The Psychic U.S. movie poster
Suddenly she could see into the future … and saw her own murder …
A clairvoyant woman discovers a skeleton in a wall in her husband’s house, and seeks to find the truth about what happened to the victim.
Made in 1977, Sette note in nero (“Seven notes in black”) is an Italian giallo film directed by Lucio Fulci starring Jennifer O’Neill. It was released in the United States in March 1979, where it was distributed by Group 1 under the title The Psychic.
Just like with other aspects of horror, typographic choices can have a stronger effect when they’re not too on the nose: The title typeface chosen for the shown one sheet poster (27″×41″) is ITC Korinna. Designed by Ed Benguiat and Victor Caruso in the early 1970s, it isn’t built from bones, or dripping with blood. The revival of a German metal typeface from the Jugendstil era rather draws its ominous look from the subtle deviations from “normal” roman type. See for example how the diagonal in N meets the stem, or how the bowl in P buckles under gravity. The C, in contrast, is top-heavy, and resembles a mouth wide open with a scream. Korinna’s uncanny qualities are underpinned by the single-sided stub serifs in J S C that are reminiscient of barbs or fangs.
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See also the poster for Arthur Miller’s The Crucible at the National Theatre for another design that makes use of Korinna’s eeriness.