Old School Movie Poster Explosion!

This to me the epitome of Halloween, it's history, and the mood it brings: the other, the unknown, the feeling of being different. To be scary, thrilling, fantastical, sexy, garish and abso-ludicrous (to borrow an expression from Mr. T). I'll leave you to figure out which poster represents which.

Happy Halloween everybody!

Nosferatu Beckons

An appetizer of the meal ahead. But what an appetizer! This film is probably one of the most beautiful shots from one of the most beautiful films in history , Werner Herzog's Nosferatu(1979). It technically is a remake, but it probably the only one ever with a film history purpose: to bridge the pre and post Nazi infiltrated German cinema. Just a great film.

Stars Klaus Kinski as Count Dracula,
Isabelle Adjani as Lucy Harker (his victim and lover)
and --not pictured--
Bruno Ganz as Jonathan Harker
Roland Topor* as Reinfeld

* who co-wrote Fantastic Planet(!)

Turtles

This seriously one of my favorite images ever. Well done, Will Hulsey

Fearsome Finlay

Virgil Finlay illustration for the may 1938 issue of Weird Tales, based a on a story by Robert E. Howard(the creator of Conan the Barbarian). Certainly a good example of the horror illustrations present before --and influencing-- EC Comics.

Some fanciful fun from Don Martin

Always a festive time with this famous Mad Magazine artist.

Polish posters for all

Polish movie posters

Wonderful site full of odd little posters for foreign films, in an attempt o make exotic goods appeal to natives. The above only represent one of my favorites, find yours.

Bond Ladies

All covers done by Michael Gillette for reissues of the Ian Fleming novels. Well done.

Extra large dose of Modesty Blaise

Another fun little romp, funning a full 20 days/strips. Written by Peter O'Donnell and drawn by Neville Colvin.

Adams and Hooper, together in The Funhouse

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I've mentioned it before, but The Funhouse is one hell of an enjoyable movie. It's a trippy movie, fully mocking the slasher phenomenon of time while appearing to be one, a full 16 years before Scream. It's got great locations, fine acting, and wonderful cinematography bu Andrew Laszlo( who also cinemagraphed First Blood,The Warriors, and You're a Big Boy Now).

Hooper was greatly influenced by EC Comics and naturally had a appreciation for the fire work of the artists involved. He picked one of the best ones, Neal Adams, to design sketches for the film. Hooper does the artwork justice and then some in this film. Check it out. it's even in it's entirety on Youtube( as of this moment)

Vampire embrace

Another page, this time from Vampirella # 12. Written by Archie Goodwin(underrated idea-contributor) and beautiful art of Jose Gonzalez. Certainly one of the more beautiful renditions of Vampirella.

Edit: My good friend Joe Bloke has a whole post of Vampirella pin-ups here, by artists too numerous to list.

When mudballs collide

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Pages from Giant-Size Man-Thing #1, written by Steve Gerber and drawn by Mike Ploog. Man-Thing is one of my favorite series (hell, favorite in general) and this was near the peak from one of the amazing creative teams ever. Man-Thing was done decently by others later, but it was no comparison to the quirky observation of Gerber and the cute-but-creepy art of Mike Ploog, let alone both of them in a great package. The entire issue can be read in Essential Man-Thing.

And yes, I have to finally write my review of that damn book. I'm feeling more confident and perspective of it,(particularly with Gerber's death) so hopefully soon.

The Mechanical Hand of Baddies

Perhaps this is something inexplicable to a generation that didn't have a NES and the Mega Man games, but the announcement of the a new game (done in the old 8-bit style) is something to be celebrated. It's an interesting take on modern nostalgia, something of Orwell meets Bradbury.

There is something about the aesthetics of the game, the simple(but not simple minded) graphics,the instant appeal of the in game graphics of these baddies that feels delicious and evil at the same time. I'll have to continue with this thought at another time, when I feel a bit more confident about the roots of the appeal of this. Any thoughts of your own would be welcome.

If nothing else, enjoy the pictures.

Caught by the tail

Great use of perspective.