From Zombos Closet

Azteca/Mexican Lobby Cards

Dracula (TV Movie, 1974)
Mexican Lobby Card

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Dan Curtis's made for television Dracula (Bram Stoker's Dracula), starring Jack Palance, and written by Richard Matheson, was tapped into by Francis Ford Coppola for his Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992). According to Wikipedia, Gene Colon got the idea for his Dracula's appearance (Tomb of Dracula) from seeing Palance in his first hookup with Dan Curtis, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. It's a shame Palance did not continue to play Dracula in other movies. 

Dracula

The Prey (1984) Mexican Lobby Card

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I was thinking The Prey was a straight to VHS endeavor, but IMDb lists New World Pictures as a theatrical distributor so it did have a limited theater run at least.  Here's the blurb from IMDb: "Six campers jaunt off to North Point, where they're promptly stalked and killed by a ghoulish man who ultimately is just looking for a little love." Sure. And with a tagline like "it's not human, and it's got an axe" I'm still not seeing this one as a big theater draw, but John Kenneth Muir did give it a positive review, so I recommend you read what he says about it to help you make up your mind. The movie was actually completed in 1978 but didn't see release until 1984. 

Prey lobby card

Red Planet Mars (1952)
Mexican Lobby Card

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Messages from Mars send the United States into a tizzy. An odd "red scare" movie from the 1950s, Red Planet Mars tosses in God, Nazis technology, the Red Menace, nuclear power, and Peter Graves, and may actually be worth revisiting: its relevance to today's fake news/political meddling, and religious hypocrisies may have been prescient. John L. Balderston and John Hoare wrote it. Balderston's version of the Dracula stage play became the vehicle for Bela Lugosi, and, according to Wikipedia, he was an uncredited contributor to Mark of the Vampire. Unfortunately, the poster art leaves much to be desired.

Red Planet Mars lobby card

Sudden Fear (1952) Mexican Lobby Card

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From Wikipedia: "In 1984, film noir historian Spencer Selby noted, "Undoubtedly one of the most stylish and refined woman-in-distress noirs." This Mexican lobby card for Sudden Fear illustrates that tone quite well with a beautiful closeup of Joan Crawford at her histrionic-best. Notice, also, how the lighting for the couple at the bottom right embellishes them with a sinister patina.

Sudden Fear Lobby Card

The Blob (1958)
Mexican Lobby Card

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One of the most frightening monsters in horror cinema. And there's Steve McQueen tossed in for good measure (he'd go on to do television's Wanted: Dead or Alive). The movie playing in the theater when the Blob spills out of the projector booth is Daughter of Horror (a re-cut of Dementia, 1955). If you haven't caught this movie, do so: it's held up and still delivers the goosebumps.

Blob

The blob

Congo Bill (1948)
Mexican Lobby Card

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There's something fascinating about the girls and gorillas thematic that was a Hollywood bad habit that hit its zenith in the 1940s, along with mad scientists and gorillas. Of course, the most notable is King Kong (1933), but there were many movies plotting along this theme. Here's the Mexican lobby card for the Congo Bill Columbia Pictures 15 chapter serial. While it may all appear rather silly now to watch an actor in a gorilla suit carrying an unconscious woman in his arms, try to imagine as if you were sitting in a grand, single screen, theater in the 1940s. (Here's the Congo Bill pressbook.)

Congo Bill

Congo Bill Lobby Card

The Devil’s Rain (1975)
Mexican Lobby Card

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Here's the Mexican lobby card for The Devil's Rain. You can see the pressbook here. I can best sum it up by saying a lot of people melt at the end. So either fast forward or plan on spending little quality time until the end. Great poster art, though. And the makeup effects are good. A lot of movies came out in the 1970's, on television and in the theater, with stories about satanists and witchcraft and all that. Not sure why. This is one of those movies. Now, if we were talking Race with the Devil (1975), of which you can see the pressbook here, that's worth your while.

Devil's Rain lobby