Analysis of thriller poster - American Psycho

This is the official poster for 'American Psycho', a thriller made in 2000. The use of mise-en-scene in this poster tells the viewer a lot about the movie. Firstly, the use of props such as the knife which is very central in the poster reveals its significance. Including a weapon instantly indicates to the viewer the types of themes that are going to be included in the opening, therefore making it obvious as to the what genre the movie is. The use of a knife has an ambiguous interpretation as it could be viewed as a weapon, however the positioning of the weapon on the page in which it reflects the face of the character makes the viewer interpret it as a mirror suggesting the notion of vanity and pride. Considering that the tag-line for the movie is 'Killer Looks' and 'Evil never looked so damn good' it excites the curiosity of the viewer as they are uncertain of the role of the character as there is a twist in the poster.

The costume in the poster plays a significant role of identifying the type of character he is. It gives a vivid sense of professionalism and smartness, suggesting that the character is a career-focused, respected and business-like individual. The man character is played by Christian Bale, a well-known actor in the film industry. Using a world-wide famous actor encourages people to watch the movie, and as the main character is viewed as attractive it encourages females to watch the movie, which widens the target audience of the movie. The notion of glamour is evidently indicated through the use of the sparkles surrounding the knife. This ensures that the viewers focus their attention on the knife, which gives the impression that the knife is of a high importance, emphasising the glamourised approach to the prop.

The use of colour on the poster closely follows the conventions of a thriller by using dark colours, such as black, grey and red. This helps reveal to the audience that the movie is a thriller as the colour suggests the type of narrative likely to be included. The repeated use of red in the background and on his tie symbolises the the idea of death, danger, blood etc. which hints the narrative in the movie. The strong non-diegetic lighting also creates an atmospheric surrounding by showing light areas on key features of the poster such as the knife and there is light on the side of the character's face, whereas the other side is dark, suggesting a mysterious, suspicious character.

Lastly, the font of the title and the tag-line matches and accentuates the themes portrayed in the poster. The tag-line has used simplistic, italic writing making it appear fancy and glamorous. The colour makes it stand our against the black background, which makes the more eye-catching for the viewer.