The poster for the release of the remade Omen film uses a mixture of imagery and iconography to illustrate the basis the of the film, playing both on what the viewer see’s and of what they know from the previous films. The film was released around 4 years ago for the only time we’ll ever see the date 6/6/06, obviously highlighting ‘the number of the beast’ in Christian belief, centred around the coming of the antichrist and the eve of the apocalypse. The clues of the iconography given here are the emphasis on the date 6/6/06 at the bottom and in the black text above the boy. The ominous Christian imagery shown would be the shadow that extends down from the ‘O’ of omen that appears as an upside down cross, suggesting a sign of the antichrist.
The elements of the poster that make it obvious that the film is a horror would most likely first be the colours. Everything in the scene is toned with a de-saturated blue, with a very high contrast. The backlighting gives light blurred edges to the trees and the figure, and the field of focus is very shallow, highlight the boy at the forefront followed by the dog and the menacing and sinister looking trees in the background, masked in thick white fog that plays on a pathetic fallacy. The way that all the trees are bare and almost silhouetted makes the scene look very cold and unnerving. The sharp thin branches surround the scene in a very disturbing manner, to help add to the horror feel.
The boy himself has a very unnerving look about him. His expression is very mysterious and the shadow covering his face makes him seem like a threat to the viewer. His eyes can just be seen in the shadow making it seem like he’s looking directly at the viewer with a suspicious motive. He’s dressed for winter, confirming the cold atmosphere of the poster. The boy is midway through swinging on the seat he’s on, giving a transitional period to the scene, and the innocence of a child playing on a swing contrasts well with the serious, sinister face given off by the child. This is a large clue towards suggesting that the child is cursed or not completely what he seems. The Rottweiler next to the boy is also a menacing features at it sits almost completely silhouetted and the breed itself has quite a few connotations that suggest a fierce, violent nature. The eyes of the dog are even highlighting, making it look very unnatural.
The text in the poster has an ominous feel to it. The font is serif and gives it a formal look, highlighting that the film is very serious and dark. Its plain black, adding to that theme, and there’s been a slight vertical motion blur applied to the text, making seem as if the text is emerging slightly, giving it its own creepy aura that adds to its imposing appearance. On the date at the bottom a yellow/golden outer glow has been applied, giving it a biblical look, informing the viewer that the film is based on beliefs of Christianity. The upside cross has been used again as bullet points to separate the days, months and years. Overall an impending menace is portrayed in this poster, linked to Christian belief, giving very much a ‘calm before the storm’ impression.
