1st Personal Film Review

Film Title: The Haunting in Connecticut- Ghosts of Atlanta
Year Of Production : 2013 Director: Tom Elkins
Genre: Horror/Thriller

Brief Plot Outline:
A young family moves into a historic home in Georgia only to find out that they arent the only people there. They find out a secret that is willing to bring down anyone that gets in its path.

Which two scenes impressed you the most? Why? 
I thought the end scene was very interesting when Lisa discovers the station master's hide out and she sees everything that has happened to the poor people who got caught and never released. The reason i liked this was the effects that were used really made you feel creeped out and as if you were there having the flash back.
The second scene i like is the Exorcism that is performed on Heidi by the priest. Joyce the auntie sees things and it is made to feel very eery with the use of collision cutting and the slow to fast montage.

How has watching this film helped you understand this genre of film making? which features on the genre checklist did you spot in the film? when? how?
The way in which it has helped me understand the genre is the way that it uses its angles to create tension and to give it a messed up feel. An example of where this is used in the scenes where  Heidi sees the ghosts all of the scenes the angles show very little and it keeps you wondering sometimes as the shots are often very quick aswell.
The features in the film were very well done. The low key lighting was very effective, obviously used more in the night scenes and an example would be when things were shown to be lit by the moonlight and the fact that some of it was set in an older time so was lit by fire and lanterns.
As mentioned previously the collision cutting was well used when Joyce was having flash backs.
Body horror helped me to understand the genre a lot better, a good example of this was when Joyce had needles and thread shooting out of her body as it was pretty horrific but in a very clever way.


There was a clear use of creepy enclosed locations for example when Heidi finds herself in a cabin under the ground with no way of getting out also when they break through to the area where the taxi demist stuffs his hosts. It is clearly tight and set underground.
In terms of the characters there was in fact a male hero and that was the father Andy. He was the hero a few times towards the end when Heidi got taken and he went after her and had to climb down into the hole to get her.
With a theme there was  a clear theme of loneliness being isolated and trapped. Heidi the little girl was very lonely as she had no one else around and they were very isolated as they had moved to a house in the middle of no where.With the theme of being trapped it was all of the ghosts in the film that were trapped in limbo and Heidi was the only connection or chance to get out and find peace.
All of this helped me to understand the horror genre because they are things that i can easily spot in near enough every horror films.

Which aspects of the film would you like to include in your own trailer? why?
I would consider using the canted angles that they used in the film. They used them when the ghosts appeared to Heidi in like a flash back moment but she was there as well. I feel that they are used to create emotion and its all about trying to scare the audience which is something I really need to make sure I do in my horror trailer. These techniques work by creating these creepy effects so that the audience feel uncomfortable and its not the norm.
Another thing I would use is the way that they used the lighting effects on the flash backs. They had played around with the contrast and brightness and other effects to make the scenes look dated and kind of like a very old movie. The shakes they used on the images were very effective as well and it made it look a little bit distorted.

Which aspects of the film would you like to avoid in your own trailer? why?
I feel that they overdid the cross cutting slightly and instead of making me feel tense i felt a bit ill. Some of the shots were a tad bit confusing as well maybe a tiny bit of creepy narration would have helped.

What was the best aspect  / more enjoyable moment in the film? Why? Can you recreate this in your own film? How?
I would say that the more enjoyable bits were the fast pace moments when it flashed back even though it made me think a bit more.

A scene that does this is at the end when Heidi and her mother come face to face with the station master and they had to get our before they burned alive.I don't think I would be able to create this as I don't think i will have flash backs in my horror trailer but I would recreate the fast pace moments that put you on the edge of your seat. I would do that by using the collision cutting but trying not to over do it.



This clip shows the flash backs and the effects.

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