Horror poster analysis (Nhung Pham)

The ‘Child’s Play’ horror movie poster denotes an image of a male red head doll with wounds on its face, holding a knife in an angry manner. The doll is wearing children’s clothing which is a stripy red, blue and white jumper underneath a denim dungaree. There is a spotlight emphasizing the doll’s face and the vicious emotion. The background is fully black with a red and white title and white writing below the character.


The title of the horror movie which is ‘Child’s Play’ is written boldly in a sans-serif font in white with a deep red shadow which is unusual because ‘child’ is usually combined with soft, bubbly and harmless toys or products. Therefore this immediately warns the audience it may involve children and family in a horror movie, as it is something that they could relate to it which makes it more frightening. The letters are in capital and the letter ‘P’ has a sharp edge to it which may be reminded of a knife. The colour white symbolizes innocence and purity whereas red holds connotations of death, blood, danger and aggression. The clash of colours represents a mixture of negative and positive energy coming from the title ‘Child’s play’. The title of the poster is supposed to be ironic – it is believed to be about ‘child’s play’ however it is not. Children have connotations of innocence therefore by placing ‘Child’ in a horror poster title evokes fear within the audience.

The main image placed on the right side of the poster is of a red head male doll known as ‘Chucky’ who is the main antagonist in the ‘Child’s Play’ horror film series. A doll is usually associated with children however in this poster we can see Chucky holding a knife in an angry gesture which resignifies children’s dolls. The doll holding a knife could suggest the concept of a knife would be killing and murdering therefore could be identified as a slasher horror movie as it usually contains a sharp object often a cutting tool and involving graphic images of blood.

The low key lighting with a spotlight above the dolls head empowers him and placing him as the main evil character which gives the feel of a dark, sinister power that comes from a doll. Usually, dolls are seen as a lifeless product which is now put in the spotlight which may refer to the old days where dolls were traditionally used for magic, religious rituals and possessions. Therefore with history it gives the audience a sense of mystery and the unknown of how the doll is placed on the front poster, holding a knife.

There is a review which says “excellent special effect! It packs a wallop!” placed on the bottom left below the main image. This shows that the movie has been shown and reviewed by the public which gave a good feedback therefore by including it in the poster will persuade the audience to watch the movie and find out for them selves.