horror iconography

all horror movies consist of the same iconography as mostly all horror movies have a dark under tone as poster have dark gloomy back drops but the main plot or point of the film would be lit up such as the exorcist poster with the light shining on the exorcist, also with the conjuring 2 poster the girl at the door is lit up as she is the main plot. so this theme is consistent through out horror movies to tell the viewer what there all about so that they know from the get go what this movie is about and what to look for in the movie whilst it plays with the lit shots on the posters giving away things the main plots or turning points in the movie. people are usually prominent in the posters they would normally have the main villain or plot turn in the shot with them such as the conjuring 2 the nuns hand is seen in the foreground of the shot whilst the person is in the background. In the alien poster you can see the main protagonist of the movie wearing a space suit in the movie when she has the space suit on is when the main plot twist happens further reinforcing that each poster gives away a little bit of the main twist before it happens to keep viewers looking out for those major moments.