Codes and conventions of (horror) posters

Colours
The colours used in a supernatural-horror posters are always dark/dull colours such as grey and black. These colours connote death and sadness which are common themes in these films. Other colours used are red (connoting blood and death) brown, and white. All of these colours are very dull and connote fear and desolation; they don't draw too much attention. This adds to the idea of desolation and isolation which are themes mirrored in many horror films.

Text
The text used on all film posters should be bold and noticeable. In terms of horror posters, many of the fonts used are very messy and connote the destruction of the characters in the film and/or the result of the happenings in the film. This is evident in supernatural horror trailers particularly. This leads to the idea of a child's handwriting which connotes innocence in the tormented character.

Characters
There is usually only one or two characters on the front of a poster. These characters are usually the antagonist or the last remaining victim (protagonist). The character is the centralised image in the poster so it is up to this image to give away just the right amount of information about the film through the poster alone.

Layout
In horror posters particularly, the tagline is at the top and the title at the bottom. This pattern is also reversable. This is because these two things are the two most important and relevant things that the audience needs to take note of. The title, because they need it to stick in their mind, and the tagline because it gives the biggest indication (along with the photo) as to what sort of film the poster represents.