Advertising Horror: A Multimodal Discourse Analysis of Horror Film Posters

Abstract

This study examines horror film posters, an essential tool in a film promotional campaign, to investigate how the genre’s central appeal of horror is constructed within the constraints of a single static page to “sell” the film. A metafunctional analysis is conducted on 20 top-grossing American horror film posters, using Kress and van Leeuwen (2021) visual grammar for visual images and Halliday and Matthiessen’s (2014) systemic functional linguistics for taglines. Focusing on visual character depiction, image-viewer relations, and tagline analysis, the article indicates that although visual images and taglines appear independent with limited correlation between the two transitivity systems, these two components employ similar strategies to construct horror, which are: provocation, viewer involvement, and heightened realism. These common strategies suggest a special way of interaction between the two modes: they convey a unified concept without explicitly repeating information. These strategies also reflect a subtler approach to horror that shifts the focus from external horror to internal psychological disturbance, making the posters more interactive, aesthetically appealing, and suitable for public display.