Insidious Film Poster Analysis

Insidious was made by the makers of Paranormal Activity and Saw. Referring to this on the poster draws an audience in as they already know it will be a good film as it is made by the people who have already produced two good selling films.

The title of the film stands out clearly as it is mostly in a strong white colour against a dark background. The style of the title is also unique as part of the title is red. The connotations of red are danger and blood. This suggests to the audience that the film has a dangerous dark side to it. The word Insidious means 'Intended to entrap' which gives a clue to what the film is about.

The main image on this poster is a sinister looking boy in front of an old big house. The big old house in the background is a typical convention of a horror film.  The sinister looking boy goes against the average codes and conventions of a young boy as young boys are perceived as being ‘good’. This could relate to Claude’s theory of binary oppositions as the boy is opposite to normal boys. This could draw an audience to the film as the audience want to know why he’s different.

The main image has a short depth of field as the boy is in focus and the house is out of focus. This gives a subtle hint to what the film is about. The main focus of the poster is the boy and not the house, which is unusual for a horror film as most of them take place in a big old house. This will draw in a bigger audience as they will believe it is different to other horror films they have seen.

Most of the main images colours are all drained. This gives the film poster a dark and eerie feeling. The boy’s pyjamas are red which suggests danger towards the boy. Also, because the image is of the boy in his pyjamas, the audience may think, ‘why he is in his pyjamas, is there something wrong with him?’ this gets the audience thinking and encourages them to watch the film as they want to find out why. Having a dull main image makes the title of the film stand out. 

Also, inside the boys eye, the word insidious is written there. This could suggest to the audience that something supernatural is wrong with the boy. I think this will draw an audience as I find films with supernatural children is are scary as it is opposite to what they are perceived to be. 

The tagline ‘It’s not the house that’s haunted’, is a quote from the film and the teaser trailer. This tagline encourages people to see the film as they want to know what haunted if the house isn’t. This relates to Barthes Enigma theory as the audience want to solve the mystery of the film and therefore will watch it.

Having the actors and actresses names on the film poster also attracts an audience. This attracts an audience because if someone is a big fan of Patrick Wilson, then they may decide to watch this film as he is one of the main actors in Insidious.

There is a billing block at the bottom of the poster. A billing block is a condensed block of writing that contains, companies, directors and other cast members and crew. This will attract the target audience as they may realise their favourite actor or director starred or directed the film. This will encourage them to watch the film as they are interested in their work. 

There are also the film institutions at the bottom of the poster. These are the company's logos that created Insidious. These help identify what genre the film is as most film companies stick to a certain genre, for example, Working Title productions tend to make romantic comedies.