Analysis of horror film posters

1. Conventions of Horror
Film Posters
By Mohamed Bushra

2. • Film posters are used as a form of promotion for
upcoming shows and films, just like film trailers but
in a hard copy. Because they’re physical piece they
can be put anywhere for example public transport,
billboards, bus stops etc.
• The aim is to catch the audience’s eye so they look
at it, read the information and then share it with
friends and family.
• My chosen genre is Horror and therefore I will be
looking at real life film posters to aid me in the
creation of my own film posters.

3. Both posters have a
character shown, on
the right you have ‘the
women in black’ and
refers to the title. On
the left you have the
protagonist and we only
see half of his face. The location shown is in the
middle of nowhere, suggesting
an isolated place where there
will be no help. But on the left
poster we see a massive
mansion compared to the
character.
There are children
presents but they’re
faded, suggesting they're
ghosts. Audience
sympathises with them
as they know they’re
dead.
Both posters have the name of the actor. This draws the
audience as they have watched his previous films.
We a see a tagline in both posters ‘WHAT DID THEY SEE?’
and ‘SHE’LL NEVER LET GO’. This is a temptation so the
audience want to find out more.
The text colour is white,
connotes innocence and
purity. Which is the total
opposite of the film.
The text colour is white, connotes innocence
and purity. Which is the total opposite of the
film.
The Women in Black

4. • The main visual in the posters are the protagonist
and the villain (women in black). They’re
introduced to the audience before watching the
film.
• The colour scheme of both posters is dark. The
posters look vintage, but the use of the colour black
has great significance as we connote this colour
with death, danger negative energy around us. This
implies that the main character will be in danger
and the villain is the women.

5. Annabelle
The title of the film is shown on both posters in capital.
The font is similar to Sans Serif.
The left poster shows only half of the face of
‘Annabelle’ and blood is dripping out her eye. While
the right poster shows the doll sitting in a chair.
Both have taglines ‘Before
The Conjuring there was
Annabelle’. This informs
the audience that this is a
prequel of ‘The
Conjuring’.
The typical use of males
and females on horror
posters is not reinforced
here. As we only see the
monster (villain).
The poster doesn’t give
much away e.g. the
location, date or other
characters.
Underneath the film title
there is a hashtag
‘#ANNABELLE’.

6. • The poster as others follows the use of dark colours and house-style to set the
mood and atmosphere. The colours are very dark and tedious, the black
connotes death and suffering. The background is pure black and absorbs the
colours of the doll on both posters.
• The doll on the left poster has a tear of blood coming out of the left eye. This
completely overthrows the idea of childhood, innocence and purity. The film will
be seen as dark and disturbing, which the poster has successfully established.
• The use if the taglines informs the audience of previous films that the doll was
in ‘Before The Conjuring there was Annabelle’. For the people that watched ‘The
Conjuring’ they will know that the doll was controlled by a demon.
• The social media hashtag ‘#ANNABELLE’ allows the audience start discussing the
trailer and poster online, therefore actively engage before it is released and
create publicity on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ etc.
• On the right poster ‘COMING SOON’ is printed at the bottom, this tells the
audience that the film will be released in the near future but no specific date
has been given.

7. Scream 4
Release date for the film
is in the same font as the
title and in red.
There is a tagline ‘NEW
DECADE. NEW RULES.’ on both
posters.
The title of the film is
‘SCRE4M’ and not scary.
The number ‘4’ is part of
the film title.
Three characters + villain
shown on the left poster,
while only the villain is
shown on the right poster.
The colour of the poster
are black and grey, the
title and names of actors
are white and red.
The layout is different than
other horror films e.g. the
tagline is at the top of the
page.

8. • The title is in bold and uppercase. It doesn’t look scary as the only letter that
suggest it is an horror (Slasher) is the letter ‘M’ which has a very sharp end
symbolising a knife. They replaced the letter ‘A’ with ‘4’, meaning they’re
showing the sequences of all the films together. My interpretation of the ‘4’ is
that it doesn’t a dark atmosphere to the poster.
• The tagline ‘New Decade. New Rules’ suggests that this film will not be as the
previous ‘Scream’ films. The audience will start thinking that there are new
victims but because of the line ‘New Rules’ the way the villain will kill them
might change.
• Both images are very important, as the left poster shows three protagonist but
they’re covered in the smoke of the iconic Scream mask. This connotes that
they’re trapped and that they’re in his sight. The right poster shows the Scream
mask, but it is shaped as a knife, meaning the villain uses a knife as the murder
weapon.
• The colours of the poster; black, grey, white and red have different meaning.
The black and grey connote darkness and the horror genre. While the white
(names of actors) is innocence and purity, the red connotes gore, danger and
alarm.

9. • The layout of the poster is similar to other horror
posters, but the tagline has been displaced to the
top of the poster and not beneath the film title. On
other posters the tagline adds an explanation to
the poster e.g. ‘Annabelle’ and ‘Women in Black’.

10. Thank You