Magazine Cover Analysis: SFX Horror

This magazine cover contains various qualities and features that suggest it belongs or is promoting the horror genre. SFX is originally a special effects, sci-fi and fantasy magazine however this special edition horror version focuses on all aspects of horror film that wouldn’t be appropriate for their original copy.

Their original copy is mostly vibrant colours, high quality photographs / CGI with futuristic texts and fonts. Their horror version uses text of a more deteriorated and eroded style which normally goes against the aim of their magazine (the distressed fonts go against the idea of special effects and the large amount of editing used).

The SFX horror version contains a lot of dark colours, shadows and long, pointed fonts. This adds to the element of discomfort and torture as the hard fonts have connotations to pain and more specifically, fangs. The white font allows the other colours to stand out more as it contrasts.

Red has connotations of pain, death, torture, anger and blood; we know that these are the current connotations because the ways in which it has been used resemble blood – had it been used in soft, rounded love-hearts then we would have linked it to the feelings of love and passion. The red brings out the photograph as the image is mostly black and dark shades of blue. The blue has tangential links sci-fi and mystery which could go hand-in-hand with some of the horror films mentioned in the magazine.

The main image contains three different characters, supposedly of well-known horror films (as the accompanying main cover-line says ‘Top 20 Villains’) and this verifies that this edition knows what it’s talking about despite being an issue unlike its usual products. The three characters have a direct gaze at the viewer which intensifies the relationship the audience have with the magazine, film or fear factor that these characters give them. All three characters’ faces are slightly tilted down which suggests that they are in control.

Words such as ‘Frights’, ‘Filth’, and the number ‘13’ exaggerate and enhance the amount of fear this magazine portrays. The number 13 has negative connotations and therefore may scare people if they believe in the superstitious. The words ‘fright’ and ‘filth’ both sound sharp to say and have connections to the idea of haunting and gore.

The red marks on the page suggest gore and torture which are key signifiers of a horror product.