Rachael, is portrayed as the antagonist within the film. She is often shown baring a lot of skin, and we even see her having an intimate moment with Anna’s father and so, is seen as a sex symbol in the trailer. Even though, typically, the sex symbol is the victim rather than the antagonist in slashers, this link can still be made, as Rachel isn’t actually the antagonist in the film itself. Throughout the trailer, we see Anna only wearing very light colours, representing her innocence and youth – when swimming, she wears a bathing suit, as opposed to a bikini; since a bathing suit is more associated with children, whilst adult women tend to wear bikini’s, and so her child-like innocence is maintained. The only time we see her wearing dark colours is at 0:45, when she is at a funeral, however, even then, her dress contains stiching with light coloured thread.