Horror Opening- Close Analysis

Action:
Horror tends to introduce the setting of where the film will take place to set the
scene, or even show certain events which are key to the plot, an example of this is
Alien 3 which showed the main character as well as the main villain (the aliens) in
space. In this opening scene the setting was established as well as the plot.
Although, in some cases the main character are introduced, and their normality in
the way their lives are shown contrast the danger the antagonist may face later on.

Above are some stills

from the opening few minutes of horror films such as: Psycho, Insidious, Dawn of
the Dead, Alien 3 and the Omen. In Psycho the text seem to be constantly cut
with slices of lines which can represent the stabbing within the film, the lines are
short and sharp and slice the text in coordination which gives information about the
theme of the film as well as building tension to the audience, the audience can
clearly establish the genre of the film due to its fast pace motion. A similar opening
to this is Dawn of the Dead which in a similar way to the psycho opening, the text
seems to spread away, but in this case like a virus This instantly provides the
audience a small bit of information about what the film is about . However, Dawn of
the Dead is fairly different to the opening of psycho, as it includes a variety of

snippets within the opening which conveys to the audience small information of the
plot as well as the evil forces in this film. The opening within the snippets of images
also contains dialogue of questions being asked in a conference, which mirror the
questions the audience might have about the films plot, it is established quickly that
there seems to be a crisis as the snippets of images and clips contain carnage such
as riots and the death of people from zombies. The images were never clear and
often had cracks and stains of blood around them to show the violence within the
film. The clips are changed quickly which gives the audience a sense of tension as
they may not know what will pop up next.
In Insidious the setting and main characters are established, the opening action
consists of different clips of the house, although the transition within the clips are
slow and imposing unlike Dawn of the Dead which had many fast clips and images.
The images were also in black and white which instantly gives the audience a
sinister sense, as well as this; the images would slowly zoom in slowly to build
tension to the audience as they may be preparing themselves to expect something.
The opening of delivering the film of its genre (supernatural) is slightly established,
as the black and white images may have a ghostly feel on the audience. A typical
convention of horror openings typically establish an isolated abandoned or small
community to show the audience that there may be no escape which builds anxiety.
In addition the fact its slow and imposing generates a ghostlike eerie atmosphere
and gives a sinister perception of the house. Inside the house there are many
furniture and home belongings which give information about the main characters
and at the end the black and white filter fades and the sinister perception of the
house are gone however the audience will still know its there.
Unlike Insidious and psycho, Alien 3s opening begins with action which
introduces the villain and a main character, this opening shows a important event
which effects the whole plot of the movie. As always the setting is established, and
the background is space, this immediately indicates to the audience that it is a sci-fi
horror film as it also includes futuristic space crafts. Within the space craft there are
people sleeping within this glass chamber, this may intrigue the audience as they
may want to know the reason behind this. The villain (an alien) hand is shown
reaching over the woman, although the aliens features are not fully revealed, this
leaves the audience confused and hooked on what might take place. The
overreaching hand of the alien conjures a menacing atmosphere to the audience;
this instantly indicates to the audience that the alien is a menacing figure. The glass
chamber shortly afterwards gets knocked down back to what seems to be Earth
leaving the audience wondering if the woman survived and is the alien within the
craft too.
The Omen opening action is simple but effective, as shown in the still above most of
the background is in black, however, at the top right there is a pale red light and
within it is a silhouette of a young child and its a shadow a upside down cross.
The colors within this connote a sinister message to the audience, as black

represents the unknown darkness and the red can connote blood and danger. The
iconography of the image of the child and the upside-down can represent the
corruption of innocence, as the shadow is only a child, additionally the upside down
cross is a symbol of the devil and it relates to the Christian religion. Many people
may be shaken from this because it may be what they believe in as it is a religious
symbol.

Print styles:
Psycho texts consists of block letters in capitals which makes it standout,
furthermore the credits appear to be distorted as they are constantly sliced up and
rearrange, this could represent the killers unknown identity or even represent the
distorted mind of the killer. With Insidious much like Psycho, the text is all in capitals
and in a red color, it is highly conventional for horror titles to include the color red
as it connotes danger and bloodshed. The words appear and disappear like smoke
which the audience can establish that the genre will be linked to the supernatural as
it seems almost ghostlike, similarly Dawn of the Dead fonts are also in red but the
Font looks more modern and seems to spread away like a virus which the audience
can establish its a zombie film.
Alien 3 fonts are all in bold white capitals, the letters are all spaced apart which
makes it stand out but also carries a message of the distance between space. This
ties with the genre as it is an alien Horror movie. The font almost seems futuristic;
the audience from this can establish that the film is sci-fi as I the font look
computerized. However, unlike the rest, The Omen has a simplistic print style, the
words are in bold, and however not all the cases were capitals.

Music/Sound
The sound of the opening extremely affects the films atmosphere they want
to create. For example, in Psycho the music is tense as it is composed of
stringed instruments with both a high and low pitch. The sound builds
tension as it resembles the sound of a cutting/stabbing motion. The pitches
of the sound create suspense, the two high and low pitch string, sound like a
chase, as it is fast paced. The high pitched almost sounds like screaming and
the low the sound of the stabbing which enables the audience to establish
the genre of this film.
However, with Insidious there is builds up of suspense; as the opening
starts of quiet and slowly starts to increase with volume. Again, similarly to
Psycho, there is a use of stringed instruments which gain in volume. There
is also a high and low pitch sound which sounds like the whaling of ghosts

which suggests its genre. As the tension builds suddenly it drops, then
shockingly the sound comes back again as the red titles appear, this creates
shock to the audience as the music is playing on the anxiety and tension
levels in the atmosphere; the instruments then change into a traditional
piano sound which resonances the eerie nature of the film.
Furthermore, interestingly, The walking Dead, opening uses a old country
western music track which at first doesnt seem to conform with the violence
of the film, however the lyrics do which creates a twisted view of the sound
and film- not everything is as it seems. Furthermore, there are other
background sounds of screaming where the audience can quickly establish
that the film contains violence and death. There are also voice overs of
people that seem to be afraid speaking; this contributes to the tense
atmosphere as there are also sounds of mayhem and explosion. Whilst Alien
3 also builds tension, the background music also sounds like a orchestra
which increases with volume, increasing the tension.
In the opening, The Omen background music sounds like opera, or Catholic
Church hums. This sounds very sinister but also allows the audience to relate
to the religious context of the movie which then also makes it more
frightening to people who believe in God.