a textual analysis on the film poster of Sinister

1. Textual Analysis of

2. The poster

3.  One focal point of the poster is the bold title; the font is typically creepy
and plays on the title ‘Sinister’ – already presenting a supernatural
impression. As well as this, the dark colour of the title contrasts with the
bright background and makes it stand out to the audience.

4.  Like several other horror sub-genres, the film is
produced by the same producer who made other films
which are supernatural and psychological; therefore
this may suggest this film will depict those same
connections. The cracked and deteriorated nature of
the wall paint suggests many ideas, but to my eyes the
representation is that of the physiological – the
demonic presence slowly decaying the mind until the
nightmare becomes real. The tagline under the title is
also very significant as it creates the context for the
narrative, which also links heavily to the image below.

5.  The background of the poster is in itself particularly
grim and dull, which contrasts heavily with the blood-
red image which in turn makes it stand out to the
audience. Underneath the main image is the credit
block. This includes names of people who were
involved in the making of the film. This list gives the
audience the chance to see who is in the film and who
has made it, and if they recognise any names, they can
already begin build a preconception of what the film will
be like, based on their opinion on their previous films.

6.  Once again, typical of the horror genre, there are
no prominent actors or celebrities as the audience
can relate to an unknown character and
emphasise with his or her feelings and emotions.
While the lack of any emphasis on actors make
the narrative and storyline the focal aspect for the
film. Social networking sites such as Facebook
and Twitter are shown below the credits. This
makes the film more accessible to the viewer, and
links in to the development of the Web 2.0, where
the audience can ‘follow’ the movie as it is
released on these websites. This gains a bigger
audience.

7.  Beneath credits are the production company logos,
which again show the audience what to expect as
they may have a reputation for being good or a bad
film companies. At the bottom of the credits the
words ‘COMING SOON’ are shown. This gives no
details as to when the film is going to be released,
creating more of a buzz and excitement for the
viewer. Beneath that is the website for the film,
‘HaveYouSeenHim.com’ this links to the character in
the blood and suggests the film revolves around
‘him’.

8.  The main selling point for the film is the main image, which is equally
disturbing and terrifying. The image itself denotes a pair of angry and
demonic eyes, but with the context of the tagline, once you see him, nothing
can save youcreates a very horrific and fearful atmosphere. The demonic
eyes itself look perfectly into the camera and as a result straight at the
audience’s eyes – very creepy and supernatural feeling. The image is also
drawn by blood, which is typical you see him, nothing can save youcreates
a very horrific and fearful atmosphere. The demonic eyes itself look perfectly
into the camera and as a result straight at the audience’s eyes – very creepy
and supernatural feeling. The image is also drawn by blood, which is typical
of the horror genre as it seems to come from the victim’s hand.