Orphan Poster Analysis

Orphan is a horror film that was released in 2009 as a psychological thriller, directed by Jaume Collet-Serra. The film is based on a couple who have recently been trying for a baby but after the death of their unborn child they decide to adopt a mysterious nine year old girl. The poster for this film itself is not at first obviously frightening like most horror posters you see. It is quite conventional for a horror poster to use a gory or terrifying image on their poster as it is more likely to intrigue the audience into the happenings within the film and what is causing all the trouble. Despite not covering these conventions I believe that this poster is still very powerful in portraying a feeling of fear and wonder into the audience. The image used is a split screen, so that each side is completely identical to the other so that the girl looks completely perfect and mirrored. Use of children within horror films has become increasingly popular, especially with the children being the problem/villain. The main subject of this poster is the young girl – Esther – perfectly positioned in the middle of the frame with not a hair out of place. The use of children as the villain is very unnerving for adults due to the fact that adults – especially ones who are parents themselves – expect to be in charge of children and be able to stop them getting into mischief and danger. The idea of a child being able to cause such grief that they can’t stop or control and potentially bringing death upon them appears terrifying to the adults. Another reason why it is so terrifying for both adults and children is that in horror films it is bad enough when a member of the audience can relate to one of the victims of the killer, but when they can relate to, or are bringing up someone who relates to the psycho killer in a film it will put the audience on edge and make them begin to fear for their own life. This is why I think the main image on a whole from this poster is very powerful when it comes to unnerving the audience. The text at the top of the poster states in capitals ‘THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG WITH ESTHER’ this and the child’s devilish look just below the text connotes that she is bad news and immediately makes the audience question her sanity and what she is capable of. Her eyes are definitely a main focal point of this image as they are completely blackened out, black eyes connote the demon and a paranormal presence. The red choker around her neck could connote the need to choke or shed her blood. The title of the film is presented in a way in which it looks as if it has been handwritten by a child, this is intertextual to the idea of the film – as it revolves around children. The title is in white so that it stands out from the image of the girl, but the edges of it look blurred and gives the impression of orbs that can connote paranormal presence. At the bottom of the poster there is the text ‘Can you keep a secret?’ It is in a red font – red connoting death, blood and hell. At the very bottom of the poster we see a list of logos and websites, along with a release date of the film. These are all very conventional symbols/text on a horror poster as they need to let the audience know who is making and or distributing the film and when it is coming out. The distributor and makers of the film are a unique selling point for the film as if they are a big well-known name more people will be likely to go and see the film.