Azteca/Mexican Lobby Cards
Mexican Lobby Card:
Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster
When me and my mom showed up at the Benson Theater (in Brooklyn) one afternoon to catch Thunderball, we got zapped with this turkey instead. Bad makeup, bad acting, bad scripting, bad direction, bad, and overall cheesy fun. This lobby card is way better than the movie.
The Amazing Colossal Man (1957)
Mexican Lobby Card
One of my favorite B movies from the 1950s. Does this illustration remind you of King Kong and Fay Wray? And boy do I wish I had that hypodermic needle prop!
Mexican Lobby Card: Voodoo Woman
It's confusing: this lobby card is for Voodoo Woman (1957), but the title on the card reads The Gold Idol. Go figure. Speaking of figures, the usual scared female victim scantilly dressed and spear-waving natives, framed with that frightful monster face lighting up the background, tones this lobby card perfectly. Not tastefully, mind you, but in that B-movie-trashy-bad-it's-good way. Paul Blaisdell created, and played, the monster.
Mexican Lobby Card: War of the Planets
This lively Mexican lobby card depicts the male astronaut with mucho machismo while the cringing female astronaut clings to him for protection. The English language lobby cards are not as blatantly sexist. Pay close attention to their faces: she's looking at something that's making her fearful, but he's looking at her and firing his gun without aiming at what's scaring her. I'll leave it up to you more Freudian-centric readers to figure this one out.
Mexican Lobby Card:
La Maldicion De La Llorona
La Maldicion De La Llorona (The Curse of the Crying Woman) lobby cards are unusually subdued in their illustration (for a Mexican horror movie lobby card, that is), and imply a Gothic tone and romantic mood for this story of evil witches, dark spirits, and spooky mansion surprises. These two action-filled picture inserts, on the other hand, cry supernatural terror and woman in peril.
(lobby card courtesy of Professor Kinema)
Mexican Lobby Card: Dungeons of Harrow
A motif found in the majority of horror movie poster and lobby card artwork for any country: the female victim. The strategic dappling of blood across her ample bosom accentuates the terror of helplessness. I doubt Dungeons of Harrow (1962) brings, as the lobby card states, all the suspense as the major productions of Alfred Hitchcock. I don't think suspense is the key audience attractor here.
(lobby card courtesy of Professor Kinema)
Mexican Lobby Card: The Gamma People
In this lobby card for El Monstruo Del Rayo Gamma (The Gamma People, 1956), Paul Douglas's bulldog face is more menacing than the lumbering creatures in the foreground.
(lobby card courtesy of Professor Kinema)
Spooks Run Wild (1941) Mexican Lobby Card
The Bowery Boys, (East Side Kids), meet Bela Lugosi in this spirited and low budget Monogram romp through spook show style shenanigans. Angelo Rossitto (Freaks) helps bolster the sinister tone as the mysterious Nardo's (Bela Lugosi) assistant.
Mexican Lobby Card: Fiend Without a Face
Based on Amelia Long's The Thought Monster, 1958's British production, Fiend Without a Face, sported some gruesome gore for its time, creepy stop-motion brain-monsters climbing and flying all over the place.
Mexican Lobby Card: Monster on the Campus
This Monstruo En La Noche lobby card for Universal's Monster On the Campus (also called Monster in the Night) is from the Professor Kinema archives.
A simple combination of red and black inks combine to create a striking image that's more exciting than the actual movie. Note the interesting contrast between the King Kong grip on the heroine by an over-sized monster in the illustration compared to the insert picture. The small picture of the scientist acting scientifically and the hypodermic needle outline cue the science-horror aspect of the movie.