Favourite Image Analysis

My favourite choice of scene from my horror research is from James Wan’s Insidious (2010).

This shot is extremely low lit and shows the main antagonist in the top left corner. Because he is mainly in shadow the audience takes a few seconds to see him which makes the shot more intense.

The “bleached” colours of the image show some of James Wan’s auteur style as he has used this effect in several other films including The Conjuring (2013). This gives the scene a more dramatic and gritty atmosphere and helps add to the vulnerability of the young boy in the bed. The darkness connotes all the evil trying to take over while the lamp on the side illuminates the bed that he is sleeping in showing the main protagonist’s symbolic hope. The fact that the antagonist’s hand is reaching into the light connotes that the antagonist is slowly taking over the life of the boy.

From this, I would like to make a psychological horror with a main protagonist and antagonist with limited use of gore. The limitation of gore is due to many successful psychological horrors which tend to use restricted narration rather than show gore. This does not impact on the success of the film due to the genre that is chosen. This is reflected in Insidious. For example, the main Antagonists make up has no latex or fake blood. The shadow of the character reminds me of Nosferatu (1922) whereas the clawed hands and eerie shadowy presence connotes that he is not human and is an evil character. His red and black make up also connotes danger and mystery and creates a devils image. Meanwhile, the Protagonist (the child) is surrounded by childrens toys and soft furnishings connoting his innocence.