Mama official trailer

mama film review

Film: Mama
 Date of release: February 2013 (UK)
 Director: Andres Muschietti
 Genre: Horror
 What happened in the film?
 Mama is a horror film which is about an uncle who takes control to look after his nieces who were abandoned and forced to grow up alone in a forest alone. They were found 5 years later and later discovered that they weren't alone as how people thought they were. Strange things kept happening and the young girls weren't like stereotypical young girls as they were forced to copy and teach themselves how to grow up. With the youngest girl only being one when she was left alone with her 3 year old sister she had no skills on how to socialise or even walk so it was left to her and her sister to learn these skills.
 What were your favourite scenes in the film and why? I liked the way that there was the recurrence of the moths you see them throughout the film and it gives you that idea of foreshadowing events in which you find out at the end when they disappear and lots of moths appear. Throughout the film the young girl Lily eats moths, which shows a sense of closeness with this creature who she calls 'Mama'. Another scene that I liked from this film was the one where they first enter the log cabin and find the girls for the first time in 5 years and you see all there drawings all over the walls. The creatures in the pictures foreshadow later events such to when they find them in this room and they crawl. The use of collision cutting in this scene is very effective. The low key lighting also works really well because you don't expect to see them in there looking the way that they look.
 What conventions of horror films did the film include? I think this film had a good use of psychological horror interpreted into it because it really makes you feel for the characters and get into their heads. Especially the scene where Annabel finds Lily outside and she brings her in and she is screaming and wriggling. Through persistence, she finds home and warmth within her when she realises that Annabel is not out to hurt her or her sister Victoria. I also liked the way in which the film swaps from scene to scene to disorientate you. You see them go from the young girls being scared of them being at home but then they swap back them into being back into the cabin and being looked after at the creature and it takes you time for you to realise that, that is what is actually going on. It messes with your emotions because it makes you start feeling sorry for them because they know no better than the life they had with 'mama' the creature in which they think is their mother and it makes you feel sorry for the horrible upbringing they have had but when you see Victoria finally find warmth and home with her uncle and Victoria. Annabel is the the stereo typical final girl she has this rough punk rock look about her and throughout the film you see that she wants to give up but you know that isn't the right thing for her to do, so she carries on so despite her being rock chick and you think that stereotypically that she doesn't care you see a side of her which shows that she is soft and has all the best intentions. The male hero who is out to save them and is the only member of the family left who hasn't given up hope is their uncle. He is the stereotypical family man who despite what has gone on he does not give up on the girls even when he see's the state they are in when they get found he still carries on and shows that their is still some hope for them. He is a handsome man and this is what we see predominantly with horror films that the hero is attractive and someone who most people would want to be saved by. The creepy location works really well in this scene and I like the way that they keep going back to it with clips so it doesn't let you forget what life the girls had, the fact its in a dark woods is also something we see a lot in horror films because especially with the use of the low key at night this is not somewhere you would want to be left at night especially not as two young girls on their own.
 What aspects of the film would you like to include in your own trailer? Aspects of this film I would like to interpret into my trailer I would like to use the various settings because I thought that this helped with the narrative because its seen to be that at home and with your family is where you are supposedly safe but this film shows different it shows that you are not safe anywhere. The lighting throughout the settings works really well because you see glimpses on things but you don't know till the end of the film what is going on so you are left hanging till the very end. Another thing that I would like to use in my trailer would be the use of the collision cuts because I feel this is a good way to make people jump from the quiet music to a sudden screech from the children and the creatures. The seen when the two men enter the house and you see the shadows of the girls and the drawings and one man is in the kitchen then all of a sudden one of the girls(Lily) jumps out and screams. I also like the way that they have used children. Although I have never been a fan of horror films that use children, this film works really well because you see the lengths that people would go for family and someone they love. The seen when the uncle is in hospital and although he hasn't been discharged he still goes into the woods because of his visions of his brother in the woods he wants to go back and look for him in case there is any hope that he is still alive.
 What would you like to avoid in your own trailer? Something that I wouldn't like to interpret into my own trailer would be some of the scenes of the film were quiet repetitive although in the end you did see it become a big part of the ending of the film. I liked the way that they kept cutting back to the house but sometimes I felt that if this was left to a little less the narrative may have been a bit clearer although towards the end of the film you did get the idea of the story line but it did take a while to understand. The best aspect of the film is the use of the children when you see them become 'normal' again. The fact that there was a big twist to the film because the ending of the film you expect there to be happy ending but still you are shocked with what actually happens and then again you are proven wrong.When Victoria decided to stay with her uncle and Annabel I thought that there was going to be a transformation to Lily that either she would stay because even after you realise that all 'mama' wanted was her baby and when Annabel gave her baby to her it still wasn't good enough and she still took Lily with her. But Lily unfortunately was not able to adapt to the human life but Victoria could because she already knew a tiny bit of this before taken on by 'mama'. I think this works well for people that watch a lot of horror films and are very clever as this would be one for them that takes them to the very end and still can be shocked.
 How does the film relate to its institutional context? This film represents the institutional context because the film was made in 2013 the fact that family is very important is shown throughout the whole of this film. That when the uncle is ill and in hospital he leaves when he isn't well he still leaves to show them how much the family mean to them. The film represents the use of divorced families and new relationships because although Victoria and the uncle were not married and the children were not their own they were able to take the children on. Also the fact that Annabel is this sassy "punk" and a final girl and she was unsure around children she was able to adapt and she learns to become a mother. Throughout the film you see her maintain her strength even though from scenes you see her want to give up she never does. I think this shows her as a stronger character than her boyfriend and this represents the rise of women's strength in modern day society.

Shutter Island film review

Film Title: Shutter Island Year of Production: 2008 Director: Martin Scorsese Genre/Genres: Thriller and psychological The brief plot outline for the film is that two U.S marshals one being played by Leonardo DiCaprio have to go and investigate a psychiatric facility on Shutter Island. One scene that impressed me most was the scene when Teddy was having dreams about his wife the use of flash backs and the repetition of the fire works really well, I like how this scene really drags you in and feel emotion as you see his wife burns. This scene uses pathetic fallacy as well to help set the tone the storm and the pouring rain makes you feel his pain as she burns away. The other scene that really impressed me was the scene with the twist. It’s one of those films that you either get the twist or you don’t and for this film I didn’t pick up the twist. It’s managed to keep me pulled in for the whole duration of the film and I really didn’t expect that to be the ending. The fact that it had all been in Teddy’s head really made me think that he was there investigating. Although I didn’t guess the twist I like the way they used it the whole way through and things actually foreshadowed this event such as the fire in the cave and the different characters playing Rachel (his wife). This helped me to understand the good ways in which psychological horror can work. This film really got into your head and made you believe that he was there investigating when you realise that this isn’t the story. The collision cuts were used very well especially in the scene when they are in ward c. They were not even supposed to enter so you expect something to happen but because of the silence the whole time in there you don’t expect it to happen. It goes from silence to Teddy being jumped on and the shouting. The film is left just after you find out the big twist so they have left it as an open ending this makes your mind carry on thinking and you don’t really know how to feel. The film left me feeling quite confused but once I thought about it, it was actually a really clever way to end the film. The big theme of loneliness is played throughout from Rachel in the cave, and the Rachel that goes missing. Also when interviewing all of the characters about the disappearance they explain the isolation of just being locked up in the cells and not being allowed out. This is also emphasised through the use of the storm and the electricity going down because all the characters want freedom and want to get out so they use this as time to escape. The aspects of the film that I feel I would like to include in my own trailer would be the good use of pathetic fallacy. I think because you see the stormy see and the torrential rain it creates tone and mood because it creates the feeling of moodiness and tension. Because the tension is building up in the sky it foreshadows the ending of the film. The setting works really well because entering a place like that is always going to leave you feeling uptight and out of place so you expect it and it really gives of that sense of isolation through it being an island and the large grey buildings and large electronic fences just make you think of being a prisoner and being trapped. I think the aspects of the film that I wouldn’t like to include in my own trailer would be the way that if you understand the hint and you guess the twist then the film is giving too much away. I think they have done the twist quite well but there are some people out there that have guessed the twist and therefore have found that it has ruined the film. Maybe they could have made it less obvious and a bit more subtle so that then the twist was more of a shock to people. I really liked the scene where they entered ward c. I think this scene really worked well to add suspense because at the start of the film they said about them not being able to go into ward c without permission and you see them enter this scary building where everyone has guns and there are plenty of people on guard. I just think this sets the mood of the scene because the silence in the background creates tension and adds jump scares. I think I could use this in my own trailer if I was to use the correct setting and the correct location I feel I would be able to achieve the same feeling of being scared for people who watch.

Favourite image analysis

The black swan:
I like this image from the black swan. I think this image connotes the good and bad in people. The bad is connoted through the use of the black swan in the front with full focus on her. The good is shown though the white swans who are out of focus in the back. The white is a connotation of purity and innocence which is why it is out of focus which could mean that the purity has been lost. The use of a medium shot here works really well because you see the good and the bad swans. From the film you also see that not all the white swans are as innocent as you would think.

Dawn of The Dead(1978) image analysis

The theme of this film is consumerism and we can see from this that the zombies are in a shopping mall. This is because they come to the place they love the most. They give off the feeling of being trapped and feeling quite lonely because one by one they are dying. The mall becomes a prison. This is expressed when Fran says: “Can’t you see this is a prison” and the survivors are stuck in what they have made their bedroom because the rest of the shopping mall becomes overrun by zombies. This reflects the historical context of 1970’s because shopping malls were only starting to open during this period and Romero was trying to reflect on how much he doesn’t like them. The zombies themselves aren’t actually scary they are slow moving, ineffective and quite confused with what is going on. They become rather likeable because they are just so unaware to what is going on around them. Like the zombie that’s in the water he really has no clue what’s going on around him and everyone laughs at him. This made me feel quite sorry for him. This scene uses contrapuntal music- this goes against the mood of the scene. Cheesy “musak” which gets played around the mall gives the scene both eeriness and a black comedy. The camera angle is an expressionist high angle; looking down on the zombies this shows that the humans are better than the zombies and gives off the impression of who will be the survivors and that they are going to be able to beat the zombies.

Dawn of The Dead(1978) image analysis

This is the scene of the two survivors, Fran and Peter. The scene implies they could be a possible interracial relationship going on although this is something we don’t know yet. This scene leaves us with an open ending so it is up to us to decide how we would like it to end The image shows a close up of Fran looking quite disheartened. She throughout the film was relatively weak and yet she still managed to survive. In the end, she is the “final girl” who again shows Romero going against the conventions of a typical horror film because the blonde woman is normally seen as the victim. She is an example of an early feminist; she is tough and really goes well against the context. Throughout the film she becomes tougher and learns how to use a gun and shoot. Again this is another phallic symbol. She also proves that she is stronger than other people think and she is willing to be tough because she demands to learn how to fly the helicopter and she also refuses to be the “den mother” and cook and clean for the men. This shows that she doesn’t want to be the woman of the house. In the background of this shot is Peter. At the time this film was set the idea of a black hero was really shocking in parts of America, and people found it quite hard to come to terms with. The blur of him shows that he is the less important out of the two with her people the final girl but actually throughout the film he is probably the most important character and without him they would be dead. We also see this in Night of the Living Dead. Where again Romero uses a black male as the hero. He liked to challenge the stereotypes in horror.

Dawn of The Dead (1978) image analysis

This scene shows the uselessness of Stephen/Flyboy. We see here that he obviously is poor at shooting and has to be saved by Roger all the time. This gun is used as a phallic symbol and therefore represents Stephen's respective lack of masculinity. Another scene to link with showing how inept Steven is would be when Peter has to save him from the zombies in the mall on their first run for supplies. In this scene, they use point of view shots and also the angle is slightly slanted upwards. This use of expressionism shows that the characters are good characters and people look up to them. This is mostly based at Roger and we can see from Stephen's face it’s all a bit overwhelming whereas Roger is confident. The auteur of this film is George A. Romero. Romero likes to challenge horror conventions and we see from this scene this is exactly what he is doing. As Stephen is not coming across as the typical main hero because throughout the film we see how useless he is when someone always has to jump in and save him. Roger is small and white while peter is black. Yet they are both clearly better characters than Stephen. Stephen is white and a TV reporter and tall so “should be” a 1970’s hero but due to Romero and his forward thinking ideas he is not.

Psycho image analysis

This is a shot from the shower scene. The low key lighting creates these dark shadows. This can also connote that you can’t see who it really is behind it. This hides the narrative development from us and creates the twist ending, because we don't know whether it was Norman or his mother. The directed light coming in through the back shows that this character is bad. The editing of this scene starts slow. A slow montage like this is to add tension and make the audience panic. Almost as if you don’t know what it going to happen because so much is going on. This then cuts to a fast montage of the attack this is also known as collision cutting from Marion having a nice quiet shower to the loud screams gives off the feeling of panic. Hithcock relied on montage to create suspense and shock as the “auteur” of the film. They use a lot of high angles this could portray that Marion is weak and that something bad is bound to happen. You can also see a lot of close ups this is used to show Marion's upset and sadness. A close up of her mouth shows her screaming which is the use of diegetic sound, but Norman remains eerily silent.

Psycho image analysis

This is the opening title scene from PSYCHO. It is the scene in which it introduces the film. The small, pure white text on a black screen shows that there is more bad then good. The text is also distorted which gives of the fact it’s all in your head, which works well being that it is a psychological horror. The text also represents Norman’s split personality and schizophrenia which links to the real life serial killer Ed Gein who this film is based on. Ed Gein was an American murderer and body snatcher. . Ed Gein confessed to killing two women one in 1954 and another in 1957. His crimes were committed around his hometown of Plainfield. The first frame we see just the words PSYCHO which are paused for a while. This then changes into quickly animated montages of the word going distorted. This connotes how quick Norman’s actions change, from being nice to revealing his real (or at least his mother's) true self. The parallel music helps to back up this scene of introducing it as a horror. The instruments that build up the music behind the opening scene are part of the string section this helps to build the tension because the instruments make quite a creepy feeling.

Psycho image analysis

This is the scene when Marion is arriving at Bates motel. They use pathetic fallacy in this scene when it is pouring with rain. This adds to the scene because it shows that the weather is gloomy and it foreshadows that something bad is bound to happen. It’s a long drive down the Bates Motel and if she was going to end up somewhere nice they would have used sunshine. In this case, the weather helps to add suspense. The editing in this scene is a quite slow montage although they cross from Marion to the road several times which helps to add tension because it makes the audience sense that something bad is going to happen. The use of slightly contrapuntal music in this scene goes against what you would expect although the fairly upbeat orchestra confuses us and makes the scene more troubling. Again here the music in the background are instruments from the string section. It gives off that feeling of panic and creepiness.

Dawn of The Dead 2004 image analysis

This is the shot showing how good of a final girl Ana is. She isn’t afraid of killing people, as she is a nurse so she is used to seeing blood and gore and she handles it really well. Point of view shows to show who the good character is and you can see straight where the gun is pointing. Ana is unlike Fran from Dawn of the Dead (1979) who only gets better in time when using a gun. Ana kills Steve, which is a reference to an earlier threat she makes. But she is also killing the stereotypical good looking male “hero” who would survive in an action film. This makes horror films more feminist. The editing in this scene uses a lot more gore and blood, this is because people are getting more used to watching horror films it has enabled them to be able to watch more graphically violent images without being scared. There are a lot more deaths in this Dawn of the Dead (2004) and from this scene we can see there are a good use of headshots. The zombies are more sadistic and they move a lot quicker. The zombies moving quicker this adds more tension and makes people panic, the use of this speed is also used through fast montages. There is a good use of quick shots and collision cutting to add that jumpy feeling you get. Modern audiences demand faster paces zombies and shots because they have adapted so with the censorship allowing them to be able to get that scared feeling when watching a film. Films like The evil dead and 28 days later are films that are similar to this and ones in which people who liked Dawn of The Dead 2004 enjoyed watching.

Dawn of The Dead 2004 image analysis

Monica is everything that you expect from a archetypal horror female; she’s blonde, she smokes, she drinks, and she has sex with Steve. She gets hit with a chainsaw and killed by Glen. For a victim she makes it quite far towards the ending of the film and she gets killed in the last hurdle when they are then escaping to get onto the boat. This scene is one of the goriest out of the film. They had to push the graphic violence further in this film to appeal to modern audiences, although it is an action horror they have managed to get body horror into this well and it works. This close up shot of Ana’s arm shows the pain and the chainsaw going into her arm to show what has actually happen. This happens quite a lot through this film because the other scene with a lot of body horror is the scene where the guts are being ripped out of the body and you see the zombies eating them. This shows how the censorship has relaxed, films like Silent Hill is another film that shows the relaxation of censorship because as it is only rated a 15 it still shows and contains scenes of graphic violence.

Dawn of The Dead 2004 image analysis

This scene is representing freedom, the fact that they are finally getting away from the zombies. The American flag behind her is used quite often behind Ana and Kenneth this is to show patriotism. Ana is the final girl of this film. The American flag is also used in The Hills Have Eyes (2006) to kill an evil mutant when they stab them through the head with it. As “Big Brain” says before he is killed: “You made us what we became when you dropped your bombs” this is the quote before he kills him. Basically this is referring to the context of the film because it is hinting at terrorism. In Dawn of the Dead (2004) Ana goes against the concept of final girl because she is blonde. This is normally what the victim looks like, such as in Wrong Turn. Ana is a nurse so she is capable of dealing with gore and body horror. She is a lot tougher than Fran who was the final girl in Dawn of the dead (1979) and it shows how horror films are modernising. She shows the continuing rise of feminism and she is very compassionate over Frank. She is smart and as a nurse helps everyone and she is the one that figures out about the zombie bites. Parallel music to fit in with the scene because we can see her get very emotional when having to let Michael go away, she feels for him and doesn’t want to leave him there. But she discovered the bites so she knows she needs to leave him. A slow montage used to flick from Michael shows the emotional bond and connection between them and makes the scene quite touching because you feel sorry for them both.

Labels

History of Horror