Amityville: The Awakening (2015) Solo Trailer Review

Amityville: The Awakening (2015)

 Mark after viewing: 8/10

What happened in the trailer?

A family with a brain damaged child move into a new house where the children start to see things that aren’t really there. Strange things start to happen to the injured boy but everything that is happening has happen before in that house.

Which positive, clever or interesting aspects do you think you could include in your own trailer? What generic features are fulfilled well?

The trailer starts with calm music and it sets the scene with the story of the ill brother. The inter-titles throughout make it creepier as it states that it is “based on a true story” which will make the audience sympathise with the characters more and put themselves in their shoes. The music follows the shots well such as when the life monitoring machine beeps the image starts to flash. It uses collision cutting to build tension by making the scenes go from slow to quick and from quiet to loud really quickly whenever something bad is happening. The use of quick montage show that not everything is as it seems such as the bugs attacking the doctor and then no bugs being there. This builds suspense and makes it hard for the audience to tell what is real which makes it scarier. The use of the heartbeat builds tension which is important when the boy tells his sister to kill him. It also makes it seem like time is slowing down which builds suspense. The trailer also includes a jump scare near the end which will attract its target audience to this film.

Which aspects of the trailer did you think were unsuccessful, and would put off its target audience? How is it disappointing?

The trailer itself is quite long so it reveals a lot of the plot which might put people off watching it, however it is not boring. The music only builds when something bad is happening making the trailer seem a bit disjointed throughout as it loses the tension. There are a lot of fades at the beginning and throughout they are not always placed in the correct places which splits up the story and loses the tension.