Tag Archives: great horror movie posters

Horror Movie Posters I Love: The Beast Within (1982)

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One of the strangest (and somewhat entertaining) movies I remember witnessing in the 80’s was The Beast Within.  Granted, I was only 6-years-old when this movie came out so I didn’t get a chance to go to the theater and see it.  Had I been old enough though, I would have seen a poster in the lobby for the film warning me:  BEWARE! This Motion Picture Contains Scenes Of Graphic And Violent Horror.

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A tactic commonly used for older horror films, the warning shown on the poster would have only made me want to see The Beast Within even more.  Hence why I love this particular poster.  Not only that, I love the color contrast of the red and black and also the font for ‘Beast‘ written across the silhouetted outline of Michael about to transform into Billy.  Slight spoiler alert there.

Another spoiler alert would be that there’s an uncomfortable rape scene towards the end of the movie.  Kudos to The Beast Within for using practical effects btw, even if it evokes more laughter than terror.  Don’t believe me? Check out the legendary (I like to throw that term around loosely) transformation below, and if that doesn’t sell you on the movie – nothing will.

Horror Movie Posters I Love: Creepers (1985)

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Movies with two names kind of annoy me.  But so is usually the case when we’re talking about the Italian horror genre.  No matter if you want to call Dario Argento’s 1985 psychic/insect movie Creepers or Phenomena, it has one of the best posters EVER!

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Now for whatever reason, there is a version of this poster that isn’t exposing Jennifer Connelly’s half-decaying bug face, but clearly the un-edited version is the keeper here.  The image above is actually an ad for the promotion of the VHS version of Creepers, but the tagline on the original poster is “It Will Make Your Skin Crawl“.  Fitting, considering there are a bunch of bugs flying around that could actually make your skin crawl.

I have to confess that I haven’t seen this movie in years.  And after looking at this poster again, I definitely need to revisit it.  Not only does it have the late great Donald Pleasence in it, but how the fuck can you go wrong with a movie that has Iron Maiden and Motorhead on the soundtrack?  Another thing that this poster is making me realize is that we need more horror movies about bugs.  Whether it’s spiders, cockroaches, or maybe a random remake of 1988’s movie about killer slugs appropriately titled Slugs – everyone can relate to bugs!  Get on that Hollywood.  Until then, it’s off to Amazon to purchase Creepers or Phenomena or whatever the hell you want to call it.

Horror Movie Posters I Love: I, Madman (1989)

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What the hell happened to the good horror movie posters?  They seem far and between now unfortunately, which is pretty depressing since they’re sometimes the best thing about a movie.  Not the case with the cinematic gem I’m highlighting this time around on ‘Horror Movie Posters I Love‘ though.  Ladies and gentleman, I present to you the poster for the 1989 underrated slasher flick:  I, Madman

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I used to have this poster hanging on my closet door when I was 13 years old.  True story.  Now, I could honestly go on and on about my love for the actual movie, but I’m focusing on the poster here.  It’s captures exactly what the film is about in it’s style and even has a couple cheesy 80’s taglines to round the awesomeness out.  I’m always a sucker for a good hypodermic needle too.  I, Madman is a fairly original horror gem if you haven’t seen it, and this poster does the movie tons of justice.  Seek the movie out if you can my friends (you can find a cheap copy on Ebay), and until then just keep dazing up at that horror poster goodness.

Horror Movie Posters I Love: Popcorn (1991)

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I love me a good horror movie that’s set in a movie theater.  The 1985 Italian gorefest Demons easily being my favorite, but one not far behind is a little genre gem called Popcorn.  Never heard of it?  You might not be alone.  This post however, is about posters and the Popcorn poster graced my eyes back in 1991 at my local Mom & Pop video store.

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Let’s talk taglines here.  ‘Buy a bag…Go home in a box.‘  That right there folks is part of what’s missing in horror movies nowadays.  Sure, it’s cheesy, but therein lies the charm.  And if you’ve seen Popcorn, you know that it’s full of charm.  Some might say it’s full of something else, but I digress.

I’ve said it before:  throw a skull on a poster and I’ll most likely be down no matter what.  And the Popcorn poster uses the skull wisely, managing to pull you in and give you a 50’s horror vibe at the same time.  I dig the mention of ‘The Possessor’ storyline in the top left corner as well. Overall, I just love the nostalgic feel of this poster!  Seek the movie out (it’s up on Youtube and I recommend it) if you will, or just gaze at the delicious artwork above to get your Popcorn fix on.  And throw some extra butter on it while you’re at it.

Horror Movie Posters I Love: ‘Hellraiser’ Early Promo Poster (1987)

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We all know that the big star of 1987’s Hellraiser is the cricket-eating homeless guy who turns into a skeletal winged creature at the end of the movie.  Kidding!  It’s Pinhead and his fancy box.  I had the original poster for Hellraiser hanging on my closet door when I was 12-years-old up until I took it down and replaced it with one for Maniac Cop (a worthy replacement in my opinion).

To my surprise, I came to find out that there was an early promo poster for Hellraiser that looked nothing like the one above.  It contained a quote from Stephen King regarding Clive Barker that said “I have seen the future of horror fiction, and his name is Clive Barker…” and included a different tagline as well: ‘There Are No Limits’.  But the most jarring omission from this early promo poster was that Pinhead is nowhere to be found.  Instead, we have a red demon with a spikey 80’s hairdo and sharp jagged teeth.  And even though this red demon doesn’t appear in the film, I somehow kinda dig this poster.

Captain Obvious will tell you that the tagline for the promo poster is far inferior to ‘He’ll Tear Your Soul Apart’, but I love the red/black combo with a little white thrown in to balance everything out.  It’s always a nice surprise to find an obscure poster for a beloved horror movie like Hellraiser, but at the same time I get why they made the decision to make Pinhead the star of the final poster. Quite a shame that the cricket-eating skeletal winged creature homeless guy couldn’t get any shine though.  Just another sad horror movie injustice for the ages.