Poster Analysis 5: House at the End of the Street

• The layout of this poster is very interesting as it is almost split in half with two completely separate images. The handle/knob at the bottom indicates that a door is used to split the poster into two halves. The inclusion of the two different images instead of just one is interesting and allows more insight into different aspects of the narrative, characters and location. 
• The audience can clearly see that the poster is a poster for a horror film because it includes many icons associates with this specific genre. Firstly, we see the prop of a knife used in the poster, held by the female character. Knives are stereotypical of horror films as they give connotations of danger and violence and sometimes death, therefore they are used regularly as props or weapons, often carried by the antagonist to make them look more threatening. 
• The second icon of the horror genre in the poster is the old, scary looking abandoned house. Houses can be used in all films as they can be very different and are conventional of everyday life, however the image of this specific house is iconic of conventional locations or narrative features in horror films with its broken windows and it's falling apart wood. Broken windows and other similar features are representative of the house being abandoned. This attracts the target audience as it encourages them to question why the house would be abandoned, did something happen there, is it haunted, is it even abandoned at all or is something still inside? 
• The house is surrounded by trees implying that it may be located in the middle of a woods or somewhere quiet in the middle of nowhere. This again links to the genre as stereotypically horror films are set in secluded locations because then if violence or killing happens, nobody will know or be able to help. This makes the whole idea more scary as the characters are meant to seem alone and helpless against the antagonist. Audiences who have proven to like horror films in the past will recognise locations/houses similar to this from previous films they've watched and will therefore be interested in the film as aspects of it already appeal to their desire for fear when watching scary films. 
• Star system is used as a way of promoting the film and attracting a more tent-pole audience. Jennifer Lawrence is a successful and well known actress and she is included as the biggest and most prominent image on the poster, her name is also the only actors name included at the top of the poster and covers the whole width of it. Her importance is emphasised by the image and her name both being included so prominently in the poster, this is because the film producers/distributors want the actress to be associated with this film as she is recognised for being talented and so hopefully if people see her on the poster they will associate her talent with the film and anticipate that the film will be entertaining.
• The female characters stance gives away quite a lot about her role in the film. Often, if a character is holding a knife we stereotypically and subconsciously assume that they are the antagonist. However, the way this character is stood hiding behind the door, with her back against the wall and the knife down by her side doesn't conform to the stereotype of the antagonist holding the weapon. The female looks scared and isn't holding the knife out in an aggressive way, but down by her side to use in case she has too. The idea that she is hiding offers the suggestion that she is the protagonist and is holding the knife, but only to defend herself if she really needs to, her body positioning and worried facial expression back up this idea. 
• The colour scheme for the poster uses black and yellow as it's main colours. Black is often associated with the horror genre as it gives codes of darkness and mystery and also, many horror films are set at night-time so this is another reason that black is stereotypically a colour included on horror posters. 
• The yellow coloured typography is intended to look sharp and blade-like and is representative of the knife the female character is holding. The thin lines underneath some of the words in the Title are intended to look like slices or cuts, further supporting and symbolising the idea of the knife being used as a weapon for violence.