Analysis of Existing Horror Posters

Karanveer Sohal

The background is a solid black, this shows the nature of the film just from the poster.

Here we see an outline of the main antagonist, Jason Vorhees. This is showing us one of the main characters so we can almost familiarise ourselves with the character before we see the film.

Here we see the other characters that are in the film. This is effective as we have somewhat of an idea of what to expect when we watch the film.

The title of the film. The ‘13’ being covered in red is symbolic of the blood that will be spilt in the movie.

The tagline of the movie. It tells us a brief, one sentence synopsis of the film to get us interested in the plot

Here we see the setting for some of the film. It is a camp by a lake which has a huge significance to what happens that leads Jason to murder.

The murder weapon. This tells us straight from the poster that he uses a knife/machete type weapon.

Conclusion• This poster for the first Friday the 13th film is effective. The outline of

Jason and the inside of him containing the camp, lake and the victims is used well. This shows how just from the poster alone we see the majority of the plot, but without spoiling anything. This is also seen with the tagline. It, much like the images used in the poster reveals the story without spoiling the main plotline. The white silhouette with the black background brings out Jason and gives off the idea that he is bigger than everything and that he is the biggest problem.

Both of these people are the main characters in the film. We see them wearing a necklace type device which we find out in the film are pivotal to the plot of the film.

The words used in the title of the film imply that the film will be on the bloodier/violent side. The red colour used implies that this as well as the colour red is often linked blood and violence, it is used to foreshadow the bloodshed in the film.

These are the weapons that some of the characters use in the film.

The tagline that is used almost strikes fear into your heart.

The background is a grey/black blend. The choice of this brings out the characters in the poster as the colour is a contrast to the white on their uniform. This is specifically used to get the audience to try and distinguish the characters, which is ironic as the characters have no face on the poster.

The attire of the characters are that of traditional Japanese high schoolers. This tells us that the story will revolve around these students.

Conclusion• This is the poster fro the Japanese horror film ‘Battle Royale’. The

poster shows two of the characters that the story revolve around. The fact that they put the weapons in the poster shows that this is not a normal high school film. The fact that they haven’t shown the characters faces ties into the story as it takes away their normal personalities and changes them due to the situation that they have been placed in.

The tagline. This tagline strikes a little fear into your heart as it is true to an extent.

Right above the title is the name of the director. It is positioned here as Rob Zombie is an established director, musician and actor and the positioning of his name might bring a new audience in that has not seen his films, but seen his other endeavours.

The title follows the main orange colour scheme of the poster and the film itself. I feel that the colour orange is used throughout to signify its fire connotation which brings out a chaotic theme, a theme that is present in the film.

In the background of the poster we see the mask of the main antagonist, ‘Mike Myers’. Within the face e see several images from the past Halloween films, showing that this part of a historical saga.

This is the main character/antagonist Mike Myers holding his mask and weapon, his kitchen knife. The way that he’s holding his mask and looking at the big one in the background implies that he’s just a shell of his past self.

Here we see the director and cast credits which have become normal in film posters over time.

Conclusion• The orange theme(danger, destruction) that is present through the

poster is used as it connotes the events that will take place in the film. The positioning of the tagline and the tagline itself is striking as the it implies that evil is all around us. The title with the directors name is also significant as the director Rob Zombie is carrying on a long line of films and with this edition he is acknowledging all the past ones. We see this with the poster as the mask in the background of the poster has a variety od scenes from past Halloween movies. This coupled with the positioning of Mike holding his mask imply that he's figuratively looking back at his former self and the decisions that he made, which will tie into the overall plot of the movie.

The tagline has been positioned at the top of the page so that it hits our eye. It does this by using a ‘spooky’ font that is yellow, which stands out on the black background.

The red that is used in the title connotes the subject of the movie itself. As we know Dracula is a vampire that drinks blood, and the use of the red font signifies this.

This poster tells us some of the star studded cast that are in the film, and the role they play.

Unlike more modern film posters, this poster tells us the age ratig of the film, and as it’s a horror with quite sexual themes throughout, it is an adult only film.

Following the sexual themes of the film, we see what looks to be on of the main women in the film. The way she is positioned with her attire, such as her low cut top embraces and promote the sexual these of the film through this poster.

The main character himself, Dracula. We see him looking as if he’s going to drink this women's blood. This has been put n the poster as it happens through the move, and people that see the poster will get an idea of what the film will be about.

Conclusion• With this poster being a lot older than the others, you can see the

differences. The way that the poster was positioned and the themes that have been implied could probably not be allowed in this day and age. However the poster itself is quite effective in telling us about the film, without spoiling anything. The fact it outlined the actors names a was used to bring people in, because at that time, Christopher lee was a huge actor, and is due the fact that he is in this film would have brought a audience in due to this poster. This shows that eve thought it a poster from the late 50s, it is still an effective movie poster.