Design Evaluation.

 

''The Thing'' is a horror film made by John Carpenter that was released in 1982.

One of things I like about this poster's design is that it's illustrated by Drew Stuzan. Movies from the early 80's mostly used his art work for their posters. What I love about those posters is that it sets up the tone of the films before you even know what the movie is about.

With this poster it leaves room for mystery. All it tells us is its title: ''The Thing'' with the tag line reading: "The ultimate in alien terror."
but instead of showing a terrifying alien, we're shown a guy with a bright light coming out of his winter coat. we're left to guess the terror, we want to look under the hood. we don't know what "The THING" is.

When we think of aliens and light. what usually comes to mind is lights in sky and UFOs in the night.
but instead the light is coming out of his face. Indicating that the alien is in fact inside him.
and if you think about that, it's pretty scary.





29 years after its release "The Thing" got a prequel in 2011. Here is the poster:

To me this feels rushed and tacked on.  It loses what the original had going for it. Besides the light within the captions the poster is wasted on black space. We get another winter coat figure but this time it's poorly photoshopped instead of drawn.

There is no mysterious light but a photoshopped alien hand. It pulls us out of it. The mystery is taken away, we get a clear idea of what the Thing is.

There is no substance, Just a title and a release date.
The only thing I like about this poster is the new tag line.