'Let the right one in' Trailer analysis

‘Let the Right One In’ is an effective horror trailer because of its elements which are typical of a horror trailer as well as those which are original. The film is successful in many countries despite having been made in Sweden.

The trailer is set in Sweden, where it is always snowing and icy, this creates a good horror setting because the audience gets more of a sense of the atmosphere the characters are in, they know that it is cold and will be darker earlier on in the day which an English audience are not necessarily used to, so it immediately puts people out of their comfort zones. The characters live in an urban area in a built up city which allows there to be tension when they want to be inconspicuous because it is difficult for Eli to find human blood without being caught or raising suspicions.

The editing is classic of a horror trailer, there are clips with longer durations in the beginning which give away some of the story to entice interest in the audience and then towards the end of the trailer the editing is fast paced with parts of clips edited to show the scariest and most shocking parts of the film. This is done well in ‘Let the Right One In’ because enough of the plot is given away to give the audience an idea of the story and who it is targeted at, but not so much of the plot that they lose interest. Between each clip there is a fade to black at the start of the trailer to add suspense and anticipation, whereas at the end of the trailer the clips are immediately after one another to keep the audiences attention and to create an adrenaline rush. The fast clips only show a portion of the whole clip, and are only a few seconds long; for example the clip at 1.03 of a man hoisting a person upside down only lasts for a second. This makes the audience scared because they are unsure exactly what they’ve just seen and also partly unsatisfied which makes them want to watch the film.

The sound used in the trailer is extremely important as in any horror; it helps to add drama to the story.  It starts with high pitched creepy music which tells the audience that bad things are going to happen; however, we don’t register this consciously because music is typical in trailers so it is important when there is a duration of silence because we don’t have music or sound effects to give us direction of how to feel or what might happen next, putting us on edge. This silence effect is used in the ‘Let the Right One In’ trailer, briefly when Eli opens the door of her apartment to Oskar (44 seconds into the trailer) because it shows their relationship is important and a focus of the plot. The silent periods are then juxtaposed with louder music and sound effects which help to make the audience have an adrenaline rush whilst watching the clips of a more scary content. This trailer is unusual because the only dialogue used is at 54 seconds through the video where Oskar asks Eli ‘Are you a vampire?’ which is pivotal to the plot and gives the audience only part of the story; the next clip has been edited as if Eli is answering the same question, but gives a cryptic answer which avoids the question ‘Would you like me anyway?’ This is then followed by fast paced clips with a background beat of drums with a quick tempo which gives the audience a sense of anticipation. These clips then slowly fade to black and there is no visual or background music as we hear Oskar ask ‘Will you be my girlfriend?’ which tells the audience that this is a key point in the plot which should be focused on. The high creepy music from the beginning of the trailer then begins again as a review of the film is shown on screen and then the title ‘Let the Right One In’ appears on screen in red before the music fades to silence giving an eerie effect and leaving the audience wanting to know more.

There is a basic character establishment in the trailer which allows the audience to understand that Oskar and Eli are the main characters, their relationship and an idea of the journey they go through in the film. We know that they are the main characters because they have the most screen time in the trailer, giving the audience a chance to develop an opinion and connection with them.

The theme of this film is given away in the trailer which gives the public an idea of who it is aimed at and what the story is about. We can tell that there is an element of love and romance because of the relationship shown between Oskar and Eli, for example, at 50 seconds through the trailer the frame only shows Oskar being hugged by Eli making a focus on the two characters intimacy. At 52 seconds we are shown Eli’s hand (which is dirty showing the difficulty of her life) touching Oskar’s through a glass door which shows their separation. There are also obviously elements of horror with the use of vampires, city chaos and the murder of civilians. The trailer gives away some references to bullying and peer pressure as well.