Title Deconstruction

I decided to deconstruct titles from supernatural horrors to get an idea about common conventions are for names, as well as font styles and colour schemes. In particular I wanted to focus on possession films, so I firstly looked at the poster for 'The Possession':

• Main colours: blacks, greys, greens
• Image itself indicates possession as 'mist' emanates from her body - on tiptoes, being pulled up
• Costume - dirty nightgown, looks quite old fashioned, very little-girl esque.
• 'Based on a true story' tag, adds realism and makes audience feel more scared knowing it's real
• Font: all capitals, use of 'serifs' on top of letters, looks quite formal and professional, distorted lines go through the word 'possession', looks like a sideways crucifix, adding to the religious element, white to contrast with the dark background
• Clear title, lets audience know exactly what the film is about, appropriate for genre

The Last Exorcism

 

• Greys, blacks main colours
• Shadows, grey wall, unnaturally bent girl, all of these things indicate possession
• Crucifix on the wall again indicates possession and is appropriate for genre
• Font again is all in capitals, however the letters themselves are different sizes, (baseline and capline differ)
• Font is black to be seen on light background 
• Similar to above, white nightgown with blood / dirt  - resembling possession
• 'The' in font is smaller, 'exorcism' is biggest, shows most important word in title
• Clear title, lets audience know the film is about possession / exorcism

The Exorcism of Emily Rose

• Whites, reds, blacks - quite conventional, however red is quite unique. Could have connotations of evil / hell
• 'Based on a true story' tag line
• E and M are larger than the rest, to make space for 'of Emily Rose' below
• Letters are red and black - again blood / hell
• Quite thin font, in comparison to the others, letter spaced further apart. Uses ascenders rather than straight tops on some of the letters - makes it look more religious in my opinion
• Word exorcism again featured in title. Using the name of the possessed girl helps with realism, gives the character an identity which seems realistic
• White gown, dirty / bloody, exactly the same as the previous ones

The Devil Inside

• All dark colours in background - red and black. White scrawls / scribbles also in background
• Nun with 'demon' eyes / blind ? Adds a religious element to the poster - looks quite fake
• 'Inspired by true events' tag at the top - adds realism, therefore more scary
• The font itself is all capitals, white with black markings - similar to the possession typography fill
• The backwards D is interesting as it implies something is 'backwards', which is appropriate for the genre.
• Also has serifs like The Possession, rather than flicks or ascenders. 
• Again, uses a pretty straight forward name that tells the audience exactly what the film is about.

Sinister

• Grey/white/black/red
• Font itself, very spaced out, 'dripping' or staining effect from the letters, matchers the image below, the dripping face of the demon
• Girl in white pyjamas like the above films - she seems possessed or in a trance
• 'From the producers of' helps audience see that this film is supposed to be good as Paranormal Activity and Insidious were big hits
• Quite a fine font, a serif font, all letters same size
• Name is an adjective meaning: giving the impression that something harmful or evil is happening or will happen = suggests something bad

From these examples alone, it is clear titles with 'THE' are quite popular and conventional within this genre. Other examples:

• The Exorcist
• The Shining
• The Possession
• The Devil Inside
• The Rite
• The Unborn

However, I think an interesting new way of naming a horror is by using an adjective e.g. 'Insidious' or 'Sinister'. Using words that are synonymous with evil/death/possession could be the best way to tell the audience what our film is about. Otherwise, a title to do with possession could be good e.g. the hold / the holding. The use of serifs in all of these fonts shows the gothic origins within possession and the mainly black and red colours reflect this too. They all use a different type though, whether it is dripping or smearing, to add their own twist. More recent films use greys and blues throughout their titles which adds a modern twist.