Textual Analysis of ‘Saw’ (2004) Poster

The poster appears quite minimalistic when it comes to the layout and photography, consisting for the most part of a deep, dark black. As black is often associated with death, evil, and mystery, and has negative connotations to fear and the unknown, it can be safe to assume that the film will play with some very dark themes, immediately suggesting towards the horror genre.

Looming in the centre of the poster is the portrait of a single figure, a woman, wearing some sort of imposing metal contraption upon her head. Whilst the majority of the figure’s visage cannot be seen, it is clear from her worried gaze that she is anxious and afraid. This explicit indication towards fear, a very real and relatable emotion, and purposeful disregard to whatever has inflicted such a feeling upon her, provides the poster  with an odd sense of suspense - why is she so afraid? The use of the ebon black field that enshrouds her begets the well known sensation of fearing whatever may or may not be stalking within the shadows, and as the picture is also entirely in greyscale, the whites of her face and the scary contraption she’s encaged in are in stark contrast to the darker tones that make up the rest of the poster. As such, the image equally suggests towards the horror genre, and thus confirms the earlier suspicions that were had.

Written in the bottom right of the poster is the film’s title, “SAW”, written in blood red capitals. The use of capitals implies the word is meant to be intimidating and the use of a blood red reaffirms connotations to the horror genre. Above the title is the film’s three main stars, Cary Elwes, Danny Glover, and Monica Porter, which will have been mentioned as a way of generating a fan base and audience prior to the film’s initial release, due to many people tending to view films which have their favourite actors in.

To the top of the poster is a question, simple and unassuming, and in my opinion, this is in attempt to almost throw the poster’s viewers ‘off-guard’. In reality however, the tagline actually says, “How much blood would you shed to stay alive?” which is a very deep and disturbing thought, and once again strongly related to the horror genre; it also serves to present a new philosophical perspective to the poster, and to some will echo on in the viewer’s head for hours, if not days, to come. This, as such, successfully serves to keep the film fresh in people’s minds and thus has the possibility to spread on via word-of-mouth due to having successfully made an impression.

Consequently, it is clear that the poster is advertising a horror movie as a result of the sinister themes and dark connotations present, cleverly making use of the poster’s simplistic nature as to allow the viewers to more carefully absorb the poster’s information.