In this article
TL;DR
We showed six horror movie posters to 72 fans in the US, Brazil and France, and mapped what they noticed with Conveo’s new heat map.
Other Mommy came first: 32% picked it as the film they most wanted to see. Jessica Chastain’s smile, tear and half-shadowed face made people uneasy, and that unease turned into curiosity.
Resident Evil came second at 21%. A bloodied phone and a trapped survivor told a story at a glance.
Godzilla Minus Zero went the other way. Just 1% picked it as the poster that stood out, and viewers read it as action, not horror.
Social Studies is a Conveo series that runs studies on today’s trending topics. It’s horror season, and a film often gets one image to win someone over. We asked horror fans what makes a horror movie poster impossible to look away from.
How we ran the study
We showed six current horror posters to 72 fans in the US, Brazil and France: Clayface, Other Mommy, Whale Fall, Resident Evil, Victorian Psycho and Godzilla Minus Zero. Participants talked through each poster in recorded interviews, in English, French and Portuguese.
We used Conveo’s new heat map feature in every interview. As participants described a poster, the heat map shaded the parts they talked about, colored each part by sentiment from mostly negative to mostly positive, and kept the reasons behind every hotspot. Parts mentioned by fewer than 3 participants are outlined but not shaded.
Participants also picked the film they most wanted to watch, based on the poster alone.
1. Unease turns into curiosity
Other Mommy ranked first for watch intent: 32% picked it as the film they most wanted to see. Its poster shows Jessica Chastain’s face half in shadow, with a tear running from her eye while she smiles.
For 82%, her unnerving facial features were what stood out: the eye, the tear, the smile. People could not tell who she was meant to be, and they wanted to find out.
“Gives me a feeling of unease and curiosity because I can’t tell whether she’s a victim or someone dangerous.”
US participant
On the heat map, 17 participants gave reasons for the face hotspot. The half-hidden face and lighting came up 8 times, the smile and tear 7 times, and the eye and sinister expression 5 times. With 17 people, treat that order as directional.
“The first thing that jumps out at me is the tear coming out of the eye and that slightly sly smile of the character.”
France participant, translated from French
For some, that discomfort was the reason to buy a ticket.
“I’m scared, and I want to go see this movie.”
France participant, translated from French
2. One prop can tell the whole story
Resident Evil came second for watch intent: 21% picked it as the film they most wanted to see. The poster puts a blood-spattered wall phone above an injured man slumped on the floor. Viewers read a story from those two details before they reached the title.
“I think it makes me feel disturbed and uncomfortable ’cause, like, whose blood is that?”
US participant
The phone, with its handset hanging loose, suggested a call that never got through.
“Someone was trying to call for help and isn’t getting it, and that can be scary.”
US participant
3. Spectacle gets a glance, not a ticket
Godzilla Minus Zero went the other way. Just 1% picked it as the poster that stood out. Viewers read the giant monster as action, not horror, and on the heat map’s net sentiment view it was the only one of the six posters that leaned negative.
What this means
A poster holds attention when it leaves a question open: who she is, whose blood that is, why the call for help went unanswered. Scale gets noticed, but a person in danger makes people want to watch.
Run your own social study
In Conveo, every hotspot on the heat map links back to the interviews and reasons behind it. Run the same kind of study on your visual ads, pack designs and product prototypes.
