This document analyzes and summarizes several horror movie posters: 1) The Friday the 13th poster effectively shows Jason and other characters without spoiling the plot. The black background and red "13" signify the violence. 2) The Battle Royale poster introduces the main characters and weapons, hinting this is not a normal school film and the characters will lose their identities. 3) The Halloween poster uses an orange theme to represent chaos and destruction. Mike Myers holds his mask while looking at past versions, implying he's lost his former self. 4) The Dracula poster uses red text and a suggestive woman to promote the vampire and sexual themes. It outlines the adult rating and star-

1. Analysis of Existing Horror
Posters
Karanveer Sohal

2. The background is a solid
black, this shows the
nature of the film just from
the poster.
Here we see an outline of the main
antagonist, Jason Vorhees. This is
showing us one of the main
characters so we can almost
familiarise ourselves with the
character before we see the film.
Here we see the other characters
that are in the film. This is
effective as we have somewhat
of an idea of what to expect
when we watch the film.
The title of the film. The ‘13’ being covered in red is
symbolic of the blood that will be spilt in the movie.
The tagline of the movie. It tells us a
brief, one sentence synopsis of the
film to get us interested in the plot
Here we see the setting for some of
the film. It is a camp by a lake
which has a huge significance to
what happens that leads Jason to
murder.
The murder weapon. This tells
us straight from the poster that
he uses a knife/machete type
weapon.

3. Conclusion
• This poster for the first Friday the 13th film is effective. The outline of
Jason and the inside of him containing the camp, lake and the victims
is used well. This shows how just from the poster alone we see the
majority of the plot, but without spoiling anything. This is also seen
with the tagline. It, much like the images used in the poster reveals
the story without spoiling the main plotline. The white silhouette
with the black background brings out Jason and gives off the idea that
he is bigger than everything and that he is the biggest problem.

4. Both of these people are the main characters in the film. We see them wearing a necklace type
device which we find out in the film are pivotal to the plot of the film.
The words used in the title of the
film imply that the film will be on the
bloodier/violent side. The red colour
used implies that this as well as the
colour red is often linked blood and
violence, it is used to foreshadow
the bloodshed in the film.
These are the weapons
that some of the
characters use in the film.
The tagline that is used
almost strikes fear into
your heart.
The background is a grey/black
blend. The choice of this brings
out the characters in the poster
as the colour is a contrast to the
white on their uniform. This is
specifically used to get the
audience to try and distinguish
the characters, which is ironic as
the characters have no face on
the poster.
The attire of the
characters are that of
traditional Japanese high
schoolers. This tells us
that the story will revolve
around these students.

5. Conclusion
• This is the poster fro the Japanese horror film ‘Battle Royale’. The
poster shows two of the characters that the story revolve around.
The fact that they put the weapons in the poster shows that this is
not a normal high school film. The fact that they haven’t shown the
characters faces ties into the story as it takes away their normal
personalities and changes them due to the situation that they have
been placed in.

6. The tagline. This tagline strikes a
little fear into your heart as it is true
to an extent.
Right above the title is the name of the
director. It is positioned here as Rob
Zombie is an established director,
musician and actor and the positioning
of his name might bring a new audience
in that has not seen his films, but seen
his other endeavours.
The title follows the main orange
colour scheme of the poster and
the film itself. I feel that the
colour orange is used throughout
to signify its fire connotation
which brings out a chaotic theme,
a theme that is present in the film.
In the background of the
poster we see the mask of the
main antagonist, ‘Mike Myers’.
Within the face e see several
images from the past
Halloween films, showing that
this part of a historical saga.
This is the main
character/antagonist Mike
Myers holding his mask and
weapon, his kitchen knife. The
way that he’s holding his mask
and looking at the big one in
the background implies that
he’s just a shell of his past self.
Here we see the
director and cast credits
which have become
normal in film posters
over time.

7. Conclusion
• The orange theme(danger, destruction) that is present through the
poster is used as it connotes the events that will take place in the film.
The positioning of the tagline and the tagline itself is striking as the it
implies that evil is all around us. The title with the directors name is
also significant as the director Rob Zombie is carrying on a long line of
films and with this edition he is acknowledging all the past ones. We
see this with the poster as the mask in the background of the poster
has a variety od scenes from past Halloween movies. This coupled
with the positioning of Mike holding his mask imply that he's
figuratively looking back at his former self and the decisions that he
made, which will tie into the overall plot of the movie.

8. The tagline has been
positioned at the top of
the page so that it hits our
eye. It does this by using a
‘spooky’ font that is yellow,
which stands out on the
black background.
The red that is used in the
title connotes the subject
of the movie itself. As we
know Dracula is a vampire
that drinks blood, and the
use of the red font
signifies this.
This poster tells us some of
the star studded cast that
are in the film, and the role
they play.
Unlike more modern film posters,
this poster tells us the age ratig of
the film, and as it’s a horror with
quite sexual themes throughout, it
is an adult only film.
Following the sexual
themes of the film, we
see what looks to be on
of the main women in
the film. The way she is
positioned with her
attire, such as her low
cut top embraces and
promote the sexual
these of the film
through this poster.
The main character himself,
Dracula. We see him looking as
if he’s going to drink this
women's blood. This has been
put n the poster as it happens
through the move, and people
that see the poster will get an
idea of what the film will be
about.

9. Conclusion
• With this poster being a lot older than the others, you can see the
differences. The way that the poster was positioned and the themes
that have been implied could probably not be allowed in this day and
age. However the poster itself is quite effective in telling us about the
film, without spoiling anything. The fact it outlined the actors names a
was used to bring people in, because at that time, Christopher lee
was a huge actor, and is due the fact that he is in this film would have
brought a audience in due to this poster. This shows that eve thought
it a poster from the late 50s, it is still an effective movie poster.