Horror Movie Poster Analysis

Although there are many genres especially with in horror, they are all linked with horror itself as the main purpose of the film is to scare or “horrify” the audience.

The Blair witch project

It seems like the poster is being pictured or filmed by a hand held camera. This seems like that this poster is taken from a shot of the film resulting in the audience thinking that this is therefore filmed by a hand held camera.By having the hand held camera it creates a sense of audience interactivity by having hand held cameras so it pragmatically comes across that it will be a fast paced real life event. The hand held camera gives it a unnatural angle that doesn’t go with the codes and conventions of normal camera filming so you think that this is different from other films or it might actually be something that has happened in real life. Also the audience could own a hand held camera aswell therefore engaging with the audience by having them relate to the person in the poster.

It contains many aspects, which are associated with the codes and conventions of psychological and the horror genre in general. The most common use of conventions is the use of the colour black, the connotes events, death, mystery and other factors that will get the movie buzz going, this results in the audience being intrigued to find out what the colour black represents or why it is featured in the poster so heavily.

As the poster contains a extreme close-up shot of a person in the poster, the audience is pelted with an expression of despair and horror, as if its trying to ask for help as the person in the poster is being hunted down. The facial expression enhances this by having the eyes wide open and looking into the camera. This seems like it is trying to contact the audience and looking “you” in the eye. This extreme close-up shot also makes the audience feel uncomfortable as it is feeling like the person in the poster is violating his/her private space.

Having the camera looking up at the person in the poster, it seems like the person is in control and could be the protagonist in the movie who could be in danger.Having everything else dark in the poster could suggest that there is something out in the dark that you cannot see and the only way to do so is go and watch the movie.By having trees in the poster, it could suggest that the protagonist is in the woods, this connotes that he/she is alone and no one is the to help as it is away from the city which is linked to safety here meaning that the person in the poster is isolated in the woods with no help.

Having everything else dark in the poster could suggest that there is something out in the dark that you cannot see and the only way to do so is go and watch the movie.By having trees in the poster, it could suggest that the protagonist is in the woods, this connotes that he/she is alone and no one is the to help as it is away from the city which is linked to safety here meaning that the person in the poster is isolated in the woods with no help.

The Unborn

The “evil will do anything to live” tagline suggests that evil has no mercy and tells us that the protagonist, who is the woman in the poster, will be forced to fight this (evil). Having the tagline next to the boy in the mirror pragmatically tells us that he may be the fault of this or even be the evil in the movie, also his somewhat transparent reflection added to his pale face makes us think that it is a ghost or something else but not a human as this is the conventions of many horror films. Also the reflection of the boy is not there in real life indicates that this issomething of another world and is not human or from this world.

If you have seen the movie you would know that the boy is the woman’s unborn twin and the boy is represented by the word “the”. You can see that the word “the” is inside the letter ‘O’ this tells us that the letter ‘o’ represents a womb and “the” is trying to escape as the unborn child is trying to escape the womb.

Having the woman not wearing much clothes comes across her being fragile and vulnerable also because she is a female this backs it up as in horror movies the conventions are that the female cannot protect herself and is vulnerable to danger. “The Unborn” is in white; this is done so that it stands out over the poster especially as the poster is dark and gloomy. Having the black background, it represents death and evil and this is trying to show contrast although still being of evil. The sink seems to be designed in an archaic form, this suggests that this picture may be taken in an old location such as a haunted house resulting in the indication of the horror conventions and seems to follow its rules.

The UNinvited

The person or thing in the picture catches your attention, which is the main selling point in the film as audiences will want to know who or what it is. Assuming that it is a female character because of her ling hair and the characteristics of her hand, it is staring directly into who ever is looking at the poster, this is the same as The Blair Witch Project and The

Grudge as all three posters are looking at the audiences eyes trying to not just get their attention but also establishing a relationship between them, another theory is that it is trying to scare the audience which is the main purpose of the film. It engages the audience to go and see this film by staring at the audience but having the face blacked out, this suggests that something is about to appear and something scary is there which is a good way to persuade audience to view this film.

Although she is wearing clothing that might make her seem fragile, vulnerable and innocents, her is face is still blacked out which suggests that she is hiding a secret and in fact she is not so innocent after all but actually the opposite. It seems like the picture is taken from inside of the house and this itself sets a border which suggests that either the outside of the house or the inside is not safe and it is because of the person looking through the window. It seems like she is trying to look for something or to see if anyone is home which tells us that she is evil and is hunting for something or someone suggesting the name ‘The Uninvited” as it is not welcome there because it is trying to kill the person inside.Again the use of the woods in the poster connotes that they are alone and isolated so no one is there to help them. The glass looks stained as it comes in contact with the house, this could be by the girl coming in contact with the window itself and also the window pane looks worn which connotes that it is an old house just like in ‘The Unborn’. A realness of the spirit or girl in the poster is created, as it seems like the film title has been written by hand. The white font colour of the font represents a spirit or ghost that may be included in the film. With the tagline “Fear Moves In” despair and that you cannot scape from it as it is linked with person in the poster and the name of the film. This goes well with the film title as it suggests that what ever that ting is, it is unwelcome but it still effects them as it “moves In” one way or another.