Pressbooks (Horror, Sci Fi, Fantasy)
Movie Pressbook: Dracula’s Daughter (1936)
Not sure if I've got all the pages in this Xeroxed copy of the large-sized Dracula's Daughter pressbook, but the fold-out Showmanship pages are exquisitely dense with promotion ideas. I had to split them into sections in order to scan them at a readable resolution, but I provided the complete page-spread to show you how it looks (top and bottom). Possibly the most unusual movie in Universal's horror cycle, even the promotion stresses the "weird feeling" she will give you.
(Note: Due to the large size of the pressbook, each page was originally Xeroxed into two halves. Unfortunately, whoever did the Xeroxing mismatched the resolution between the two halves of page 3, so they do not line up properly. I rescaled them as best I could. Also, deterioration at the fold has removed a line of text through the columns of pages 2 and 3.)
Movie Pressbook:
Journey to the Seventh Planet (1962)
I had to split a few single pages into two scans, in order to make them readable, so this 11 x 17 inches pressbook, printed in landscape orientation, shows more pages than it actually contains. The poster art is to die for. Journey to the Seventh Planet is one of my guilty favorites as a youngster. I never failed to watch it when it was on network television. One interesting tidbit: Roger Corman's Galaxy of Terror uses the same plot device: space men encountering their worst fears on a distant planet.
Movie Pressbook: House of Horrors (1946)
Here's another Xerox, this one of the House of Horrors pressbook from Professor Kinema's file folder. Unfortunately it's in black and white, and the reproduction is poor. I'm also not sure if this is all the pages to the original, but still an interesting look into the Universal Studios promotion machine, nonetheless. And besides, it has the Creeper himself, Rondo Hatton, and that's enough for me. (Check out the lobby cut-out of The Creeper!)
Movie Pressbook: Rocket Attack U.S.A (1961)
The propagandist and terror-pandering cover art of this Rocket Attack U.S.A pressbook immediately caught my eye. I'm a sucker for anything exploitative and seedy. The depressing tagline, You'll live, MAYBE!!! could be used in just about any horror movie. The fears played on here are more real, though, especially if you lived through the Cold War and the Red Menace.
Movie Pressbook: The Human Vapor (1960)
I moved the newspaper article-styled pages ahead of the poster ad mats, but all the pages are here from this splendid 11 x 15 inches campaign book for Toho Studios' The Human Vapor.
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Movie Pressbook: Sugar Hill (1974)
I moved the ad pages around to provide a little reading variety between them and the text pages, so you will notice the page numbers are not in proper order. Otherwise the entire 8.5 x 14 inches pressbook is shown in its entirety. I hope Quentin Tarantino remakes this one.
Movie Pressbook: The Brides of Fu Manchu (1966)
How can you pass up such a catchy tagline: The Master of Evil Takes a Harem of Horror! Or Better Dead Than Wed! Now, of course, questions of political correctness and cultural sensitivity always crop up when one discusses the Fu Manchu series. Feel free to comment. As for me, I'll just mention it is one of Christopher Lee's meatier roles, so I won't ignore it. (I recommend reading Sax Rohmer's books, too.)
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Movie Pressbook: Indestructible Man (1956)
Who says you can't learn new things from pressbooks? What's a funicular? Yes, that's right, you haven't a clue, do you? Well, check page four…On another note, I'm perplexed by collectors, like Jeffrey M. Peck (see page three) who must ink their name on everything with a stamper. I simply do not understand the need for defacing paper collectibles in this way.
Movie Pressbook: Lord of the Flies (1963)
The 1963 movie version of Lord of the Flies remains a very unnerving horror movie: one that leaves a funny taste in your mouth because you know how true it can become. Even moreso now with the greater level of self-assured arrogance and superiority of truth-knowing as exhibited by political, religious, and secular sycophants so prevalent today.
The Black Cat (1941) Pressbook
Little bit comedy, little bit mystery, and all 1940s style, this 1941 movie is not as intense as the 1934 movie with Boris Karloff. One of Bela Lugosi’s lesser roles, but he, as always, makes it his own. Here’s the movie pressbook along with the ad supplement.
Comic reader version: Download The Black Cat Pressbook
See more pressbooks From Zombos’ Closet.
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