Horror film poster analysis

The font used for the title of the film is bold and quite simple, even though it is white and contrasts against the darker background it doesn't distract the eye from the actual poster itself. The image shows quite a close shot of a young boy, but his eyes have been given the effect that they're scratched out, which gives a frightening effect to the poster. Behind the young boy there is a house which is the main setting of the film as this is where most of the horror aspects of the film will take place, and the clouds are quite dark which gives off quite an eery effect, so the weather links in with the fact that the film will be a horror because its dark and gloomy, almost scary. The colours used are again, quite dark and gloomy, which is a typical convention of a horror film as people link darkness to scary things, because if brighter colours were used it wouldn't look like the poster was advertising a horror film because bright colours are not a typical horror convention. The tagline 'It's not the house that's haunted' makes the audience question what that sentence could insinuate, so the audience may begin to question what could be haunted if it's not the house, and with the image of the young boy in the front it could make them wonder whether the boy is haunted. The film has been given 5 stars and described as 'so scary, I was whimpering in sheer terror' which gives the audience the idea of how terrifying the film will actually be from someone else's perspective, but even though the person who rated the film found it extremely scary they still rated it 5 stars because they obviously thought that it covered typical horror convention or even bended them a little to make the film as frightening as possible. Overall this poster gives off a scary effect and you can clearly see that it is advertising a horror film and the use of colouring, font, image, tagline etc. fits in with typical conventions of a horror film poster.

When looking at this poster for Paranormal Activity 3 our automatically focus on the blood red colour of the title as it contrasts against the plain black background, also red being the colour, could represent danger which links in with the horror genre. The font used looks quite distorted which pairs with the title 'paranormal activity' as distortion and paranormal activity go together because it's not really natural. The image is based across the poster but smaller so you're able to see the plain black background as if to portray the fact that the characters are being watched through someone else's point of view and not the camera mans, also the image has a blueish tint to it and is also distorted which adds to the fact that they're being watched. You can also see a dark shadow in the middle of the image between the two characters beds which again, shows the fact that they're being watched but they obviously don't know that they are because they're asleep. The tagline 'Discover how the activity began' and 'It runs in the family' gives the audience a sense of wonder and mystery because it's not really giving anything away but it's hinting a little about what the film will tell you once you have watched it. The overall effect of the poster, again gives off a scary effect and it doesn't give away anything about the film, but it still includes typical horror conventions to make the poster as spooky as possible so the audience will be enticed to watch the film.

This poster is pretty simple when you look at it, however it still involves various horror conventions within it. The background shows a severed hand placed on a bright white tile floor, which could represent the contrast between the purity of the bright white and the speck of blood that has splattered onto the floor from the hand. The title Saw is quite simple but it does fit in with the horror genre as a saw is sharp and can be used as a weapon which would cause a lot of damage or kill someone. The font and colouring of the title is quite spooky as it is quite disorientated with the different placement and size lettering, the colour use is also quite a bloody red/brown which pairs with the blood that is splattered on the floor. The overall effect of this poster is that even though there is no tagline it still gives the audience a little bit of an idea of what the film may include.

When looking at this poster it looks pretty simple as well, however the background image shows the main antagonist with the signature costume/mask, and this mask takes up most of the poster, with the mask contrasting against the plain black background and the plain black parts of the mask, this makes the poster look pretty creepy and also shows the audience that the scream character will be returning as this poster is advertising the fourth film from this popular selection. The font is simple bold lettering, however the 'A' in Scream is made up of a 4 instead of the letter A which shows that this is the fourth film, the 'M' is also quite sharp as it goes down which could represent a knife as this is the weapon that the antagonist uses when murdering his victims. The colouring of the font is white which again contrasts against the plain black background but the '4/A' is red which could represent blood as this is a horror film. The tagline 'new decade, new rules' implies that since this film was only recently made compared the the first three the change in time period means that there will be new rules to how the antagonist will target his victims, which is good as it gives the audience the sense of mystery as they will wonder how the victims will be targeted. Overall this film poster is very effective as it doesn't give away anything about the film and for people who enjoyed the first three films they will understand/know a little more about the film but for those who haven't seen the films it will give them a sense of mystery.

This film poster shows the three antagonists as the main focus as the image, but also the two main victims that they target throughout the film facing towards them so the audience cannot see their faces. The three antagonists all have some kind of mask on so the audience cannot actually see the faces because they're actually real people and you can see that they are, but as this film is said to be based on a true story the director obviously wanted the characters to look as realistic as possible. The tagline is 'because you were home' which tells us that the victims were obviously targeted within their own home, but also implying that the antagonists attacked the victims because they were actually home at the time and when you're at home you are supposed to feel safe, but a horror film contrasts this as victims are likely to be targeted in their own homes because they do not expect it. The titles font is quite a basic font, however it looks a little disorientated and with the colouring it looks as if it was glowing which can be seen as quite creepy as it looks like quite a horrific glow, like something you would see during Halloween, also the actual title itself tells us that the antagonists are just people who are strangers to their victims and the victims are unaware of who they could be, which creates fear and mystery. Overall this film poster is very effective as the colours are quite dark and it doesn't give away anything about the film, which entices the audience to see it as they would want to find out what happens throughout the storyline.