Questionnaire Results

Horror Magazine Analysis

Horror Magazine Analysis

The first thing that catches the eye is the masthead, this is what the brand has used as its recognition, the style represents blood dripping from the letters and the red is a symbolism of gore, a title depicting horror films to know what type of genre of magazine this is. The main cover line is a bold white title, the white is symbolic of the paranormal, using the franchises movie text in order for the audience to recognise and identify the magazines main story to the hit movie ‘Evil Dead’. The cover lines use a dark yellow font, this makes up the third and last house colour used on the front cover, yellow gives the impression of moonlight and night, and stands out from the dark background because of that reason.

The magazine, however, does follow the traditional magazine conventions with the barcode in the bottom right corner and also in that right third is the tag at the top talking about issue number and price on top of a puff. At the very top is the selling line, ‘blood, guts, gore and more!’ a very suiting line for a magazine advertising horror, it grabs the target audience’s attention and gets them to find out what the ‘more’ is on top of the list of horror features. The last feature of the magazines conventions is the ‘Plus!’ at the bottom, an indication there’s loads more on top of the big interviews and other highlighted articles already advertised on the cover.

The main image clearly shows that they are not the victim in the movie, through the facial expressions and makeup give a haunting image taken from the movie, the sinister look gives the portrayal this character is evil and dangerous. The fact that the entire background is black with just a chain visible gives off a chilling ambience, the mise-en-scene is what brings out the fear factor in the horrors, in this scenario it appears the character is locked up in a secluded environment with the use of the chain and use of makeup.

The left third has the other featured articles in which they use an image of the most iconic characters, for example pyramid head is one of the most notable villains of all time, with the cover line and a small description underneath of what’s in the magazine. This is a stand out convention used in a few of the scream magazines, just set out in slightly different ways in order to suit the main image.

On first glance the masthead is the first notable aspect of the front cover due to its brand iconography, the size and impacting style gives the magazine a haunting look. The name itself depicts itself in two words, fan and gore, a connotation to simply fans of gore instantly enable consumers to know this is a genre magazine and what’s included. Though, another way to see it is the word ‘fang’ being the first word to see, this outlook is also inspired through the style of the font where the ‘f’ and ‘a’ give the look of fangs from a vampire. The vampire being an iconic monster, made one of the main faces of the horror genre through the likes of ‘Dracula’, another way to depict the magazine is all about horror, the red outline seeming like there’s blood running down the fangs.

The house colours of the cover are white, red, yellow, and black colours very commonly seen on the front cover of many horror magazines, following traditional conventions to give it the professional appearance. The red portraying blood and gore, whereas the black gives the impression of darkness and shadows, lastly the white has the phantom look whilst also emphasising the other colours.

The main image really grabs the reader’s attention, all features surrounding it emphasises horror villain. This is taken from the pale complexion, a sickly look, often referring to death, similar impression is given from the green hair. The outfit, though hard to see, appears to be a Victorian style apparel, she’s been around a long time, nothing living or human could live that long relating to her not being either. The grasp of the candle, which is the only light in the entire image everything else is shadowed out seeming as if she’s hidden somewhere putting the audience on edge, and that she controls the only light. Her blacked out eyes and smile gives an eerie sinister look, staring back at the consumer reading the cover.

The only other images are the four laid across the bottom, all recognisable shots from horror movies, gaining the attention of the readers who recognise these through this effective sell line, the cover lines then giving context to the images to show what’s actually in store in the magazine. Another feature of this aspect is the film strip border that clearly shows the audience, who have not noticed already, that this is a magazine surrounding horror movies in particular.

The masthead is one that captivates the reader, a grimy yellow font with a shadowed font, a rugged bold style is what captures the audience’s attention. Though the unconventional style fits with the style of the rest of the magazine, unorganised and unconventional, though this still works effectively in giving the audience the impression that this is a horror magazine. The only other primary colours are white, black and red, this is very conventional within a horror genre magazine as seen from the other two magazine covers I analysed, the dark colours represent horror in their own ways, the red gives the portrayal of gore, whilst black is the impression of darkness and shadows. Yellow, though considered a bright happy colour, also has many negatives such as caution, especially a dirty yellow such as this which gives off the impression of decay and sickness.

Below this however uses a small selling line, it’s not that catchy more of a description, and not very emphasised either; this could be considered one of the front covers flaws.

The cover lines are untidy, to suit the rest of the cover this is done through the titles being in all thirds of the screen and not sticking firmly to just the left and/ or right thirds, though they all stand out and hook the reader in with the aspect that they are all impacting titles. The white makes it stand out from the backdrop considerably, similarly to the masthead it looks rugged and dark, the purity in the white has been desecrated. To give context to the cover lines the taglines are done in a subtle fashion, darker than the masthead however, though this is to keep the other aspects of the magazine more highlighted to grab the reader’s attention in all the right places.

The main image is different to most in the sense that it uses a drawn image, though of a horror entity still, it does follow main conventions of a horror magazine. The darkness in the background that she seems to be a part of, it includes the main colours of red, black, white and yellow. Her skin is a tinge of yellow that makes her seem old, dangerous and diseased, where the red gives the impression she doesn’t get fazed by the amount of blood and cuts, especially from her mouth, an indication she doesn’t belong in current reality, the white apparel is desecrated with blood given the image that this pure girl has been changed to evil. The facial expressions give a very sinister ambience, first notable feature is the eyes, completely wide, an unnatural yellow, and shadowed where the psychotic appearance isn’t highlighted. The smile is another fearsome quality, this may be from the blood coating the teeth and pouring from the mouth or the wideness of the smile in combination with the eyes.