The face is half enveloped in darkness. The eye, which is ‘ the window to the soul’ is also covered in darkness to represent a detached inhumane state. The chiaroscuro seems to be inspired by ‘Psycho’ (1960) is metaphorical for the split personality of The Killer – It forms a visual connection to connote the ‘dark side’ of a serial killer, juxtaposed against their ‘normal’ facade. The blac- -kened eyes, as stated previously is symbolic ofmirage of the apparent normality .

Psycho film still (snapshot)

There is a satirical element in the knife. – it is gleaming with exaggerated sparkles to emphasise worth, shine and cleanliness. There is a paradox in this as the knife (given the film title) is clearly a murder weapon.

The reflection of the Killer’s face on the blades edge promotes the assumption that he uses it as the murder weapon. The blade is symbolic and sticks true to the Slasher genre. The unconventional approach to this poster is unique and satirical which is usually never seen in film posters.

His attire is very smart. His suited and booted appeal is unconventional for a serial killer as we often associate psychos to be dressed in a strange way like Mike Myers and Leatherface. He (in tune with the shadows) is shown to be an attractive and well groomed male but with a sinister side.

The Font mimics the knife’s metallic blade. The Sans Serif font fades into the darkness connoting danger and sadism. The gradient of the writing allows the poster to flow and look cohesive as opposed to being broken up by the text.

The colour of his tie matches the background. This coincidentally looks like fire and increases the suggestion that there is an evil lingering to the poster.

We want to take from this poster various elements which we feel will work well. The first thing we feel that we liked was how the text matched the image. We want to use this idea for our poster.

The second was the color palette. Although we don’t particularly want to use this specific one. We liked the way all the colors subtly interlinked creating a harmonious feel.

This poster does not stick to the conventions of the modern horror/slasher genre but rather tributes old posters like ‘Psycho’. The target audience for ‘American Psycho’