The Babadook Poster

Australian director, Jennifer Kent, made her debut with the psychological horror film 'The Babadook', starring Essie Davis as a mother 'Amelia' and Noah Wiseman as son 'Samuel'. The theatrical poster for the film depicts the photography of the two actors surrounded by the illustration of a huge creature. Directly upon observing the image, viewers can already assume the code of the film to be horror or thriller.

An eerie, chilling vibe can be felt instantly upon the first look. A large humanoid silhouette overshadows most of the image, with contrasting white space bordered around it. The use of white draws attention to the shadow of the creature, enhancing its domineering and monstrous presence. The broad shoulders of the creature are highlighted, making it look overbearing and powerful. Its fingers are sharply pointed, mimicking the look of claws, sharp whiskers protrude from its face, and it is wearing a strangely shaped top hat. Reader ‘Myths and Signs’ asserts "the dress code that governs what men should wear when going to a formal wedding includes items like a top hat and tail jacket". This implies the creature could be the representation of a man due to its association with old fashioned male clothing. The
The rhyme in the tagline, the scratchy drawn-looking visuals of the windows and the monster, and a child featured as one of the key characters on the poster. These iconic signifiers of a child further enhance the eerie vibe of the artwork because it evokes a sense of discomfort and shock that a child can draw something so dark. The image is symmetric but also asymmetric with the slight differences in the shapes on each side. The way the monster lifts its shoulder slightly higher on the left side, and how the window shape is larger on the right side evokes a disturbing feeling of unrest. It is something unnatural, and in human form, is the representation of someone mentally