HorrorHound Magazine Analysis

HorrorHound is a film magazine that specialise in horror films, hence the name. The readership of HorrorHound varies. We know this from the cover because it contains an image of ‘Ghostface’ from the ‘Scream’ franchise which has been around since 1996 and one of the cover lines mentions ‘The Walking Dead’ which is a horror/drama tv show based in post zombie apocalypse USA. The Walking Dead first aired in 2010. It would mainly appeal to the same generation of fans as the ‘Scream’ Franchise, however, much of the fan base for The Walking Dead is of the current generation of youths, so it appeals to more than one audience. As mentioned before, the most prominent image (the main cover image) is of ‘Ghostface’ the protagonist from the ‘Scream’ Franchise. The use of Ghostface as this issues Unique Selling Point (USP) would attract the attention of the older generation of people that have been fans since the film was first released in 1996. The mask he is wearing and knife that he is wielding are icons of the ‘Scream’ franchise. The knife is also an icon of the ‘Slasher’ sub-genre of horror films. The use of a mid-shot in this image helps us to see the face of the killer and his/her weapon of choice, just as the victim would see them before they are killed. The flames behind the killer show the path of devastation that he/she leaves behind as they continue on their killing spree. The division of the magazine in to thirds is typical of most magazines. The main cover image is in the dominant two thirds of the magazine while the cover lines make up the final third. The use of the black strip is to divide the two so that the cover lines do not interfere with the main cover image, which will be the main article within the magazine. The black strip in the first third is also used to advertise what else is in the issue. The use of red and black on the cover of HorrorHound helps to define it further as a horror magazine. Red and black are typical colours of the horror genre, with red usually connoting blood and/or danger and black signifies the darkness of the deeds of the killer.