Magazine Cover Analysis 1

Fangoria (October 2013)

Fangoria is one of the most well known (if not THE most well known) magazines, and also the very first magazine to solely focus on horror films. This issue concerns itself with two modern takes on two very iconic franchises: Child's Play and Carrie.

In order to bring in fans of both series, the cover gives each film equal space and focus on the cover. Each has an image depicting the main character; each has the title; and each has a four word tag line for the respective film. Both Chucky and Carrie in the images look menacing, almost making the cover look like a battle ground: both franchises competing for the rightful place on the cover, the rip down the centre being a result of the clashing titles.

The is somewhat further extended in the cover line at the bottom which reads "Also Playing". This makes it seem like Chucky and Carrie are competing against each other in some sort game. And the fact that the only cover line which mentions anything apart from the main two films shoved to the bottom further extends how important Carrie and Curse of Chucky are to this particular issue.

The banner at the top really wants the reader to know that in this one issue, they get to read about not one but two 'great' new films. The publishers could have printed a separate cover for each film, but instead the reader gets two-in-one; twice that of what is the norm. This is to attract the attention of the readers, and to make them think that somehow the magazine contains more content than it usually would. It lulls the consumer into a false sense of affluence: the buyer ultimately thinks they are getting more for their money, when quite clearly they are not.

Usually there is a lot more yellow on a Fangoria cover in the cover lines, but because the designer here has gone with a white background - to highlight the rip down the middle - yellow would be quite hard to read. The white also helps to separate the images more, so that readers won't be confused into thinking that they appear together in some sort of cross-over film.

Despite the fact that the images take up so much room on the cover, all of the main features are still there: The masthead, the bar code, the date line etc. And unlike the cover lines, they have't been made any smaller or have less of a presence as hey would normally.