Analysis Of Thriller Clip

In classed we watched 'The Stepfather' which is directed by Nelson McCormick, starring Dylan Walsh, one of my favourite actors. 

In the opening scene, we see Walsh, who is the stepfather, looking into mirror preparing to get ready for what seems to be a mundane morning. We see a panning shot of his shaving equipment and then get a medium close up of him shaving then getting in the shower. Eventually, we see him downstairs in the kitchen preparing a light breakfast of a toast and a cup of tea whilst listening to 'silent night'. All this seems so standard until we see a panning shot of tools covered in blood, and bodies scattered around the room on a Christmas evening. This is when the audience begin to doubt 'The Stepfather'. Suspense is created in the opening sequence as we feel relaxed watching this man enjoy a breakfast until we see dead children and their mother lying on the floor. This is a perfect opening for a Psychological Thriller.

In the next scene immediately after, we see The Stepfather again in a shopping centre talking to Women asking her where he would find peanut butter. Another standard question someone might ask another person in a shopping centre, however as the audience have just witnessed something irregular, we immediately shout out to the screen telling this innocent lady not to talk to this man, then we see her checking herself in the mirror as she is attracted to him. We later on see them in the car park talking about arranging a meal for the pair to go on, and then we cut to the next scene which is 6 months later of an announcement that the pair will be getting married. Immediately we know that she has made a wrong decision which absorbs the audiences focus into watching 'The Stepfathers' every move in order to protect this innocent lady and her children.

Another scene where suspense is created in 'The Stepfather' is when an old lady who lives next door comes around to spread the news that there is man who has killed a family who seems to look like 'The Stepfather'. This conversation is over heard. We then cut to a next scene of 'The Stepfather' driving past the old ladies house and shouting out 'hey' whilst smiling and driving off. We then go into the ladies house which appears as she has nobody living inside with her. This creates Suspense as we immediately feel that 'The Stepfather' will do something to this lady. We hear a noise in the background which builds a climax to make us think that this is 'The Stepfather’; however the climax is broke when a black cat jumps out from the cupboard. Immediately after, we see 'The stepfathers' arm tightly squeezed around the old ladies throat then throwing her down the stairs. This created a false plateau as the audience felt something was wrong, and then we see everything is fine which eventually leads to something being wrong.