Pressbooks (Horror, Sci Fi, Fantasy)
Movie Herald: Change of Mind (1969)
Surprisingly, given the current developments in planned head transplants, this is a more topical movie than it was when originally released: "But we still can't forget the absurdity of the premise. A BRAIN transplant?" (Roger Ebert's chief complaint, reviewing this movie, in 1969)
Movie Herald: Eye of the Cat (1969)
My favorite movie heralds are the jumbo-sized newspaper type. The Planet of the Apes series made good use of them. Here’s the one for Eye of the Cat.
Movie Pressbook:
Jungle Jim in Voodoo Tiger
The movie pressbook for Voodoo Tiger (1952). This is a 6-page foldout. I've mixed up the order of the pages but they're all here.
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Movie Pressbook: Soylent Green
A very well constructed color noir, Soylent Green also warned us about global warming years before it started to take hold of our attention. Good science fiction always tells us what we don't want to hear.
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Movie Pressbook:
Guess What Happened
To Count Dracula
After reading the IMDb blurb for 1971's Guess What Happened to Count Dracula, I definitely know what happened to Dracula in this movie: "Dracula enslaves Dr. Irving Jekyll, turning him into the lycanthropic JackalMan, demanding that he lure female blood donors to his L.A. cabin retreat." Oh, my.
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Movie Pressbook:
Guess What Happened
To Count DraculaRead More »
Student Guide Handout:
The Andromeda Strain
It's interesting to note that science fiction movies usually receive a more sophisticated (and academic) promotion through their pressbooks and theater giveaways. Here's an example of a herald for the movie that's formatted as a study guide for students.
Movie Pressbook:
Scream Blacula Scream (1973)
See the Blacula pressbook here (most of it, anyway). Here's the sequel, Scream Blacula Scream. I like both movies, and were they not saddled with the blaxploitation connotation (although they are good examples of blaxploitation, actually), the tortured character of Mamuwalde just might be appreciated more by horror fans.
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Blacula (1972) Pressbook
According to Wikipedia, Blacula was the first horror film to receive a Saturn Award. It's also the first time an African-American actor (William Marshall) appeared on screen as a vampire. Marshall also was the King of Cartoons for Pee Wee Herman's Playhouse. Of note, too, is how his sympathetic but demonic character mirrored Dark Shadows' Barnabas Collin's similar predicament. Pressbooks from the 1970s often printed ads on one side, leaving a blank page. That's why some page numbers are missing. An insert flyer appears after the pressbook.
(See the Scream Blacula Scream pressbook)
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Movie Pressbook: House of Dark Shadows
See my post on House of Dark Shadows here. Here's the 1970 movie pressbook for your perusal. And here's the pressbook for Night of Dark Shadows should you want to peruse even more.
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