Sinister Film Poster

 

 

This is the film poster for the film Sinister which is a horror film. At first glance of the film poster it looks strange which will make the audience look twice to see what it is. It is easy to make out that when you see this poster it is advertising a horror film. This is because there is blood dripping down the wall where it is clear that the girl in the picture has scraped her hand across leaving that trail behind. There is also a creepy face hidden within the blood trail which will make the audience question what is that and want them to watch the movie to find out what it is. It will cause the audience to make predictions such as that is the face that may possess someone or haunt someone. This is effective because already before the film is released it has people thinking about the film which will cause them to want to watch the movie.

The girl in this photo is also an important factor to this poster because it is clear that from the poster that the girl is the main character because usually the people/person that is on the front of a film poster they are usually the main character in the storyline. Usually in films the children are presented as the innocent characters in a film but however there is a history in horrors that these are the ones that get possessed. As you can see by this poster it is obvious that this girl isn’t innocent because the poster makes it look like she is the one that has caused the weird, disturbing blood trail. This indicates she is will be the character in the movie that will be affected by something or she is the one that will be possessed. Horrors are also mainly set in the night because it is always dark and the front cover reflects this because the girl is in her pyjamas which you wouldn’t wear in the day therefore this indicates clues as to the film being a quite dark and scary film that will be set at night.

Usually horror film posters are quite dark to make it look scarier and adding mystery to the poster but this poster is quite light. This is the light source shows off the blood trail the girl has left behind to make it clear to the audience, but it also shows the half derelict and dirty wall behind the girl. This setting suits the horror film because it makes the storyline creepier if the setting is creepy. If a horror film was set in a perfect nice house it wouldn’t be as effective as a creepy dark derelict house. Therefore this location is made clear by the light source giving off a creepier effect to the audience.

The poster doesn’t give that much away to the audience it leaves a lot to the audiences imagination which means that people aren’t necessarily going to be right about the conclusions they make, therefore this will make them want to see the film. This fits in with Barthes Enigma Code which is a media theory that says there is a puzzle that needs to be solved. This film poster is a presents a perfect example of that.

At the top of the poster it says ‘From the producer of Paranormal Activity and Insidious’. This is effective because both of these films are really successful horror films that have been popular with an audience and made a lot of money. This means that by putting this on the poster it already attracts people that want to see this movie especially if they found the other films good.

Under this the title of the film is wrote quite big above the girl that read ‘Sinister’ written in the same effect as the dripping blood trail. The bottom of each letter is smudged down the wall which is really effective because if the writing was written perfect it wouldn’t suit the horror genre. It needs to look messy and scary therefore the text they have used to do this will make the poster more appealing. Then just under the main title there is a sentence that reads ‘Once you see him, nothing can save you’. This sentence adds suspense to the poster and makes the audience question when you see what? This sentence makes the audience question a lot of things about the film and puts loads of thoughts into their heads which is a good thing because it gets them thinking about the film, hoping that they go to see the film to find out.