Researching Codes and Conventions: House at the End of the Street Trailer

The horror film House at the End of the Street uses several codes and conventions, as displayed in the trailer.

Conventions:

• The victim is a young woman: women are usually the victims in a horror movie as they are perceives as more vulnerable as men.
• The victim almost makes it to safety before the villain catches up with them and re-captures them.
• There are also several shots of woods in the trailer. In horror films, woods are most commonly used as locations as they are quiet, secluded areas which have an eerie and mysterious film at night.

Codes:

• The facts that woods are used as a location is also a symbolic code. They are quiet, secluded areas.
• During a murder, the weather is stormy and thundering and lightning. This is symbolic and a use of foreshadowing as it indicates that something bad is about to happen. The villain also twists the door knob slowly, and then suddenly attacks.
• The victim has make-up on that makes her face look dirty; it makes her look like she has been through an ordeal.

Theatrical poster for The House at the End of the Street.

Without even seeing the trailer, it is obvious that the film is a horror. Half of the poster is black, which has connotations of mystery and death. The actress in the poster, Jennifer Lawrence, who stars in the film has limited looking space, as she is hiding behind and looking at a door. Limited looking space gives a constricted and chlostrophobic feel. The tag line, 'Fear Lives Here' also heavily implies that the film is a horror. There is also light eminating from the door which brings the focus onto the actress.