Movie Posters

I believe the poster for 'The Strangers' is effective as it tells us a very basic plot line just using an image. From the man in the background we can tell that the story is based around an intruder, or intruders, in the character (Liv Tyler) in the foreground's home. From the image we can also tell that a theme in this film may be isolation as Liv Tyler's character is standing in the middle of the room alone and not actually doing anything.  The fact that she is unaware of the character in the background suggesting that the film is more psychological than it is gory. The poster also tells us that the film is "inspired by true events", which it vaguely is (The Manson Family murders), this is is often a pull factor for horror fans films based on true events often have a tone to them that makes them more believable and therefore more scary.

The poster for 'The Orphanage' also works well as again it tells us something about the story without giving too much away. The almost transparent characters in the background suggest that the story will be revolved around the paranormal/supernatural and the old fashioned stately home backdrop and the fact that it is made by Guillermo Del Toro suggests that it will be visually pleasing.

The poster for 'The Ring' is very simple yet still very chilling. The distortion in the picture gives it a creepy vibe as does the font that is used. The tagline is scary in the way that it does not give anything away except that there is something to fear. The poster tells us nothing about the cast or director outside of the billing block at the bottom suggesting that the main selling point for the film is the story line which would appeal very much to the indie film audience as they are 'too cool' to be bothered by famous actors and directors.

TS