Oh, those wild beatniks. Wild, wild, wild. Could never get the hang of those bongos, though. Rhythm’s just not my bag, man. But I dug the tights the women wore. Slinky and sexy. One of the best horror movies with a beatnik atmosphere is A Bucket of Blood. Sherlock Holmes once quipped about “art in the blood” when discussing Mycroft, but A Bucket of Blood posits blood-in-the-art for a nice kick in the jive. A bucket’s worth, more or less.
…
Here's the large Mexican lobby card (the size of a mini-poster) for Leyendas Macabras De La Colonia (1974), Macabre Legends of the Colony, with Tinieblas, El Fantasma Blanco, and Mil Máscaras. Great inset scene. And yes, it's as wild as this card depicts. Luchadors, mummies (and one bitchin' dead mommy of a witch), Aztec warriors, and a painting that transports to colonial times to get some fighting done.
Simple yet stunning visuals combined with an existentially tinged inset scene make this Mexican lobby card very eye-appealing and thought-provoking.
Interestingly, the Mexican lobby card for I Was a Teenage Frankenstein (1957) is titled The Son of Frankenstein, El Hijo De Frankenstein.
Here's the Mexican lobby card for the feature version of Zombies of the Stratosphere, Satan's Satellites (1958). I fell in love with this movie immediately seeing that cool space outfit Marex (Lane Bradford) is wearing. One of Leonard Nimoy's first screen appearances, as another alien, is to be found here, too.
A very enjoyable movie with great Harryhausen special effects. A monsterkid classic. The art direction on a budget for Earth vs. The Flying Saucers (1956) is exemplary. From the weird, featureless alien survival suits to the rotating flying saucers, and let's not forget that fantastic warbling alien voice, it's still fun to watch. Here's the UK pressbook for it.
…
The exploitation angle is pushed hard in this pressbook for Unidentified Flying Objects: The True Story of Flying Saucers. That pilot's singular expression, used in the poster art, is so direct, so embracing of suspense, that it's quite a teaser for seeing the move. If it wasn't the cold war fear, it was fear of alien invaders that sipped around the coffee tables of 1950s/1960s suburbia and metropolises.
…
Movie Pressbook:
Unidentified Flying Objects (1956)Read More »
Here's another version of the Mexican lobby card for Robot Monster, El Monstruo De Marte. The lobby cards are definitely much more exciting than the movie. I'm guessing the inset scene shows the gorilla with the rabbit ears–you youngin's go google "rabbit ears"–choking some poor actor who realized this movie was really really bad and wanted out. But with a few Red's Apple Ale (or any suitable hard cider of your choice), this movie's a wild hoot of fun (on a par with Spookies or The Video Dead).
Nice amount of promotional tie-in for Gorgo: see the Special Book Editions page for tie-ins to Famous Monsters of Filmland, Charlton Comics (I loved Charlton Comics!), and a movie novelization. Gorgo is one of the better Bs coming out of the 1960s mostly because of the storyline, with an appealing theme of a mom just wanting to protect her child. And what a big mother she is.
…
Cold War paranoia, an unstoppable missile blazing a path of destruction and stock footage galore heats up this science fiction quickie to near zero temperature. But this pressbook for The Lost Missile is hot. Intense exploitation poster art and a shock tag theater giveaway (for shock-aphasia!) push the expectations for excitement high even if the movie's payload fizzles.
…
Okay, I’m not quite getting this Mexican lobby card for El Gorila Blanco. I’m assuming it’s for White Pongo (1945). But being a movie shot in 1945, the illustrations and carefully coiffed hair to breasts coverage doesn’t jive for that time period. Or maybe I’ve not watched enough movies from that decade and I’m wrong. Whatever, the lobby has a gorilla and a girl (or girls to be precise) so it’s in my closet. I like weird sh*t like that.
The MGM pressbook for Gorgo is as big as, well, Gorgo. Here's part 1 to chew on. See the movie herald here.
For part 2 of this pressbook, go here.
…