Poster Analysis: An American Werewolf in London

The title of the film suggests that the werewolf is an American and they have come to terrorise London. America is well known for their horror movie ventures and this could be stating that the horror genre has arrived in London. The poster has the Shaftesbury Memorial in the frame of the poster. The werewolf is emerging from fountain near the bottom of the poster. The bottom left of the poster has bright lights with well-known companies like Philips and FujiFilm. An underground logo is also highlighted in the bottom corner which confirms that the film is set in London as it links to the title. The Shaftesbury Memorial and the lights are placed in Piccadilly Circus and further strengthens the specific place where the film will be set in. London is the capital city of England which is full of people. Having a werewolf loose in London gives the werewolf more opportunities and thus the film will contain a lot of death. 

There is a moon directly in the centre of the poster which has a clear cloud slightly covering it. The moon being directly above the werewolf symbolises that the moon has a link to the werewolf. The fact the werewolf is emerging under the moon could inform the audience that the moon triggers the transformation as werewolves are humans that turn into an animal. The moon further suggests that the film is in the night time. The connotation of the moon suggests that it brings terror. The rain has connotations of sadness. In the poster, the rain links to the setting as well as showing that there may be pain within the film.

The poster uses black, red, green, and white. The white symbolises light and there is little white which could infer that the film is dark and evil which is why the black dominates the poster mostly. There is a slight glimpse of red which is similar to the colour blood. The red reflects on the male winged statuette which suggests that the film is quite bloody. There will be a lot of death as the ‘Angel’ figure symbolises innocence and so the film has a lot of victims. The green reflects off the werewolf and this has connotations of disease and sickness. The green could imply that the werewolf is diseased and that the werewolf disease has been spread to him. The wolf coming from America further supports that the wolf is lethal and is spreading the lupine disease from American to England.

The narrative of the poster is that there is an American werewolf that is on the rampage in the city of London. It is carrying diseases and is thirsty for blood. A werewolf is used in the poster which uses the antagonist as audiences recognise werewolves being an intertextual reference, the facial expression is quite angry and it shows that the werewolf is hungry for blood. The font is serif which shows the film is serious and scary. The white helps audience to see the title for it is the most important text. The other text is dark green and it is slightly unimportant compared to the film.

The position of the camera is a low angle and it shows that the werewolf has more dominance over the audience and it makes the audience more fearful. The poster is simple yet is connotes a deep message that the film is horror. The poster conveys that it is a horror genre due to the dark colours and the werewolf on the screen. The target audience for this poster would be horror fanatics and adults 18+. The reason for this is because werewolves are a classic horror monster that many people identify. Adults would remember this because this is an old film and the design is simple.