I think it all started as a young chap, perusing the horror aisle of the local video store. I would marvel at the ingeniously designed video covers for films like Dead Alive, Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers, The Blob, A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: Dream Master, Cutting Class, Chopping Mall and Fright Night amongst many, many others. They fascinated me and I think it was there that my obsession with movie key art began and, most particularly, that of the horror genre. I find that scary films tend to have a higher strike rate of interesting, quality artwork due to their need to overcome strict genre bias. Nobody is going to go to a Meryl Street drama based on the poster, but they will see Happy Birthday to Me because the poster shows a man being, literally, skewered through the throat. Such is the beauty of horror marketing and here are some of my all time favourite horror posters.
Halloween
Perhaps the most iconic horror film of all time gets the greatest piece of movie art I’ve seen. Yes, I love this poster that much. The beauty of this design is in its simplicity. It’s not trying to reinvent the wheel of marketing, it just does everything a poster should do, and does it well. The iconography of the jack-o-lantern and the knife merging into one instantly clues audiences in to what type of film this is whilst doing it in a visually exciting way, the colours are bold and eye-catching, the tagline is impeccable and mysterious (“The Night He Came Home!”), and it’s not stuffed with actors faces, stripes or empty nothingness. The space is used so smartly and the end result is something altogether terrifying.
Rosemary’s Baby
This poster for Roman Polanski’s film is deeply unsettling. Is it the peculiar use of dingy green? Is it the horizontal angle of Mia Farrow’s expressionless (or is she paralysed with fear) face? Is it the way it demands we “Pray for Rosemary’s baby” with such a calm typeface? It’s all of that and done with a sophistication rarely found.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
“Who will survive and what will be left them?” If that doesn’t send shivers down your spine then good for you. If you’re like me and just thinking about this film, and its poster, gives you the willies then join the club. The whole thing is completely sensationalist (the poster features more blood than the actual scene it represents) and exploitative, but that’s what’s so great about it. You’ve gotta get the audience’s attention somehow!
The Birds
This is a Polish poster for Alfred Hitchock’s The Birds. That country isn’t exactly known for their traditional marketing style (google Polish movie posters and you’ll see why) and I’m generally not the biggest fan of them, but this one rattles me. I think it’s got to do with the skull and the wings and the word “ptaki” repeated over and over again. So, the whole thing. I wonder what ‘Alfreda Hitchooka’ thought of it?
Jaws
Sometimes posters just become brilliant by accident. There’s not much I can say about this poster for Steven Spielberg’s killer shark classic to explain why it works so well other than, perhaps, the fabulous voyeuristic nature of it. It just works.
Dead End Drive-In
It’s not really horror at all, but I wanted to mention this classy Aussie thriller from 1986. Despite the fact that the weird man in the pale make-up never actually appears in the film, I still love the construction of this poster. The way it’s almost as if he is making this drive-in movie theatre with its bright neon lights sink into the world beneath, to be eaten by the Earth. It’s an evocative piece of imagery.
Last House on the Left, Dawn of the Dead and Alien
You will have noticed a running theme throughout all of these posters; they all have perfect taglines. For whatever reason, horror movies bring out the creativity in key art designers in this regard and these three are damn near perfect examples of it. Whoever thought up that gobsmacking refrain for Wes Craven’s Last House on the Left (“it’s only a movie…”) deserves a medal, truly, and the other two? Well, they have become famous for a reason. Alien, especially, is still quoted to this very day.
I look forward to these reviews, I don’t agree with all of them, but they’re a lot of fun, thanks!!!