Deconstruction of Slasher Typography:

Deconstruction of typography used in Slasher films:

~ I looked at the typography of different slasher films to see what aspects and characteristics we could incorporate into our own title. I decided to use two well-known but slightly older films Halloween and Friday the 13th to see how they compared to two more recent slashers, Trick 'r Treat and Saw IV. 

Halloween poster.

Halloween: (1978)

~ Halloween was one of the first successful slasher films to contain characteristics of what would become the slasher genre and inspired a long succession of slasher films afterwards.

~ As you can see, the background of the poster is completely black, which makes the film title and tag line stand out more. The title 'HALLOWEEN', is capitalised orange with a white outline and the font is quite simplistic, the use of the colour orange reflects the text as orange is commonly associated with Halloween. 

~ The tag line 'The Night HE Came Home', is white and against the black background, this exaggerates the opposites theme, good and evil etc. It is also in a simplistic font and the word 'he' is in a slightly bigger font and in italics to express the fact that this man is well-known and everybody knows who is and now he is coming back home.

Friday the 13th poster.

Friday the 13th: (1980)

~ Along with Halloween, Friday the 13th was another early successful slasher film which helped the slasher genre become more popular and acknowledged. It is considered the first slasher film thriving with graphic violence to help it achieve mainstream popularity.

~ The title 'Friday the 13th' is all in white, apart from the number '13' which is partly red to symbolise dripping blood and to put emphasis on the fact that it's only when it is Friday the 13th and not any other date. It is all in capitals and the font is also quite simple, it looks like the letters have been scratched onto somewhere, this is effective as it reminds the viewer of a knife or a sharp object.

Trick 'r Treat poster.

Trick 'r Treat: (2007)

~ Trick 'r Treat is another slasher film set around Halloween and the typography on the poster reflects this. The font of the title resembles the lines that sparklers make when you wave them in the are, usually seen around Halloween/Bonfire Night, enforcing the theme. The background of the poster looks like a street with a lot of mist and the light is on a small figure sitting next to a pumpkin, dressed in some sort of Halloween costume. This is effective as it makes the idea of Halloween more creepy and scary.

Saw IV poster.

Saw IV: (2007)

~ Saw IV is the fourth film in the 'Saw' franchise, which follows the story of 'Jigsaw' who sets up deadly traps for people, and if they don't manage to find a way out, they die. The title of each 'Saw' film uses the same font with the Roman numerals of the number of the instalment next to it, (I, II, III, IV, V, VI) so it is familiar to the public. The colour of the font is red, again to symbolise blood and this is also matches the red of the cloak covering the person in the trap (although we can see the person is wearing heels, indicating it's a woman). The rest of the poster is black and white, as black, white and red are the three main colours associated with horror, gore and violence.