As a book by a celebrity Too Much Horror Business (the title coming from a Misfits song) could easily be labelled as a cash-in based on the author’s fame. Crucially, however, Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett knows his stuff and demonstrates a near lifelong interest in horror film and its assorted memorabilia.
That his interest is genuine was already confirmed, for me, by a 1987 Metallica fan magazine, which included a shot of Hammett and some of his collection as it was then.
The main difference between Hammett and you or I is, of course, one of money: via multi-million sales of Metallica albums, tickets, and merchandise Hammett has enjoyed a quarter century or so being able to afford those rarities that we cannot. He is also able to employ a fellow collector to seek stuff out.
Yet just because Hammett has more money than you or I does not mean that he comes across as in any way superior: his genuine enthusiasm is such that you could imagine giving him a call, turning up on his doorstep 30 minutes later, then shooting the shit about Nosferatu, The Bride of Frankenstein, Black Sunday, and so on for hours, as friends, on an equal footing.
Hammett’s collection is presented by time period and/or media type. There’s a heavy bias towards the classic Universal horrors of the 1930s over more recent films, with little material from the 1980s and almost nothing from the 1990s or later.
Whatever one thinks of Hammett as a guitarist or member of Metallica, the book is well worth getting for the reproductions of posters and other materials.
Showing posts with label film posters. Show all posts
Showing posts with label film posters. Show all posts
Thursday, 3 January 2013
Tuesday, 19 June 2012
A couple of Death Laid an Egg posters
Two US one-sheets for Giulio Questi and Franco Arcalli's Death Laid an Egg, one under the original title and the other as Plucked.
Managed to get the Plucked one on Ebay; now want the other one to go alongside it and the Italian locandina
Managed to get the Plucked one on Ebay; now want the other one to go alongside it and the Italian locandina
Friday, 6 January 2012
Some Fulciana
Two Polish posters for Fulci films; see if you can guess which:
And a Shark vs Zombie garage kit:
And a Shark vs Zombie garage kit:
Wednesday, 27 July 2011
Black Emanuelle UK quad
Just a little something I picked up on Ebay:
Note how it does not actually mention Laura Gemser, in contrast to later films in the series she appeared in.
Note how it does not actually mention Laura Gemser, in contrast to later films in the series she appeared in.
Tuesday, 3 May 2011
Some new posters
US one-sheet for Lizard in a Woman's Skin, as Schizoid
US one-sheet for Psychomania, as The Death Wheelers
US one-sheet for Death Line, as Raw Meat
Not the best pictures, I know.
US one-sheet for Psychomania, as The Death Wheelers
US one-sheet for Death Line, as Raw Meat
Not the best pictures, I know.
Monday, 28 March 2011
A decidedly Ugly poster
New Zealand playbill for Once Upon a Time in the West, which looks like it was sketched from the US poster, by a non-artist...
Spanish The Good, The Bad and the Ugly poster
A Spanish (?) The Good, The Bad and the Ugly poster, presenting Tuco but neither of the others.
Interesting to compare with the West German poster, in terms of how particular actors / characters were emphasised and downplayed.
Interesting to compare with the West German poster, in terms of how particular actors / characters were emphasised and downplayed.
West German The Good, The Bad and the Ugly poster
Under the Two Magnificent Rogues title, but note that the faces shown are not those of the two rogues - i.e. Eastwood's Good and Tuco's Ugly - but Eastwood and Van Cleef, i.e. The Bad.
Sunday, 20 March 2011
Monday, 25 October 2010
The Art of Hammer
This new book from Titan presents a lavishly illustrated guide to the art of Hammer film posters from the days of Exclusive in the early 1950s – examples of work from the 1930s are understandably hardest to come by – through to the company’s last theatrical release at the time of printing, 1979’s The Lady Vanishes.
All told more than 300 posters are reproduced, with the designs on display drawn from the UK, US and various other places around the world. France, Belgium and Italy are particularly well represented, though there are also a number of posters from Poland, Japan and Australia as well.
Though primarily something to browse through and admire, an introductory essay usefully identifies some of the main names amongst the company’s British artists. These include the likes of Bill Wiggins, who worked on the founding trinity of The Curse of Frankenstein, Dracula and The Mummy in the late 1950s, and Tom Chantrell, responsible for many of the company’s most iconic UK posters of the 1960s. (The prolific Chantrell is probably most famous for doing the UK Star Wars poster, which as author Marcus Hearn notes, was the only one to feature Peter Cushing.)
The descriptions accompanying individual posters also highlight points of wider interest, like the increasing use of DayGlo inks in the mid-1960s; the controversy over the original UK The Camp on Blood Island poster with its monstrous looking Japanese soldier and “Jap War Crimes Exposed” strapline; the Warhol inspired pop-art leanings of certain US artists; and the existence of folded and rolled versions of the UK Dracula Has Risen from the Grave poster, with the latter being given away to fans and thus more readily available and presumably carrying a lower price premium.
Also worth noting are the frequent differences in the translated titles, graphic elements and emphases of the posters prepared by national distributors and those of Hammer for the domestic market. For instance, the Danish Brides of Dracula poster came from actor David Peel’s personal collection and was apparently the only one to give him higher billing than Peter Cushing, whilst in Italy Hands of the Ripper was distributed as Barbara: The Monster of London.
Such examples also highlight the rarity value of many of the posters reproduced, even for the Hammer fan such as myself: While trawls on Ebay have certainly made many of those present more familiar than they would have been even ten years ago, I had never seen the likes of the Polish One Million Years BC or the Romanian The Hound of the Baskervilles posters, and doubt that many outwith these territories would have done so until now.
Recommended for fans of the studio, though those fixated solely on its horror output should note that just as much weight is given – correctly in my opinion – to showcasing the diversity of its releases, and anyone with an interest in cinema ephemera.
All told more than 300 posters are reproduced, with the designs on display drawn from the UK, US and various other places around the world. France, Belgium and Italy are particularly well represented, though there are also a number of posters from Poland, Japan and Australia as well.
Though primarily something to browse through and admire, an introductory essay usefully identifies some of the main names amongst the company’s British artists. These include the likes of Bill Wiggins, who worked on the founding trinity of The Curse of Frankenstein, Dracula and The Mummy in the late 1950s, and Tom Chantrell, responsible for many of the company’s most iconic UK posters of the 1960s. (The prolific Chantrell is probably most famous for doing the UK Star Wars poster, which as author Marcus Hearn notes, was the only one to feature Peter Cushing.)
The descriptions accompanying individual posters also highlight points of wider interest, like the increasing use of DayGlo inks in the mid-1960s; the controversy over the original UK The Camp on Blood Island poster with its monstrous looking Japanese soldier and “Jap War Crimes Exposed” strapline; the Warhol inspired pop-art leanings of certain US artists; and the existence of folded and rolled versions of the UK Dracula Has Risen from the Grave poster, with the latter being given away to fans and thus more readily available and presumably carrying a lower price premium.
Also worth noting are the frequent differences in the translated titles, graphic elements and emphases of the posters prepared by national distributors and those of Hammer for the domestic market. For instance, the Danish Brides of Dracula poster came from actor David Peel’s personal collection and was apparently the only one to give him higher billing than Peter Cushing, whilst in Italy Hands of the Ripper was distributed as Barbara: The Monster of London.
Such examples also highlight the rarity value of many of the posters reproduced, even for the Hammer fan such as myself: While trawls on Ebay have certainly made many of those present more familiar than they would have been even ten years ago, I had never seen the likes of the Polish One Million Years BC or the Romanian The Hound of the Baskervilles posters, and doubt that many outwith these territories would have done so until now.
Recommended for fans of the studio, though those fixated solely on its horror output should note that just as much weight is given – correctly in my opinion – to showcasing the diversity of its releases, and anyone with an interest in cinema ephemera.
Sunday, 18 July 2010
Tuesday, 8 June 2010
UK Argento posters
Currently on Ebay UK, but priced a bit too high for me, with 'buy it now' prices of £999 each
Friday, 14 May 2010
Nice Leone posters
More works of art than mere advertising, with good play upon iconic images and concepts from the three films:
Sunday, 9 May 2010
Tuesday, 30 March 2010
How much?
Currently on Ebay with buy it now prices of £1,000,000 each:
Considering that the most expensive poster sold was Metropolis, for $700,000...
http://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/an-interview-with-vintage-movie-poster-collector-sam-sarowitz/
Considering that the most expensive poster sold was Metropolis, for $700,000...
http://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/an-interview-with-vintage-movie-poster-collector-sam-sarowitz/
Friday, 29 January 2010
Friday, 15 January 2010
Ugly Hatchet for a Honeymoon poster
There's no other way to describe this poster for A Hatchet for the Honeymoon except that it's not the sort of thing you'd probably want to have on your wall and looks like a piece of early video box cover art:
Monday, 21 December 2009
Saturday, 26 September 2009
Dubbing and poster art correlation?
On ebay at the moment there's a Belgian poster for The Strange Vice of Signora Wardh, with titles in Flemish and French:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BLADE-OF-THE-RIPPER-EDWIGE-FENECH-GIALLO-IT-POSTER_W0QQitemZ290351658560QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item439a4eb640&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14
The poster art itself is the same as the Italian version.
It makes me wonder: During the heyday of European popular genre cinemas, was there a correlation between whether a country dubbed or subtitled and whether they had their own poster art or not, beyond simply having the translated or other title and perhaps emphasising the native star above the foreign one.
Did ' bigger' markets, or ones with a particular national orientation, have their own art, whereas smaller ones just used pre-existing art?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BLADE-OF-THE-RIPPER-EDWIGE-FENECH-GIALLO-IT-POSTER_W0QQitemZ290351658560QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item439a4eb640&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14
The poster art itself is the same as the Italian version.
It makes me wonder: During the heyday of European popular genre cinemas, was there a correlation between whether a country dubbed or subtitled and whether they had their own poster art or not, beyond simply having the translated or other title and perhaps emphasising the native star above the foreign one.
Did ' bigger' markets, or ones with a particular national orientation, have their own art, whereas smaller ones just used pre-existing art?
Saturday, 15 August 2009
UK and Belgian Demons of the Mind posters
Or, the use of similar graphic elements by different artists:
Both with the face behind the keyhole and Michael Hordern's priest with the flaming cross.
Both with the face behind the keyhole and Michael Hordern's priest with the flaming cross.
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