Textual Analysis: House at the End of the Street

Textual Analysis: House at the

End of the Street

The trailer opens with the traditional rating certificate. 

                   

After the silence of the certificate, the audience is hit with fast, loud and almost squeaky music indicating that the audience can expect something big to happen. The camera shot used is a mid shot to symbolize 

isolation/no escape, which is further established as she is crouching under what seems to be table.

The camera zooms in to show her reaction; it shows darkness vs. light/ bad vs. good – an everlasting battle between the two in horror. At this point, the audience is still expecting to see what she’s hiding from.

It then jumps to a ‘blackout’ suggesting that the audience won’t see what she’s scared of. The music stops during this point as she whispers “oh my god.”

She breaks the glass with a hammer, perhaps reflecting that everything has become fragile. She shields her eyes for protection but there’s only so much that will do. Diegetic sound of the glass breaking, the music enters in the form of a heartbeat which could be mirroring how out of breath/scared she is.

  

Mid shot shows that she’s close to escaping whatever she’s running from, however, as the scene transitions from the car to another blackout, there is diegetic sound  of the door slamming which is used to suggest that she’s locked in/there’s no way out.

A big close up is used to show the worry/confusion on her face. There’s a sense of moral panic as the scene progresses – will she/won’t she escape. The audience here would sympathise with the character as they would want her to escape for her own safety.

The close up of the chloroform is accompanied by a ‘static’ sound which slowly fades out as she reads the bottle. Chloroform is used to render someone unconscious, which foreshadows upcoming events.

As the ‘static’ sound stops and the audience are reeled into false certainty – they believe that she’s somewhat safe at this point. But then there’s a ‘monster’ like scream (which is strange because there are no supernatural monsters in the movie).

It then cuts to the production logos, leaving the audience to question the character’s fate. It signifies that the first movement of the trailer is over. 

The producers have used the production logos to signify the fact that the trailer is done backwards. All of the events that happen are edited in non-chronological order which seem to reflect the idea that there’s disruption and disorder.

The trailer is heavily filled with intertitles, these were replaced by the traditional voiceover.  It’s also important to note that the wallpaper of the intertitles sometimes changes from well kept to damaged – perhaps symbolizing the story of how the girl’s life changed. At this point, the music goes back to a heartbeat rhythm.

The extreme close up clock is going anti-clockwise symbolizing the fact that the trailer is backwards. It also suggests that time is running out for them – she’s soon going to be exploited by him. Also, the clock ticks at the same time as the music; there’s rhythm which would suggest that the characters and audience know what to expect but that’s not the case.

Though a simple mid shot is used, the carpet lifts up as there is a key change in the music. The sound almost sounds like someone breaking out of chains, which may be what the girl is doing metaphorically. 

There is a slight squeak as the girl opens the basement door, showing that perhaps it’s been a long time since she’s opened in. Also, the girl is wearing a white dress which represents the innocence of her and purity – while her brother blamed her for killing their parents, it was actually him and in that sense, the girl has always been innocent, he just exploited that.

The close up of the knife foreshadows upcoming events; she tries to use the knife for protection. As it progresses to the next scene, there is a sound bridge when she says “what are you doing?” However, it’s another blackout so the audience can’t tell what’s happening again (this is probably to build cliff hangers so the audience ends up watching the movie). 

This long shot is effective as it depicts her struggle to escape; she’s tied to the chair and, presumably, the door is also locked. While the room suggests normality, it’s what’s happened to her that is disturbing. In order to get where she is, she was probably drugged with chloroform.

The mid close up of the girl shows disruption because she appears to be crawling after the other female character. Also, the cuts on her arm are a contrast to her pure white dress. 

There is a montage of ‘attacks’ which change as the beat of the music changes. As it happens at a quick pace, the audience is left questioning why the attacks are happening and how they happened.

The high angle mid shot shows the character trying to escape once more. However, this time we see a policeman in the background who appears to be injured. In a sense it depicts the traditional role of men in horror – they’re supposed to save the damsel in distress but now we see the ‘damsel’ saving herself because he failed to fulfil the role. She’s looking up helplessly.

The sound used is of her screaming for this scene. The ground-level mid shot cuts out the who/what is dragging her which again causes the audience to question what’s happening. The use of the blur during the shot of her legs is done from the point of view of the antagonist; the blur may also be representing the fact that she’s about to get drugged with chloroform. 

The shot of the mum ringing the bell is used after it was answered which again demonstrates the fact that the trailer tells the story backwards.

The close up of her lying unconscious on the floor is followed by more words said backwards which then shows that the scene is rewinded – he’s reflecting on what he done to her.

The ‘fish-eye’ effect is used when she’s looking through the peephole to find a mysterious figure walking past her door, uncomfortably close. The concept of looking through some sort of hole is a common horror movie convention.

The characters are walking backwards again to show the trailer is reversed (they clearly do that a lot, which is not a traditional convention of a horror movie trailer). Also, the blondes are usually the victims in horror movies and they have stuck to this convention. 

Everyone knows that once you make out/have sex in horror movies, you immediately become the victim because there is no longer a sense of purity and innocence. At this point, he says “I want you to leave her alone, you understand me?” which represents him as a caring guy who’s willing to keep evil away from her, 

but little does she know that he’s the one that she should be staying away from.

It isn’t a conventional trailer because it started with disruption and ended with normality. The establishing shots seem to suggest a middle class rural area, which is vibrant compared to the rest of the movie and there’s a sense of community and peace. However, the music is contradictory as its off-key, suggesting that something is out of place and will go terribly wrong.

The mid shot of the antagonist comes up after “what exactly happened here?” and it then goes on to tell the brief story of the girl. The fact that the trailer is set out this way implies that one of the characters is stuck in the past. 

The slight dissolve from the trees to the “house at the end of the street” indicates the idea of being trapped, isolation and no escape.

 The non-diagetic music seems to be playing backwards, reflecting the idea of them looking back on how the “double-murders” happened. The big close up of the eye shows the fact that someone’s always watching and waiting for the next victim.

The ‘under-the-bed’ long shot is effective because the audience is ‘blinded’ and they are unaware of what is happening – the fact that it shows the girl running viciously through the door is contradictory of her innocent/pure dress. However, it’s unclear if she’s the one climbing out of the bed due to the shadow effect of their legs. The fact that it seems as if there are pillow feathers on the floor may symbolize her ‘tearing’ up and ruining her purity – her innocence lies on the floor of her parents’ bedroom. 

The close up of her face at the end of the trailer suggests that the audience can safely assume that the movie 

will be focused on her – she’s the antagonist. 

The mother says “I think this place is going to be really good for us” but the whole trailer proved that she could not be more wrong. The close ups of their faces seems to indicate a closeness and a bond between the mother and daughter.

As the trailer progresses, the wallpaper of the intertitles goes from damaged to brand new – the fact that it says “where it all began” on the one that is the least damaged implies that the past was a lot simpler and more peaceful than the present is.