By Brian “Pac” Sostak

Okay, maybe not all horror movies, but a pretty large sampling of them. There is one distinct characteristic so common among horror movies during this 7 year time frame (and a few outliers) that it is hard to go unnoticed. No matter the success of the film, the director attached to it, whether it went straight to DVD or was released in theaters with a multimillion dollar marketing campaign, all of these films boast one uncanny similarity…

… the movie poster. Despite the immense amount of horror movies that hit theaters from 1996-2003 and the variety in quality and marketing budget, it seems that all of these films hired the same graphic artist to design the movie poster despite the fact he only had one trick. Here’s how it is done:

Start with a completely black background Add a large picture of a mysterious figure, face, or set piece that represents the title of the film or drives the plot* Insert some contrasting color to make the above figure stand out (preferably red, orange, or blue) Place 3 or more heads of the stars of the film (in a V formation if possible)** Insert the title and other text of the film including: The cast names, the sequel number, catchphrase or high-praise review

*May be substituted for small picture of the killer if #4 is the primary focus of the poster

** Boobs are an extension of the head (especially if the head belongs to the above mentioned Jennifer Love Hewitt)

Let’s take a look one of the most popular and acclaimed horror franchises during this time period, and one that started in the seminal year of this case-study, Scream.

All three posters include the five necessary steps for the 96-02 horror movie poster. Notice how the head/figure in the background focuses on the character’s eyes, this is important – always focus on the eyes when using a large head. Scream and Scream 3 chose a blueish white to contrast the black background, while Scream 2 was rebellious and used red. Also important to note: not only do the three posters include 3+ heads but they are also placed in V formations. Scream 3 went as far as to say “screw it” and used the same V formation as Scream 2 with Nev Campbell, David Arquette, and Courtney Cox Arquette in the same locations. Though Scream was the first slasher film to use this poster template, it certainly was not the last. Take a look at these other popular slasher films from the same 7 years.

No Halloween film outside of 1996-2002 used this format The Halloween films also used a distinct vertical V formation rarely seen on other movie posters. This poster template was not reserved solely for slasher films, it would become a staple for other popular sub-genres as well including Supernatural Horror. Like these films:

Little known fact about Dracula 2000, the graphic artist was so pressed for time that he was unable to shoot a photo of the Dracula from the movie, instead he cropped in an image from The Crow. Other sub-genres of horror saw the success these films had because of their innovative poster design and decided to get in on the mix, some of those sub-genres include:

Science fiction horror faced an interesting dilemma with their movie posters, one they had to uniquely overcome. Often times, these sci-fi horror movies only boasted two “billable” stars. Their solution:

I know, Jason X and Bride of Chucky are more slashers than sci-fi, but one took place in space and the other is about the transfer of souls so it kinda counts. In the case of Jason X, there was no billable star so they created the illusion of Jason’s head as 2 separate heads, officially making the poster the most well crafted part of the entire project.

Still one sub-genre remains in the ever popular horror culture that cannot be overlooked, though these films were rare they still deserve to use this template for its poster. I’m talking of course about comedy/horror.

Now I know what you’re thinking, “Home Alone 3 is not a horror movie”, but let’s compare it to another horror film already mentioned on this list Halloween: Resurrection. In both films a group of annoying and unsuspecting men and women break into a house to basically mess sh*t up. When the home’s tenant discovers that his house has been infiltrated he designs a variety of elaborate traps to capture and/or kill the home invaders. Once the “guests” become aware of the tenants occupancy they shift their focus from messing sh*t up to capturing/killing the tenant back, most likely to no avail (because we need more sequels!). There are really only two differences between these two films – Home Alone 3 is a family movie and therefore shows no on-screen violence or murder (off-screen, who knows), and Halloween: Resurrection portrays Michael Myers as the antagonist even though he is perfectly within his rights to kill all those who trespassed on his property.