Film Opening Analysis Continued

Film Analysis Continued

After the opening credits the film begins with a group of white, Caucasian male and females approaching what looks to be a desolate field in a green camper van. En route to the destination there are numerous unnerving connotations of death such as strange models of decayed flesh and an armadillo lies dead in the middle of the road when the van passes. The music at the start of the opening credits has the diegetic sound of a series of gongs and percussion instruments suggesting violence. There is also a male speaking into an old police radio over the top of the instruments. Accordingly Tobe Hooper wanted the narration to sound like Orson Welles for an aspect of realism as the events are based on true ones. Immediately the audience know something bad is going to happen. When the van finally comes to a halt, a disabled man in a wheel chair is the first out however underestimates the terrain and when a lorry passes the van the wind coincidentally  forces the the man and his wheelchair taking a tumble through the reeds.The unfortunate happening to this disabled man suggests vulnerability will be a sustained theme in this film, also the harming of a disabled person in natural light also implies that the greater evil that is yet to appear has no moral boundaries and will stop at nothing.