This is my overview of some slasher posters.

1. Film Poster Overview
The followingare posters are promotingslasherhorrorfilmsandall share commonconventions,
Fridaythe 13th
, Smiley,TexasChainsaw,PorkchopTwo,Maniac,MyBloodyValentineandScream4.

2. The followingpostershave beendesignedtopromote slasherfilmsandhave beensuccessfulin
doingso withinthe sub-genre.
All sevenpostersshare some commonconventionsof general filmposters,suchasthe filmtitle is
the largesttextso thatthe audience willrememberthe movie’stitle.Alsothe image always
dominatesthe page andfillsthe whole poster.Thisimage usuallyrepresentsthe narrative of the
film,forexample inthe ‘Scream4’posterwe see anarm that hasbeenslicedandisina pool of
blood,andthe arm is alsoholdingaphone,whichgoeswell withthe tagline ‘New decade.New
rules’meaningthe technologythatwe use todaywill feature inthisfilm.
We can see inthese postersthattheyheavilyfeature the coloursred,blackandwhite asthese are
the most commoncoloursthat feature inthe subgenre of slasher.Furthermore the postersare
feature a darkor gloomyatmosphere tocreate more fearwithinthe audience,thiswill entice the
audience togo andwatch the filmbecause thatis what the audience looksforinaslasher,being
scaredof whatis inthe dark. We can alsosee that these slasherpostersall have reference toa
gruesome deathdue tothe use of bloodandthe props used,forexample the chainsaw showsthat
thisisthe weaponof choice forthat movie.The targetaudience willbe excitedforthisbecause they
will knowthata chainsawcan deliveragruesome deaththatmeetstheirneeds.
What we can also learnfromthese slasherpostersisthatthe antagonistisalwayshiddenwithina
maskand nevershowshistrue identityasthiscreatesatenseratmosphere forthe audience thatthe
antagonist’strue identityisunknownwhichcreatesmysteryandfear.We see thisfromall seven
postersas knownof themshowthe antagonistsface andfive of the sevenpostersshow the
antagonistsmaskison full showwhichonce againcreatesfearbutalsoenticesaudiencestogoand
watch the film.
Four of the postersshownfeature the weaponof choice forthe antagonistwhichwill helpcreate
fear.But alsothese weaponsare usedbecause theyare quietandcreate bigbloodsceneswhere the
killercanslice andchop upthere victimquietlysothe othersdon’thear.Howeverthe Texas
Chainsawpostershowsthe antagonistholdingachainsaw whichmakesthe movie unique tothe
othersbecause the weaponof choice isveryloud,butthisiswhat made the filmsosuccessful.
All of these posterspresentedare designedsothatthe targetaudience knowsthatthesesmovie
titlesare fromthe specificsub-genre(slasher) forexamplethe posterfromFridaythe 13th
has the
antagonistrightinthe centre the camera angle usedmakesitlooklike he ismuchbiggerthan us
whichcreatesmore fearwithinthe audience.Inaddition the surroundingsettingisavery dark forest
area whichshowsthe commonconventionthatthe victimswillbe isolatedwithoutanyhelpsand
the moonlightisusedtocreate a gloomyand scary atmosphere toshow thatthisis the onlylight
available.Thislightwasdesignedtolookrightdownonthe killersmasksothe audience cansee
whatlays inthe dark woodsand the fact that the lightonlyshinesonhalf of the maskmeansthat he
iscomingwithinthe forest.
The imagespresentedinthese postersare all designedtocreate fearandbe horrific.Inall of these
posters,excludingthe ‘Scream4’poster,itisthe antagonistwhoispresent,whichmakesthe poster
more enticingandterrifyingasthe villainisthere toscare the audience andthat iswhat will
encourage themtowatch the movie.The killerisgoingtobe the scariestpart of a slasherfilmsoit
makessense forthe antagonisttobe the mainimage andto take up the whole postersothat the
audience canbe scared andwant to watch it.For example inthe posterfor‘PorkchopTwo’we see
an up close shot of the pigmaskholdinga bloodyaxe,the targetaudience will findthishorrific
because itseemsthatthe killerishalf manhalf pigwhois outto kill.

3. All these postersare effectivebecause theyhave managedtocreate fear and excitementtoenable
themto go and watchthe filmorat leastbe interestedenoughtowatchthe trailer.Theyall follow
three mainconventionsof aposter;minimal text,one mainimage,andaboldand dominantfilm
title.