RESEARCH AND PLANNING - Nightmare on Elm Street Film Poster Analysis

On the left is the 2010 film poster for Nightmare on Elm Street, and on the right is the original poster from 1984. As you can see there are many differences contrasting the old from the new.

The 2010 poster, looks much more dark and scary, with the use of the colour black hiding the mystery and horror within this film. The dipped hat, which is hiding the antagonists eyes makes the audience uncomfortable and scared. The long knife fingers across Freddie Kruger's body, gives the element of his tortured past, and his make-shift hands are now used for revenge and murder. We can see the outline of his face in the darkness, which looks all burnt, like a skeleton face, which indicates the genre to the audience, becoming a USP. At the neck of his jumper and end of his sleeves are tints of red, showing there is bloodshed in this film. It looks like Freddie Kruger is standing in front of a light, showing he may have been good once, but he has since retreated in the ravenous darkness. There is a tag line above the title of the film, to give the audience an incline of the narrative. At the bottom of the poster, is the credits of the production cast and crew, and the date it will be released.

In contrast, the 1984 film poster it a lot more colourful. This may be to grab the audiences attention. The iconography in this poster is more cartoon like, which makes it less effective than the new poster, because it seems less real in animation. The main image is of the main character, the girl, in bed with a superimposed image of Freddie Kruger by her head, knife hands out, ready to grab her. Her face expressions look very scared. At the top of this poster is a tag line. This is designed to tell the audience something about the the films narrative, and make them interested in watching this film. The directors name is in a small font size above the title of the film, which is incidentally in red, showing the bloodshed and horror in this film narrative. At the bottom of the poster is the film credits.

Overall, I think the newer poster is more effective is indicating the genre of the film, as the colours used are very effective in what they represent, and the darkness and shadows reflect mystery, murder and horror. They have used less images as the film is already well known from the original in 1984, so fans will recognise the narrative, and the newer poster has to entice them to wanting to see the remake of the film.

Nikki Stock