The Return horror film poster analysis

This film poster is advertising ‘The Return’. The main image is of a creepy looking eye which tells us that the film is going to be a horror. The eye is grey with no pupil or iris which automatically makes us think of the undead as it is clearly of a human eye. After looking at the poster a little longer the audience then notices that there is a hand behind the eye to portray that someone or something is trying to get out. This then makes us think that the original owner of this body is trying to get out and is stuck inside unable to control the paranormal being controlling it. This is a very effective way of explaining what the film is going to be about just from one powerful image, and it plays on the audiences fears such as claustrophobia; the fear of confined spaces and being unable to escape. The colours on this poster consist of different shades of grey, green and blue making the overall effect very dull. Textures are also visible around the edges with scratches and ink bleeding which makes the poster look old and mysterious, not to mention scarier. At the top is the text ‘The Past Never Dies. It Kills.’ This is a hook for the audience to look at and analyse. The phrase gets the audience thinking of what possibilities the phrase could mean and in order to find out they will have to watch the film. The text is in white to stand out against the dark colours at the top of the poster. The title ‘The Return’ is at the bottom is in black because at the bottom the image gets lighter, therefore in order to stand out the text needs to be dark. One of the R’s in the word ‘Return’ is flipped round the wrong way, possibly to portray paranormal activity and to show that things are going wrong and are not as they seem to be. The name ‘Sarah Michelle Geller’ is just above this and she is a famous actor and director with a fan base which is a clever way of attracting more people to watch the film. Underneath this in the credit/billing block containing the names of the people involved in the production of the film. Finally at the very bottom of the poster is the text ‘This November Fear Comes Home’ which informs the audience that this is a teaser poster rather than an official release date. This means that the audience will need to be proactive to find out more about the film and it makes them aware that it is coming soon. They will then expect to see it advertised across other media, such as magazines, newspapers, TV adverts and social media with more information about the film.