Here's Ringo Starr's Caveman pressbook. Don't hate me. I'm posting it for Ringo Starr and Barbara Bach fans. Besides, the poster art is more fun and vibrant than the movie. (Click each page to enlarge. Once open, you may need to click again to read. Use your browser's back button to return.)
While perusing the pressbook (more like a pad with stapled sheets) for 20th Century Fox's The Mad Monk and The Reptile double bill, my attention was, naturally, drawn to this wild promotional gimmick: a genuine (fake) Rasputin beard theater giveaway. You know you want it!
Don't you just love the "free to guys and gals alike!" tagline.
If only the movie, The Skull, were as exciting as this pressbook. The skull ring promotion is mouth-watering (okay, at least for me). And the tabloid herald, which I haven't seen, is printed in Day-Glo ink! I must find one! (You know the drill: Click each graphic to open in your browser, than click again to enlarge enough to read, then use your browser back button to return.)
I recall seeing Captain Kronos at the Famous Monsters Convention in the 1970s. Enjoyed it. And unlike other horror movies, I really miss this one not having a sequel.
I can think of more movies the "Up-Chuck Cup" gimmick could be used with.
What I want to know is where do these monsters keep finding scantily dressed, bosomy, leggy women to carry around? And just once, I'd like to see a two-headed female carry around a scantily dressed, chesty man around.
I'd love to add the caveman dictionary and the cavewomen standees to my collection. Wouldn't you? One thing that strikes me funny: cavewomen always look so glamorous in their furs; the guys, not so much.
I want to see this movie. Not because of the scene photos, or the story synopsis, or the seat selling slants. I want to see this movie because this poster is awesome. It's pulpy goodness space opera with a Jetsons cartoony abandon. Cthulhu should look this good. The kicker is the astronaut being devoured in the background, then shift your gaze to the running astronaut in the foreground, looking back in horror. Wonderful.
This pressbook uses the calendar-style format. It's stapled at the top and you flip the pages up to view the Credits, Publicity, Advertising, and Exploitation sections. Maybe it's me, but I doubt Neil Sedaka's songs for Sting of Death "heighten shocking impact of underwater thriller." That jelly-fish headed man-suit looks suitably cheesy, though, so maybe I'm wrong. (Note: I left out some advertising ad mats).
This impressive 15" x 18" pressbook is packed with promotional material for a so-so movie. The "amazing audience participation" gimmick involved HYPNOMAGIC. I'll leave it to you to figure out if it was worth all the hoopla. But man, don't those hands look like Steve Ditko's Doctor Strange in action?
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This is a folder-styled pressbook, which, when opened, shows three pockets where the press sheets are held. Interestingly, this double bill promotes Frankie Avalon's Horror House over Boris Karloff and Christopher Lee in The Crimson Cult; an indication that American International wanted to appeal to a younger audience?