Thriller Movie Posters (Improved)

Chatroom, 2010

The poster for this film is generally very dark, which indicates that there is a dark theme in the plot. The main character is shown as being quite a lot bigger than the other characters and he is also in the middle, which implies that he has a lot of power over the other characters shown. They are all looking towards him with negative expressions on their faces, including intimidation, fear and worry.

Below them is a setting with five people sitting around on chairs, which suggests that this is the main theme or situation which the characters are in. This is an example of mise en scene - the characters will have been arranged in a specific way and the lighting, props and scenery used have all been constructed in such a way that they convey a certain message. For instance, the floor beneath their feet looks like bars which is a typical thriller film convention. There is a lot of green writing behind the characters at the top of the poster, which is very small and is blurring together. The writing being green reflects the classic “Matrix” style typing. The theme of the Matrix is about altering reality and predicting what will happen in the future, and this is reflected in the poster in the tag line, "Control.Alter.Delete". The eyes either side of the poster signify that someone is constantly watching over the characters and the sinister nature of the eyes imply that this is definitely not a good thing.

Eyes also make people feel rather uncomfortable usually and judging from the rest of the poster this could be something which the creators of the poster wanted to achieve.

American Psycho, 2000

The poster for this film is also very dark. It looks sinister and the expression on the man's face indicates a certain steely nature and an unfeeling. He does not seem at all phased by the large knife in his hand, and it appears that he is turning away from it as if looking for his next victim.

The way that the title is partially obscured could be signifying that the "psycho" side is hidden from society and that it is a secret side to him.

In the main image, the character looks well dressed and well presented, yet in his reflection in the blade is distorted, haggard and the clothes look different too. This shows that when he is presented with a weapon, such as the knife, his entire demeanour changes and he goes from what is most likely a suave professional to something that is unrecognisable.

The entire image is surrounded by darkness, which suggests that he has hidden an awful lot of his personality from a lot of people. They say that the eyes are 'the window to the soul', yet these are totally obscured, yet most of his face is visible. This could be perceived as showing how devoid of a soul this man is.

 Alien, 1979

This poster is shrouded in darkness which it seems is a common theme in thriller movie posters. The blackness in this image shows how isolated the main focus of the movie, the egg, is. The typography used is very spaced apart and this further instills the notion of isolation, which apparently is a very dominant feature. The egg is very old looking, due to it's neutral colour and full of craters, and it has cracked open to reveal something which is greatly juxtaposed to it, due to the bright green hue and eerie looking light coming from within it.

The image below the egg, at the bottom of the image is brought to our attention by the fog descending onto it, which indicates that it is secondary to the main image. This is further supported by the way that it seems that there are humans below, who seem to be bowing down to the egg. This enforces an idea of subordination. As humans are atypically at the top of the food chain, as so to speak, this is an uncomfortable image as there is seemingly something more important than them. Aspects of the humans are unrecognisable, such as there being no clear limbs shown, only skin, which suggests an idea of mutation and abnormality.