Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark - Horror Thriller Analysis

I recently went to see the film 'Don't be Afraid of the Dark' which fits into the Horror Thriller genre. The opening was different to what I was expecting, as it went straight into the film without any title sequences. The film is a rated 15 because of the scary themes in the movie, and the fact that they do not want younger children to get scared.

The first thing we saw was a panning shot that went into a library, and then went into a medium shot of a woman. The beginning of the film is set in the olden times, with music that is quite jumpy and suggesting that something is happen. Another sound effect is the bell, which rings as soon as music stops. This denotes that something important is going to happen and sound effects start up, such as creaking on the stairs and sound effects when the character moves around. 

The setting of the old house and the use of candles at the beginning sets the theme and genre of Horror and a thriller. This is because it has low lighting, a spooky, empty house and is like all the other horror films. The fact that the candle is used shows that it was an old film beginning, but was also a different entrance to other 'typical' horror thriller films. 

The first entrance clip then finishes and a title sequence comes on. The writing was white and quite spooky, almost as if its dripping off the page. The music that goes with the title sequence is fast paced, trying to get tension within the audience. 

Seeing this film has helped me understand more about the horror thriller genre. This is because I know what people are expecting, and what kind of things will be expected if we decided to do a horror thriller. I will take this research back to my group so we can look more into this type of genre. 

This is the trailer for the film, 'Don't be Afraid of the Dark'.