Director: Darren LynnBousman
Producer: Mark Burg Production/financing Company: Evolution/Twisted Pictures
Actors: Tobin Bell Costas Mandylor Scott Patterson Lyriq Bent Betsy Russell
Films Origin/Info: 4th film out of a 7 film franchise
Synopsis: The Police find Detective Kerry dead and the SWAT commander Rigg is traumatised with the mutilated corpse, although he is traumatised he adamantly persists to save Detective Eric Mathews that has been missing for six months but unfortunately Hoffman asks Rigg to take a vacation and leave the case. SWAT Commander Rigg is then abducted and thrown into a new game; he is the last surviving officer who has 90 minutes to complete some blood curdling tasks in order to save his old friend or face death. The main Protagonist Jigsaw and his apprentice Amanda are also now dead. During Jigsaw’s autopsy a video tape is found in his stomach. John Kramer the Coroner calls Detective Hoffman. Detective Hoffman alongside Agent Strahm and Agent Perez join Hoffman’s team to investigate the legacy of jigsaw.
This poster denotes a long shot of a lady in a dark room, sitting on what seems to be some sort of torture chair wearing high heels and a swine mask. There are many connotations associated with the Pig, in ancient Chinese culture the pig was seen as a sign of virility, strength and fertility, however providing the context in which this pig is used; there are also some negative connotations which are more relevant to the conventions of horror, in Islam the pig is seen as sloth and impure, thus it is forbidden to eat. The idea of the pig being forbidden gives the image connotations of danger, which is appropriate to the conventions of horror to be dangerous and cause fear. Moreover, the main prop, the torture chair, otherwise known as the Judas chair which was used in medieval times as a method to derive a confession or information from the victim equally has negative connotations of death, its main strength was the psychological fear it evoked on potential victims.
The woman in the image is wearing a red cloak; the colour red has some negative connotations such as guilt, sin, passion and anger, blood and sacrifice. In the context of this particular poster, abstract nouns such as sin, anger and sacrifice are the most relevant to horror as they are in the semantic field of death. On the contrary, red also represents promiscuity; it is evident that in this poster some of the costume worn by the antagonist also has connotations of promiscuity. The sexual innuendo connoted with High heels makes them extremely symbolic for female domination, the phallus and erotica.
The antagonist has a hidden identity, this elaborates the idea of promiscuity as the perpetrators of such sin are usually unrevealed. The only implications we get which helps to reveal the identity of the antagonist are clues derived from the high heels which connote the idea of the antagonist being female. The female can also be very symbolic in terms of horror, in medieval times females were seen as the devils advocates; species who just like the devil used their sexual advances in order to influence males to commit sin, additionally the idea of the antagonist being female also subverts from the usual stereotype that the antagonists in horror films are usually males.
The main anchorage in the image ‘Saw’ is bright red, it has connotations of blood and anger, also the font has been composed with blunt, messy edges to resemble the image of blood splatter, this relates to the genre of the horror film as ‘slasher’s’ and ‘splatter’s’ usually contain lots of graphic images of blood. The use of the roman numerals ‘IV’ help to give the text a sense of being ancient and thus it accentuates the idea of it being forbidden. The bright red colour compliments the low-key black background; it also ensures that the text is clearly visible. Additionally, the text is large and bold, also composed directly in the centre of the main image, this insures that the text is easy to establish.
The tag line ‘it’s a trap’ is situated directly under the image, it’s a declarative and so its main purpose is to inform and in this case evoke fear from the audience. Additionally, the word ‘noun’ trap emphasises the idea that that the film is forbidden. In context to the image, the antagonists right leg is shackled to the torture chair, the shackle represents imprisonment which makes a lot of implications to the storyline, the possibility that someone in the plot will be imprisoned. The colour of the text is white which compliments the black background, the text is small and so the white ensures that the text remains clear to see.
The antagonist is situated directly in the centre of the image; this composition insinuates power and order. The composition of the image seems organized which makes the implication that the film will include some sort of organized crime.
The low-key lighting and Scratch mark graphics help to give the image a very ominous tone, it suggests the idea of savageness as the image seems dark and barbaric.
Ultimately, this poster follows most of the conventions of horror, the idea of torture and the anonymous antagonist gives the poster a sense of mystery and thriller. The use of low-key lighting, vibrant reds and whites connotes the idea of danger and fear an this is the key characteristics and purpose of horror, to summon fear.
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