Horror Magazine Analyses

‘Empire’ is a British film magazine that publishes monthly releases and is published by Bauer Media, the leading magazine publisher in the UK. With almost 25 years of the magazine, it still has a healthy circulation of 167,748 in the last half of 2012 and has a readership of over 5 times that. The magazine itself has many features which have become a staple to the magazines content layout and which its readers have become accustomed to, such as classic scenes from a film, top 10’s and news on DVD news and releases. The magazine knows the target audience and therefore includes many interviews with a range of actors/actresses, directors and writers to gain an in-depth knowledge of films for their readers.

On the cover of the magazine is the main protagonist, Hellboy from the 2008 action/adventure film ‘Hellboy II: The Golden Army’ which was made in the USA. Although this film is categorised as a fantasy adventure film, the comics and inspiration for the director came from a sub-genre of horror- Lovecraftian horror which involves the supernatural, extra-terrestrials and other unknown and unexplained characters which feature in many other horror films. Hellboy is a half-human demon who has the appearance of the devil and his appearance is well suited to a horror genre with red skin and horns, to suit the stereotypical appearance of the devil. Acting as a hero throughout the film, his appearance contrasts the usual appearance of a human, attractive male to save people around him and works well as the cover star for Empire magazine.

The colours used on this magazine cover are very traditional for this genre as reds and dark oranges represent a number of features such as blood and flesh, demons, the devil and fire. The colour red has a number of negative connotations such as aggression, anger, fear, rebellion, violence and brutality whereas orange tones such as amber and burnt orange represent tension and aggression. The red shade of Hellboy is quite bright and the backlighting of the photo is a usual look for a horror film picture as darkness creates a sense of suspense and mystery. The black background does convey this message and acts as a contrast for the bright picture and masthead.

The masthead of the ‘Empire’ sign on fire is an interesting and original idea that uses the iconic logo and adds an element of the film it is promoting. With the effects on the masthead, not only does the fire give a reader who doesn’t know the film an indication to the themes of the film but also highlights the lettering which is normally simple red lettering against the black background to make the masthead stand out and more eye-catching to someone walking past the magazine. Being one of the leading film dedicated magazines, the look and masthead of the magazine are instantly recognisable so the main picture of Hellboy can overlap without the readers not knowing what the magazine is.

The typeface used for Empire magazine is quite simplistic and stylish and with the sans serifsand  doesn't look too over complicated or over-the-top. The masthead in the typeface EF Kaffeesatz Schwarz, is quite bold to stand out enough from ordinary lettering and has an unusual look to traditional typefaces. The white text is effective as it stands out well against both black and red although the gold font is harder to read on the red background but acts as a good link between the text and the colour of the bracelet on Hellboy. Although the gold writing doesn’t stand out against Hellboy’s body, the used of dramatic lighting to create shade combines the red with black that creates a spotlight-effect for the writing.

The layout is quite traditional for an average magazine with the masthead positioned in the centre at the top of the page with the photo in the centre with direct eye-contact to the reader. The smaller paragraphs are positioned to the left on the page in the blank space and the barcode is in the bottom left hand corner. This cover uses the similar template in which Empire uses for all of its magazine covers and incorporates the feel of a horror theme with the use of colour and effects on the typography.

‘Fangoria’ magazine is a specialised horror-based magazine which produces an average of 10 issues annually. Since the first publication in 1979, it has explored the commercial and independent film industry that produce many sub-genres such as slasher, splatter and exploitation films. The magazine has a circulation figure of 150,000 per issue and its website has over 3 million hits every month. The magazine was originally thought as a fantasy film based magazine but before launch, the direction was soon changed to the increasing popularity of horror films of several sub-genres. With its increasing popularity of horror-fans looking for in depth content on their favourite films, Fangoria started to sponsor horror conventions in 1985 to attract a further audience and in 1991, started the ‘Chainsaw Awards’ in which the readers voted in various horror categories although the ceremony ended in 1996.

On the cover for this issue is Nina Sayers, portrayed by Natalie Portman in the 2010 psychological thriller/horror Black Swan. The movie consists of the story of Nina and her preparation and final performance of the Swan Queen to which she starts to experience unusual visions and traumas as she challenges the roles of the Black Swan and the Swan Queen as well as her competition, Lily played by Mila Kunis. The film itself has many aspects of horror such as disturbing visions and clues of insanity in addition to stabbing with bits of broken glass and various scenes with blood. The appearance of Nina is when she turns into the Black Swan with feathers through her skin and red bloodshot eyes to which the unique appearance works well with the unusual magazine.

The colours used are quite bright and innocent compared to a normal Fangoria cover which is usually covered in blood and flesh. The white, black and red contrast with each other well and brings the attention straight to the eyes, down to the lips and further down to the title of the film which all use a similar colour. Normally, a white background wouldn’t be used if the main image was the same colour but the outline of her head and hair act as a barrier so the audience can clearly see the definition of her face.  The colours from the masthead also fit with the image that gives a finished look.

The Fangoria masthead fits in very well with the genre as the typography used is quite sharp and has a classical look to it. Although the masthead doesn’t have any special effects like the Empire sign with the fire, it does have a slight bevel to create a dimensional effect on the lettering and a very dark block shadow to make it stand out against the white background. It has a recognisable and eye-catching look to it so the audience will be able to identify it easily.

The typeface used on the Fangoria cover is quite simple and again has sans serifs on the lettering to keep it easy to read from a distance. By using this on the title of the main film and the other titles that are included in the magazine, it gives a contrasting look to the masthead which is detailed and the title “Darren Aronofsky’s Dance of Death” again has a different look. This uses a blue/purple tone that shows up against the white clearly and has a horror-like effect with the serifs which has similarities to the masthead.

The layout is quite simple and works well as the face of the woman is the clear feature that the audience need to focus on. The film strip with the other photos is at the bottom of the page so the audience know that it’s a different feature, making it more understandable at a first glance. The ‘Black Swan’ title is positioned in the centre as this is most likely area that the audience’s eyes will be drawn to as the other titles on either side in the red, black  and dark blue almost act like a boarder for the portrait. Fangoria does tend to keep the masthead at the top center position but changes the positioning of the film reel, portrait of the main article and other text around to keep the magazine looking fresh and different each issue as there is only 10 issues annually.

‘Fangoria’ magazine is a specialised horror-based magazine which produces an average of 10 issues annually. Since the first publication in 1979, it has explored the commercial and independent film industry that produce many sub-genres such as slasher, splatter and exploitation films. The magazine has a circulation figure of 150,000 per issue and its website has over 3 million hits every month. The magazine was originally thought as a fantasy film based magazine but before launch, the direction was soon changed to the increasing popularity of horror films of several sub-genres. With its increasing popularity of horror-fans looking for in depth content on their favourite films, Fangoria started to sponsor horror conventions in 1985 to attract a further audience and in 1991, started the ‘Chainsaw Awards’ in which the readers voted in various horror categories although the ceremony ended in 1996.

On this issue is the character Alessa from Silent Hill: Revelation which is the 2012 French Canadian/US film directed by Micheal J.Bassett. The movie tells the story of Heather Mason, portrayed by Adelaide Clemens who is running away with her father from the cult in Silent Hill who is after her as she is the good side of Alessa’s split soul. The girl on the cover is the dark Alessa who is a devil like creature and made from the revenge of the good Alessa after she was burnt alive by the Cult who believed she was a witch. She has a very pale complexion and black eyes which work very well for a horror villain but plays on the innocence of being a child to confuse the viewer.  The photo doesn’t portray her in a ‘bad’ way as she looks quite still and has a slight head tilt to the camera but her appearance alone is enough to tell the audience that she isn’t a normal human which adds complexity to the characters appearance.

Compared to the Black Swan cover, this one is a lot dark and eerie with the contrasting pale skin and black eyes and hair. The only bright colour on the portrait is the red around her eyes to look more demon-like and scary which works against the pale skin. The white title again ties in with skin and stands out against the dark blue and discoloured white dress although it would have stood out more if the title had been on the hair to create a contrast that would have been easier to read. In this issue, the masthead had changed from red to blue while the use of orange, red and yellow stand out against the dark photo but don’t go well together considering it is a horror magazine and the shades are quite bright.

The Fangoria masthead is more modernised in this issue as it uses blue and white which looks neat and appealing for a normal magazine but the original red and black Fangoria gives a more clear representation of the genre it is reporting. The blue tones in the masthead bring out the continuing tones in the photo, especially within the white. Unlike the previous masthead, it doesn’t have any bevels or shadows which make the lettering look quite flat on the page.

This issue has many different types of typefaces that make it easier to see the different sections but altogether doesn’t work that well on the page as it doesn’t look very orderly. The Silent Hill title has a cracked effect that is a well-used font in the horror genre and has a ‘weathered’ look to it which suits the nature of the film. The subheading above the masthead uses two different types of font to emphasise that more features are in the magazine while the text in the left hand corner uses a shaky, handwritten style of font along with the ‘Hammer Horror’ in a solid, block font that has a more traditional feel to get across the genre.

The layout again uses a boarder effect with the film reel while the masthead and title act as a top and bottom boarder for the main photo feature that emphasis the character. By using the black hair to frame the face and shoulders, it adds almost a silhouette effect to background therefore making the face stand out as well as making it look centered.