For too long know horror movies have followed a cookie cutter formula that uses cheap jump scares to get a rise out of an audience.
What aspiring filmmakers must realize is that a true piece of horror lies in the psychological.
The kind of fear that gets to the viewer long after the credits are done rolling.
Photo credit: youtube/Fear Channel
Updated 2/10/2020 – Based on the trailer of the upcoming Amityville: The Awakening, it looks like director Franck Khalfoun has created a convincing piece of psychological horror.
The trailer is creepy, ominous, and in the purest sense frightening.
Amityville: The Awakening tells the story of teenage Belle and her family as they get adjusted to moving into a new house in Amityville.
As her younger brother starts recovering suspiciously quick from a life threatening disease, she begins to suspect not everything is as it seems.
Belle soon finds out that her family is now living in the infamous Amittyville house, which in the 1970s had the father who was living there murder his entire family.
Belle and others start seeing horrific images and hallucinations, blurring the line between the paranormal and reality.
The most convincing aspect of the trailer is this blur between what is real, and what is actually happening.
There are several moments in the trailer that feature terrifying premonitions.
Voices are heard yelling out kill, bugs are seen swarming in drones, maggots are shown latched on to people’s backs.
It’s a very creepy atmosphere that uses very little to achieve effective results.
The character Belle in the trailer seems to be losing her grip on reality, further adding on the the growing sense of dread and paranoia.
Obviously paranoid feelings make good horror movies; just look at The Thing.
That’s not to say there isn’t some great scary imagery used in the Amityville trailer.
The paranormal creature revealed at the end is demented and unnerving, just look at the image above for proof.
If you genuinely enjoy going to the movies and leaving the theater scared to go to bed, then Amityville: The Awakening looks very promising.
Check out the bone-chilling trailer below.
What are your thoughts on this?
Let us know in the comments below and don’t forget to SHARE this post with your Facebook friends.