Film Trailer Analysis- The Hills Have Eyes

The title of the film is The Hills Have Eyes; the title immediately shows the audience that the genre of the film is horror. The title is shown at the end after a sequence of highlighting that some kind of ‘people’ live in the hills and this is why the film is called ‘The Hills Have Eyes’ as these people are constantly watching. It shows that the film is going to be about these people and the location looks rural and very isolated, connoting separation from society and also the element of danger.

The font is serif and the colour is red/orange against a background which is the typical colours of the horror genre, however there is the shape of the USA and South America behind the title also emphasising the setting but also triggering stereotypes of Deep South USA and also South America in the audiences mind such as: isolated landscapes, lawlessness, extremely heat, lack of police and 'rednecks'. The red/ orange usually symbolises blood but can also be linked with the desert setting in this case and the black connotes evil. The title is shown after a sequence of extreme gore and violence, also the title is supporting the previous sequence shown, followed by a another title in the same font and colour scheme saying ‘The lucky ones die first.’ This is a powerful statement aimed to shock the audience and highlight the extreme horror content in the film. Also it appeals to the audience and is trying to highlight the genre by using a strong and powerful tagline/ slogan people will remember.

The characters established in the film are an extended family who seem to be on a vacation travelling across America. The use of a family immediately triggers stereotypes and immediate identification with the characters. The audience are shown a baby; this makes the events that are going to happen more shocking and horrific to the audience as babies are seen to be extremely vulnerable and weak.  They are not being sold on ‘star’ appeal as the actors and actresses in the film aren’t very well known. We are shown a Mother, Father, a teenage daughter, a teenage son, an older daughter her husband and their baby.

A family makes the audience immediately relate with them and have a connection, they are the stereotypical nice family on holiday. Another character introduced in the trailer is the owner of the gas station in the middle of the desert. We see he is dirty and scruffy with horrible teeth and speaks like a stereotypical ‘redneck’ who we immediately suspect is odd, confirmed in a mid shot showing him give an unusual smile as they drive off.  We cut to a close up of a rack of nails be thrown out in the road by an unseen ‘person’  and the family car and trailer ride over it and crash and the nails are removed by the person who put them there. This adheres to Barthes Proairetic Code and is used to build tension, indicating something else is going to happen, which creates an enigma in the audiences mind as they question ‘who did that? And why?’ It gets the reader guessing as to what will happen next.

The audience is shown characters getting no signal on their mobile phones, immediately signifying that they are in an isolated place where there is no help, creating sudden fear and anticipation. We then see in the next sequence of action, we see witness deformed and mutilated people that live in the ‘hills', they are the miners that lived in the local area when the government tested nuclear weapons, so now are severely physically handicapped. It is shown that these people are watching the family and connotes that they want something from them. These deformed miners are the unique selling point of the film, they firmly establish the horror genre as they look monstrous and are deliberately attacking the family.

The location is essential in this film trailer, as the isolated desert is where the action and gore is going to take place, it highlights to the audience that there is no help and the family are miles and miles away from human civilization. It also highlights how the family are at an unfair disadvantage as the ‘people’ who live in the mines in the hill know the area and can survive here, whereas the family feel lost and desolate. Binary oppositions are highlighted in the trailer; Good vs Evil, Humans vs ‘Monsters’, Weak vs Strong, Light vs Dark and Civilisation  vs Savage.  

Barthes' enigma code is also evident in the trailer, as the reason for the deformed people attacking this innocent family is not shown and creates an enigma in the audiences mind. The use of Barthes Proairetic code is also used as the action events and the gory violence make the audience want to know what will happen to the family.  For example we see someone jump at the window of the trailer while the eldest daughter is looking out; this makes the audience wonder what’s going to happen to her and who/what’s attacking her. Another example of this is when we see a tracking shot behind the teenage son and he suddenly looks back, connoting that someone is behind him and that he is going to be attacked also triggering more enigma’s in the audiences mind.

The beginning of the trailer is in black and white and is showing where the army tested nuclear bombs. The black and white to connotes realism but also establishes what happened in the past, it then changes to colour to show the consequences of the nuclear bombs being tested. It is to also show the back story behind the film to establish meaning with the audience and gain a tiny bit of sympathy with the deformed miners that are this way due to the government testing. At first the editing is quite slow to establish what happened and so that the audience can read the titles that are telling the audience what happened.  There are numerous shots of deformed babies that are in a flashing sequence, to back up the titles.

The editing is still at a slow pace whilst establishing the family, and numerous close ups are used to introduce the audience to the characters.  There is the use of long shots, showing the car and trailer driving in the desert to enhance the feeling of isolation to the audience. The editing pace starts to increase when their car tires run over the nails. This shows the audience something is wrong and the use of quick edits build tension and creates enigmas for the audience. The point of view shots make it appear someone is watching them and the use of sound effects and sinister  laughing builds fear and terror with the audience. There is the use of a montage which is very fast and therefore only showing glimpses of the violence and gore and the deformed people after them This shows the audience how scary the films going to be without fully revealing the 'monsters' and is a typical convention in a horror trailer as it lures the audience in, having to see the movie to find out more. In the final, action montage they have picked many quick shots and edited them together to build a tense atmosphere and emphasised the sheer violence to be expected. These glimpses are shown fast and all edited together as it would be unacceptable to show a certain scene of violence, because a child may see the trailer on TV. Also a sense of horror, fear and violence is created without showing really graphic scenes the horror fan will have to see the whole film to have their appetite sated.

The opening of the trailer starts with a bomb siren sound which immediately makes the audience uneasy. This is to highlight the story they are trying to tell at the beginning and creates a tense and dramatic mood. There is a then actual bomb sounds which are diegetic sounds but are likely to be sound effects. There is an electronic style of music behind the bomb sounds which is non-diegetic and adds a tense mood while reading these titles about what the bombs caused and when they were. Then after one explosion, we cut to the family car driving past while a happy family song is playing which is ambient, this non-diegetic sound is to portray they are just a normal family travelling across the desert. When this music is disturbed abruptly and changes to the sound of crows the audience immediately recognise something is wrong and is going to happen. The sound of crows is normally associated with bad events and creates tension and suspense. There is an enhanced diegetic sound of the stinger’s nails using Foley sound effect as the sound of the metal is much louder than it would be in reality. This is to also build tension and create an eerie mood as the audience want to know who has put the stinger there and why. 

The sound of the family car crashing is also a diegetic sound effect as it is extremely loud to shock the audience and show the change in mood. There is also a diegetic sound effect of a phone not having signal which shows the audience they have no communication with the outside world, and once again backing up the idea they are isolated with no help. The pace of tension building music increases and the tempo increase, there is a very low thudding kind of music and the tempo increases with the pace of editing, building anticipation and tension. The use of sound effects is key near the end of the trailer, screaming sound effects and heavy breathing adds to the tension and fear and is also a common convention in horror trailers. There isn’t a voice over in the trailer as fear and terror is created by the use of dialogue from the film such as laughing and talking between family members. The dramatic music  is common in horror films as they don’t want to spoil the sinister and suspenseful mood being created with a voice over. This highlights that the increasing pace of the music helps build the tension.

This trailer creates enigmas as the audience want to find out why these deformed miners are attacking people, what happens to the family, who these miners actually are and why does no-one know about it. The trailer makes you emphasise with the family and makes you to want to survive. In the action sequences shown, the genre is clearly established, as gore, violence and high pitched screams are all typical of horror trailers. The music, pace of editing and the mise-en-scene all show that this is a horror film but also has a unique selling point, the unique selling point of this film is the people attacking them and their reason for doing it. The audience are made to fear these people as they are shown to have extreme strength and humans seem weak in comparison. 

The trailer does play on stereotypes on inbred, deformed 'rednecks'  and the typical redneck guy who works in the isolated gas station. It also shows typical gender stereotypes as, in the trailer, the women seem extremely vulnerable and are portrayed as screaming damsel in distress character types. However these representations could be read in a subtle satirical way, as they are showing the effects the government and the army have had on their own people and could be mocking their policies and actions.

The audience of this film is 18+ as it contains high amounts of violence, rape, murder, gore, blood/guts and swearing. The 18+ certificate makes the audience know that the content must be scary and quite bad for it to get that rating as this restricts the audience as normally teenagers are the biggest cinema goers. The 18 certificate lets the audience know that this is a horror film with adult content and some people like this as it will contain extreme horror. For this film I would say it is for both genders as it would appeal to both, I think the rating is key as if it was a 15 some people who enjoy horror films might think the content won’t be ‘scary’ enough and might not go to see it.