Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2013) Trailer Anlaysis

Name of Film: Texas Chain Massacre

Year Released: 2013

Genre of Trailer: Horror/ Thriller

My Mark after viewing: 6/10

A group of friends go to one of their recently passed grandmother's house only to find that the house possesses a pyscho killer, which results in them fighting for their lives. 

There were many aspects of the trailer that I thought were successful. One of those was the clever use of parallel music at the beginning of the trailer, it set a tone for the trailer, it was country and western linking to the context of the location, also the lyrics stated "the beast in me", linking heavily to the villain. The inter titles were also used very well throughout the trailer they created references to the original films, allowing the audience to be able to relate to this trailer, a film that horror fans would of most likely seen. Grimy feel was also very clear throughout the trailer, making the audience feel uncomfortable due to the dirty and dull state that the mise en scene has. The muffled machinery sounds began to build tension almost acting like a heartbeat that is coming closer and closer, until you come to a piece of action, this worked well with the music that complimented it, it added to the editing and cinematography. There was an open ending to the trailer creating intrigue for the audience, making them want to go to see the film.

On the other hand, I thought as a whole that the trailer lacked flow. It took a long time to get started and it didn’t really go anywhere, you were almost waiting for something to happen and when it did it was too much and lasted too long. It was a poor use of collision cutting because it made the slow and quick editing pretty ineffective. There also was not a lot of narrative, throughout it just seemed like a killer hunting the group of friends down, no twists or turns. The trailer also focuses too much on one girl although she may be the protagonist it still does not include the characters around her enough.

I gave this trailer a 6/10 because I thought it was a good trailer, the mise en scene was done very well, the sound FX and context were also done very tastefully but as a whole the editing let it down, there needed to be better montage as it comes across ineffective to the audience.