This is a poster from the 2012 movie Sinister. I have decided to analyse it because it clearly represents the horror genre. Firstly, the title immediately establishes the movie as a horror. For instance, the word 'sinister' is usually associated with evil and the creepy, oozing font is typical of the genre as it denotes images of horror.
The tag line states "once you see him, nothing can save you". This gives the poster a threatening feel. The action of threatening someone itself is often used in a horror movie when actors want to harm or hurt characters throughout the plot. Perhaps the face painted in blood on the wall is posing a threat towards the girl in the poster. As well as this, the tagline is breaking the forth wall by using the word 'you'. This is a device used to make the audience more involved with the film. It is a warning to the viewers that there is a dangerous character in the content of the movie, which you tend to find in horror films. Taglines are a useful tool to expose the genre of a movie, especially in horror movies. Using threats and warnings as a tagline usually highlights the fact that the movie is going to be thrilling or scary.
Thirdly, you can spot on the poster that there is a large amount of blood in the scene. Blood is an important symbol used throughout horror movies to portray death or murder. However, in this poster, the dripping blood smothered wall is perhaps representing an essence of fear. This is because there is a demonic face illustrated along the decrepit wall. Automatically, this gives the poster an eerie demeaning. Blood is also the colour red, which suggests that there is perilous content within the film. The audience often associates blood and danger to the slasher/horror genre.
To the right of the poster, you can spot a young girl dragging blood across the wall. Viewers can probably determine by this image that she is central to the plot as she is the only person in the picture. Most importantly, she is dressed in all white. An all white dress code implies that she is ghostly or paranormal. The colour white is stereo-typically referred to as supernatural in fictional horror movies. Therefore, her pale appearance tells us that she is rather spectral. She is also facing away from the blood-stained creature on the wall. It could be argued that she is either trying to escape from demonic forces of the evil source by avoiding eye contact or she has been consumed by the power of the phantom. She even could have formed an alliance with him by spreading his icon across the wall. Quite possibly, the idea of possession could link into this imagery. The face on the wall may be controlling her to share his name. Possession is also a key theme relating to the world or horror, as well as paranormal activity.
The devilish face itself gives a frightening atmosphere. It is staring out to the audience which is horrific imagery to display. Overall, this effect will make viewers fear the face in blood on the wall. Most horror films also contain icons. For instance, Freddy Krueger in A Nightmare on Elm Street and Michael Myers in the Halloween franchise are all example of iconic characters who are unique in their own way. The face used in this poster is original to the Sinister franchise and the demon itself, Boguel, is iconic for his pale face, long hair and blacked out eyes. This is a key feature used to identify this movie as a horror.
Finally, you will notice that the background of the poster portrays a decaying scene. Subsided and deteriorated locations are the conventional settings of the genre. Most horror movies feature an ageing house with a paranormal or murderous twist. Therefore, we can see that the scene which the poster is set is collapsing. The cracks in the wall demonstrates this clearly as it tells us that the location is crumbling.
In conclusion, there are many features to this poem that symbolise the horror genre. The public can clearly identify the genre when they notice icons such as the paranormal face, blood and the decomposing setting.
