Analysis of The Amityville Horror Poster

The main image on the poster is that of a person with his back to the audience, whilst standing in front of a dark, rural wooden house typical to one you would find in the USA. It has been 'smeared' or 'wiped' by something, to give the impression that you (the audience) is looking out of a dirty window whilst watching the action unfold. The text on the poster is all relatively small, with the title of the film being the largest. It is a very dark poster with little sources of light in the actual image, with the figure wielding some sort of weapon. This suggests that the snapshot could be taking place at night, which is typical of horror genre movies. This immediately helps the audience in realising that this is a horror film. Also, the name of the film, "The Amityville Horror" tells the audience it is from the horror genre as it has it written in the title, which matches up with the sombre mood shown in the image. The Poster uses a very dark and monochromatic colour scheme, with only the title really standing out. The three main colours used are; black, greyish green and red. The dark colours represent the horror theme and have been used in the background image, whereas the red has been used for the film title so that is it stands out to the audience and is easier to read from a distance.

The tag-line for the film is "Based on a true story", which portrays the film as being extra terrifying as it has references to the real world, immediately letting the audience know it can happen and isn't a farfetched tale. The common view is that if a horror movie can, or has been based on a real world event it will be scarier due to the imagination of the viewers who put themselves in the place of the protagonist. Also, at the top of the poster it states, "From Michael Bay, the producer of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre". This informs the audience that the film has got a 'scare factor' to it, as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is viewed to be one of the scariest films of all time, coming in the top 25 of films voted by the public.

Again, like "28 Days Later", there isn't a film rating on the actual poster itself. It leaves the audience to research it in their own time on the internet or at the cinema. Even if the film isn't legally allowed to be shown to some younger audiences, the company doesn't want to turn people away straight away. Even though the BBFC restriction isn't shown on the poster, many people will view it as either a 15 or an 18, as this is the common classification for movies within the horror genre.