Recent Horror Market

Mirrors is the most recent horror film released (15th August 2008) about an evil force that exists within the mirrors of a burned out department store, which had been built on the site of an old psychiatric hospital.

I decided to look at the still shot on the Mirrors poster, which to me clearly seems to portray the genre of horror. This is obvious from the minimal use of colour and low-key lighting and the actor’s facial expression.

The director has used a CU shot of his actor looking completely pale and terrified with her eyes wide and mouth gaping open as if she is screaming. The top of her head is intentionally not in frame so that the audience can focus on the distressing eyes that directly address them. It is also interesting the way the director links the image to another of is horror productions The Hills Have Eyes, making the poster work as a whole.

The image also appears central on the poster so to immediately attract the audience’s attention. It seems to be a Low Angle shot making the character gaze down at the audience threateningly. The image is not very sharp and therefore seems to be a reflection tying in with the theme of mirrors. We can also see a crack in the left eye where the image is slightly blurred. This could connote illusions or hallucinations as well as bad luck for the believers of superstition. The crack could also connote some sort of violence.

Over lighting has been used from an artificial source of light creating a torch effect. The over lighting also makes the character’s face seem slightly distorted to make her look like a psycho. The low-key lighting adds to the mystery and suspense of the movie as the audience is unable to see the setting or even the actor’s full expression and body language. Darkness usually connotes the unknown dangers and this effect is emphasised by the colour scheme of black white and red. The colour black creates enigma often connoting the evil dark side or even death and mourning. The white gives the poster a ghostly feels and stands out clearly. The red colour is used to make the title Mirrors distinct from all the other text present. It also connotes danger and we often associate it with blood and therefore violence and death.

Therefore, I think this poster is quite effective in portraying the genre of horror. We can also see its genre conventions by comparing it with other horror film posters like Friday the 13th.

I found that these two posters were quite similar in their use of colour and image. Both posters are dominated by the colour black and involved one central image of a face/mask. Both also use low-key artificial lighting. This underlines the idea that genre films work on the basis of a repetition of elements to help target a film at a particular audience, however they also have some difference. This is evident in my example, as one image is a reflection in a mirror whilst the other is a mask.

Although this film is directed by Alexandre Aja, it is interesting to see how ‘Mirrors’ is a concept used in many films in the horror genre by well known directors like Alfred Hitchcock.
An interesting example can be seen in the film Psycho where we see mirror reflections of Marion Crane whilst she checks into the Motel under the different name and Norman Bates who has a split personality. Here the mirrors reflect both characters double roles.

This is just a brief insight into how genre films work using repetition and difference.
So how will the use of mirrors differ in this new release?