Suddenly there is a shot looking down on a woman covered in blood and in pain. A very conventional feature of a thriller genre – the more blood and gore in a thriller; the better. And here we get it right from the start. Plus, we still have this eerie music over the top, nothing else, and it’s still in slow motion. Still leaving the audience unnerved and distressed. Therefore when we get the sudden voice of doctor, it shocks us, and the sound of him being panicky starts building the tension as well. The view of them all operating on this woman is very unpleasant too, right from the start we have these views of blood and dreadful things. The way the director has used classical continuity editing in this is very effective, the way the camera cuts as each person gets in the way it gives a sense of verisimilitude. And therefore, the director has got is on the edge of our seats, which a good thriller should do.
We then see a baby, covered in blood, and looking in pain, which is quite shocking, we always imagine gore and pain in a thriller movie, but to see that inflicted upon a baby would really take the audience aback. The camera then stops on the baby and it seems to take a photograph, like a mental image or photograph for the audience. Giving the scene a sort of quirkiness as it is a very unusual thing to do. Then it goes back to the black background with red writing and the music suddenly get louder and more dramatic, making that few seconds even more shocking.
This then fades into a long shot over looking the city, obviously by the low key lighting and the overall mise en scene we can see that this isn’t the nicest part of this city; linking to the typical conventions on the thriller genre: horror genre films were Gothic style set in shadowy locales. There is a sudden shift of pace which is very disorientating and shocking for the audience as everything suddenly seems to be fast forward. When it finishes fast forwarding it is night-time with the neon lighting and dark streets; a distinctive trait of the horror/thriller genre. The fact that this is suddenly jumped to as well after the first scene acts as a narrative enigma; we as the audience, have no idea at the moment what that was about and how it was relevant to the story, therefore we are intrigued and want to keep watching. The fast-forwarding also indicates to the audience that, in way, we are going into the future and the story narrative is structured linearly.
The first characters we meet are in a car; driving extremely fast putting these two characters in a dangerous or potentially deadly situation. Throughout this sequence we get many hints towards the typical features of a thriller movie. The woman in the car has deep red hair and the man is wearing a red coat. Most of their costumes are black (death, despair, danger, blood). The camera keeps moving and jerking really quickly, which is disorientating and adds to the abnormal atmosphere. When they are driving she grabs his privates rather viciously, so we already get the element of violence and bloodshed. We also get the aspect of sex coming across and maybe even sadism, as even though he reacts to the pain, it’s not exactly negative; giving the characters a darker and sinister edge. The other interesting thing is, even though nothing seems to be happening in this scene, and nothing “bad” in particular seems to be going on, I wouldn’t class it as equilibrium, because of all insinuations and warnings in the mise en scene.
The main characters are then seen in a meat carver factory. This isn’t the usual place to see two people who are looking for a good night out. Plus, the fact they are completely surrounded by corpse and dead animals gives portend of massacre, death, blood etc. It also has quite an uncomfortable edge to the atmosphere and again, builds that suspense and anxiety. As the two characters walk through the corridors we can see warning and danger signs on the wall, adding to the typical mise en scene of this genre. Plus, a human body passes them on the conveyors, which is a slightly more obvious warning to the characters.
Although this is a horror genre, Norrington has used some conventions of the film noir genre which very relevant to this film. We can see this from it being set in the darker part of the city and the neon lighting at night make it uncomfortable. We also have this image of the femme fatal. The woman we are first introduced to is very seductive and seems very confident with herself. We also keep getting hints that she is going to lead this other man to his death. I think the use of these features of film noir gives the film a darker and more sinister edge.
The two characters are then seen entering a club (still in the animal slaughter house). The pace then changes and everything shifts back to slow motion. The diegetic music of the party is quite parallel to the scene, because of the dark costumes we still get the Gothic element and the music has that essence as well. The costumes are either black, leather or PVC suggesting the nature of the characters, their darker side, the PVC and leather suggest the rebellious and dangerous side of the characters.
There are many slight warnings toward danger in this scene, we have the fact that nonce of the actors in the scene are smiling at all and as we try to follow the main male character the camera seems get pushed and bumped making everything quite daunting on the audience. The fact that everything we see is within a restricted narrative, we have no idea what could happen building the tension. The ceiling in the room is very low making the room seem every claustrophobic; like there is no escape. Then the blood drips from the ceiling onto the main characters hand. We can here start to see that this main character is put into a dangerous situation and we still don’t know what is going on, acting as a narrative enigma. Through out this scene we see sexual activities, but again they seem very violent and sadomasochistic. Linking to the characters dark and evil side, in the way they are enjoying it.
Then the music starts to build, which is parallel to the tension building, then the lights go up around the DJ and we can see the word “Blood Bath” written around him. The sprinklers come on and we can see the main character getting completely terrified. The other actors then start to transform into vampires. This again is a typical feature of the earlier horror/thriller genre, therefore I really like the way that Stephen Norrington has put this early idealoligy of horror into present day. I also think the way he has made them quite attractive and sexy characters, gives the typical features that edge.
Here we also see a lot of tilted and quirky shots, which is used a lot in the horror and thriller genres, as it disorientates the audience. Then we see the guy lying on the floor completely covered in blood. The vampires start to move in on him which again makes it seem like there is no escape for him. And there is no way out; therefore the audience is right on the edge of the seat, trying to see a way for him to get out of this.
Then again, the pace shifts again to slow motion, everything slows down again, the music and blood stop and we see the boots of Blade. He is also dressed in black and wearing glasses, making him also seem in-human and emotionless. This is also a feature we see in the Sci-fi genre, the glasses to give the character that sense of mystery, and the black costume to show a darker side. We see his feet first then the camera tilts upwards to a low angle shot which gives him the image of a powerful being. When he starts the violence and massacre of the vampires (also another aspect of a thriller) he doesn’t just use guns, he uses close contact weapons like the silver stakes. This is a typical convention of the very closely linked horror genre, so that the killer and the victim have to be close making it uncomfortable. It also entwines the super-natural features of the genre by using these weapons.
Blade has many typical conventions of a thriller genre and narrative, but also I also like the way Stephen Norrington uses aspects of Sci-fi and Film Noir; it gives everything that quirky edge and it opens the overall film to a wider audience. By using the sex and a very obvious setting for a slaughter, the use of black and the PVC costumes gives the sequence that extra essence of danger.
