Research and Planning: 'House Of Wax' Poster Analysis

Genre

Straight away we can see that the poster is for a Horror film, the main image is of a distorted woman in which she is in an eerie green colour, which is associated with moss and disgusting imagery. The shot is a close up, which is ensuring that the audience can see closely the pattern in which is emerging from her face, the effect is of dripping wax which is to relate to the title of the film. We can also see that it is horror by the way that the close up of the woman appears to have no eyes, which is disturbing to some people and is seen in many horror films. We can also see that the poster has a slogan saying 'Prey. Slay. Display' which is a catchy little slogan for the film, however the chosen words are quite distressing and often seen within horror trailers and posters, with the word 'Display' bringing in the film's plot twist and makes the audience wonder what it could mean by display.

Representation 

The first thing that the audience looks at is the main image which is of the woman, this is stereotypical and the audience will be able to see this as woman are stereotyped as weak and vulnerable and by showing that this woman in the image has obviously been captured or killed, she is shown as the first one to die, therefore playing on the stereotype of women. She is also represented to be quite disgusting though as the effect on the image seems to be that of her dripping wax, which when seen by the audience can give quite different reactions. Whereas normally the women are represented as girly and inviting, therefore this makes the poster more interesting and makes the audience want to see it.

Audience

We can see from the close up of the disturbing image and the slogan 'Prey. Slay. Display' that the film will be for an older audience. The age certificate of the film is a 15, which shows us that the film is not for children, which the audience can already gather from the creepy slogan. I think that by using the image of a woman who seems to have no clothes on, the audience might be aimed more towards a male audience as the woman could look desirable, and it also shows that there is to be other women in the film who might also showcase some kind of nudity. However it could also be aimed at women, as stereotypically girls do not agree with each other, the poster could be aiming it at women so that they will be able to see the pretty girl die. Which stereotypically is what some women would want to see. As we see that the slogan says 'Display' which could show to the audience some kind of plot twist that a younger audience might not understand.

Narrative

After looking up the plotline of the film, I can see that the poster relates to the film very well. The plot is that there is a House of Wax in a deserted town and two twin brothers have been killing the towns people and making them into wax figures. When six teens stumble upon this they have to survive without becoming the next exhibit. I can see that the tagline also relates to the film as the twin brothers would 'Prey' on their victims, 'Slay' their victims, and then 'Display' their victims in the Wax House. 

Media Language

The rhythmic sound of the slogan and the rhyme which is used makes the slogan stick in the audience's head which creates a wider synergy around the film, making it reach a wider audience. The close up used of the woman's face is the main focus of the poster as the audience is immediately drawn to the image. The title of the film is done in a normal looking font, however with some sort of glowing effect on it which reminds the audience of some sort of Carnival, which then relates to the House of Wax as they are a public attraction, much like what a Carnival is.