Deliver Us From Evil Analysis

1. Horror Trailer Analysis
Deliver Us From
Evil 2014
By Laura Naylor

2. Synopsis: New York, Police Officer Ralph Sarchie and his partner Butler investigate a series of
bizarre crimes in Bronx: the death of a baby in an alley: the beating of the wife of the former
soldier Jimmy by him; and the case of a mother, Jane Crenna, who has thrown her two year old
son in the enclosure of the lions in the zoo. While investigating the last case with Butler, Sarchie
sees a weird man painting the wall of the lion's enclosure but he flees. Soon the man is
identified, Mick Santino, and Sarchie learns that Santino and Jimmy belonged to the same
platoon in Iraq. The investigation affects the private life of Sarchie and his relationship with his
wife Jennifer "Jen" and his daughter Christina. Sarchie, who is a Catholic that lost his faith, is
contacted by the unconventional Father Mendoza that explains to him that he is dealing with
demonic forces and Santini and Jane are possessed by demons. The skeptic Sarchie does not
believe in the father in the beginning, but when his family is jeopardized by Santino, he teams-up
with the priest to exorcise Santino and save his beloved family. - IMDB
Budget: $30,000,000 (estimated)
Director: Scott Derrickson
Length of Trailer: 3:03 (minutes)

3. Cast: Eric Bana as Sarchie
Edgar Ramirez as Mendoza
Olivia Munn as Jen
Chris Coy as Jimmy
Dorian Missick as Santino
Sean Harris as Santino
Joel McHale as Butler
Mike Houston as Nadler
Lulu Wilson as Christina
Olivia Horton as Jane
Scott Johnsen as Lt. Griggs
Daniel Sauli as Salvatore
Antoinette LaVecchia as Serafina

4. Voice over and on-screen texts:
Within the trailer for Deliver Us From Evil they use many on screen text
cards which explain certain elements of the movie. They use short and
snappy phrases which highly interests the audience and makes them
wonder what is about to happen. They also use text cards to state
other films that the directors have worked on as they are high budget
films which means that this film should also be extremely good. It also
includes institutional information at the end of the trailer again being a
common conventions.

5. Music and Sound:
At the beginning of the trailer there is a non-diegetic heart beat mixed with the diegetic sound of a storm which
instantly creates tension for the viewers, which then builds to a crescendo. There is then a screen which uses the voice
of his daughter and wife saying that they love him which instantly leads to the viewers thinking that something is
going to happen to this family. The trailer also uses a lot of silence in order to create tension. A moment of silence is
then disturbed by a loud squeak, as if a computer has been disturbed and goes to a shot of a woman digging in the
ground which makes the audience jump which is a common convention within horror trailers. There is then a close up
of the woman who looks extremely terrified and we hear a type of growling noise which seems to be coming from her
and it makes the audience wonder what she is looking at and why she is making that noise. Another non-diegetic
sound builds up to where the woman begins to scream into the camera and this again makes the audience jump this
being another convention and this again happens when the man is standing in complete darkness with as flashlight
and something jumps out at him and there is a large crash which makes the audience wonder where this came from.
A non-diegetic heartbeat then builds and is interrupted by a crash from the woman falling into the car window and
smashing it again giving the audience a fright. There is then a jack in the box being turned and this is often
associated with horror and this makes the audience know that something is about to happen. There is then a loud
crashing noise which occurs again and it makes the audience jump which is a connotation of horror. These loud
crashes happen a lot within the trailer mostly when a face is shown on the screen which is again a common
convention within horror trailers. There is a crescendo within the music when a toy from the girls desk falls to the
floor and the audience instantly thinks something is going to happen and the toy begins to play by itself and rolls
towards the child in her bed and as the girl says ‘mommy’ there is a loud crash and the girl begins to open the door
but gets stuck. As the shots within the trailer get faster the music gets more intense which is a common convention
within horror trailers, until the music builds to a crescendo and the demon begins to take a deep breath and the
audience instantly wonder what is going to happen to him.

6. Editing and Cinematography:
Within this trailer it begins with an establishing shot of the town in which this film is
based within. The trailer has the use of a slow motion shot which intrigues the
audience. There is then the use of a birds eye view shot which lets the audience think
that there is something watching these people. There is then a shot of a dead man
lying on the floor and this is a high angle shot meaning that he has lost all power at
that moment in time. The next shot looks almost as though the camera is shaking as a
shadowy figure walks toward the screen which suggests that there is someone holding
the camera and it makes the audience wonder what is actually happening. There is
then a shot of the father holding his phone with a recording of his daughter and wife
and makes the audience think that the family has something to do with this horror.
The trailer uses a lot of fade to black and back up as this creates tension. The trailer
uses a large amount of video camera shots which gives a sense that these are point of
view shots as the detectives are looking at these and analysing them. The trailer also
uses over the shoulder shots which makes the audience think that someone is
watching them. There was a low angle shot of the woman within the park which gives
the sense that she holds the power at that moment in time.

7. Editing and Cinematography:
There was a use of a close up shot of the woman screaming
which is used in order to give the viewers a fright. There is a
shot of the little girl sitting in her room on her own which
makes her extremely vulnerable within horror movies and
children are often associated with horror films and this makes
the audience wonder what is about to happen to her. There is a
low angle shot of the demon in the chair and this shows that
even though he is all tied up he still has all of the power and
there is then a power shift at the end of the trailer to where the
male within the room has a low angle shot showing that the
power has been shifted to him.

8. Mise-en-scene:
The mise-en-scene is dark as the trailer begins at night time, there is then a long shot of a car
driving up the hill and there is a storm within the background which is a common convention
of horror and through the use of this setting it instantly gives the vibes of a horror film. The
mise-en-scene is then dark again and the birds eye view shot makes the people look almost
like shadows. The mise-en-scene turns almost to a shade of blue when there is a shot of a
mans body lying on the floor which relates to death as it is a cold atmosphere. Within this
whole trailer the lighting seems to be dark with the use of flash lights in order to give off
some light and this gives an eerie feeling. When the shot of him receiving a message from his
family appears this shows that there is a bright equilibrium within the household and this can
be quite deceiving as it makes the audience think that they are in a stable home when in fact
they are not. The equilibrium then becomes dark and unsettling again when they are within
the zoo which instantly makes the audience think that there is something about to happen.
When the woman is in the jail the surroundings are all dark with just a spot of light shone
over her making her the focus within the jail and it makes the audience think that there is
something wrong with her. Whenever there is a shot within the little girls bedroom the
lighting seems to be dark which makes the child a victim of the night and the audience
instantly wonder what is going to happen to the child.