Analysis of film posters

 
The title of this film is 'Black Christmas' this gives the impression that the film is set around the time of Christmas. The colour black however is not usually associated with Christmas and has connotations of darkness and gloom. The main image consists of a face, with a scared expression, wrapped in Christmas tree lights. It raises the question of, is this a scene out of the film? How does this fit into the rest of the story? It does not necessarily reinforce a central enigma however it does reinforce stereotypical elements of the horror genre. It does this through the iconography of a victim and the scared expression on their face. Another stereotypical element of the horror film poster is the colour scheme of black and red. There are no stars pictured, but they are mentioned in the billing card. The movie's tagline is "This holiday season, the slay ride begins." this contains a double meaning as the idea of a 'sleigh'ride is related to Christmas, yet spelling it as 'slay' introduces the theme of murder. The film offers the audience a new way to look at Christmas and a change to purge any feelings of fear. The target audience appears to be both male and female of about 20-30. The thing that gives this film a difference is the time it is set at. Christmas is usually associated with joy and goodwill, however here, we are asked to look at in a more negative, frightening way.

The films title "The Ring" does not suggest a lot about the film, other than it contains a ring as a central element.The main image is a simple picture constructed of just a ring of what appears to be light, with the film title inside.   It reinforces the central element of the ring and helps to raise questions of what significance it holds. This poster also uses the stereotypical colour of black to show the horror genre. There are no stars pictured or named. The movie's tagline is "Before you die, you see...(the ring)" It  gives just about as much away about the film as the title and imagery, however we now know that people will see  'the ring' before they die, it also directly addresses the audience using the word 'you'. The poster is offering you the chance to find out more about 'the ring' and why people may see it before they die.

The film's title is "30 Days of Night" which suggest themes of darkness, night and mystery. The main image is a vampire looking upwards with it's mouth open. Vampires stereotypically feature in films of the horror genre, it also stays within the general colour scheme of black, white and red. The only star of the film shown, is the vampire, however he is in character and behind an effect and so is unrecognisable as an actor. He is positioned towards the top of the poster above the title. This poster does not show a tag-line but it does tell the audience that it is "based on the graphic novel". Therefore, the audience are being offered a visual, moving image version of the graphic novel. The film is also being released in October, which could be considered stereotypical of a horror film as Halloween takes place in October.

This film has the title "The Uninvited" which has connotations of something unwanted being around or just showing up. The main image is a distorted image of someone looking in from a window, this reinforces the idea of the title as they may have been shunned to the outside. The poster also uses the black and white colour scheme to create a stereotypical horror imagery. The person shown may or may not be one of the stars but is, however not in focus so we can not tell, this person is dressed in a simple grey T-shirt, maybe to allow an element of anonymity. The movie's tagline is "fear moves in" which again reinforces the horror movie stereotype as fear is a feeling often associated with these films. The words "moving in" also create a sense of being followed or almost cornered. The poster tells us that the film is "from the producers of 'the ring' and 'disturbia' which again puts it in the horror genre as it is linked with these two films. This could also be a unique selling point for the film as audiences of these two films will become interested. The film offers audiences a change to experience 'fear moving in' and find out what 'The Uninvited' is.

This film is called "The Exorcism of Emily Rose" which suggests a character of Emily Rose, and the fact that she is being exorcised. The main image is a young girl(presumably Emily Rose) with a distressed expression on her face, clutching a crucifix. The distress on her face allows us to place this film in the horror genre as this is a feeling commonly linked with such films. However we could also argue that this film is a psychological thriller as it contains themes of a supernatural nature, e.g. exorcism. The colour scheme is also black, white and red, hinting at the horror genre. The only star shown is the young girl but we are not told who the actress is, she is placed at the top of the poster, just above the title. She is in profile with her face partially obscured by her hair. She is dressed in quite an old fashioned white dress suggesting that the film is set in the past. There is no tagline but the audience is told that the film is "based on a true story" this could be said to make it more frightening as it is a real fear. This could be the unique selling point of the film, the audience are being offered the experience of this true story.