A beautifully composed Mexican lobby card: masked rider El Latigo (the Whip) rushing to the rescue, mummies menacing in the background, damsel in distress, a guy in distress, and superb illustration colors and font choices. Cowboys and Mummies! Now that's what I'd like to see instead of cowboys and aliens.
Maybe it's me, but I'm not sure he's got the whole axe as weapon thing down pat.
The Vampire Doll is the first film in Toho studios' Bloodthirsty Trilogy, followed by Lake of Dracula, and Evil of Dracula. The trilogy is an atmospheric treat not to be missed. Arrow released a Blu-ray edition this year, so, go sink your teeth into it.
Michael Armstrong's (and Adrian Hoven's) Mark of the Devil is still a visually disturbing yet message-important movie , and victimization runs deeper than the usual female-terrorized marketing used to bring in the audience. Remember those vomit bag giveaways?
I'd bet if you took a tally of the weapon seen most often in a lobby card, it would be a knife. The Sax Rohmer series may be politically incorrect these days, but Christopher Lee is so sinister, and so evil in this Hammer screen series, it's still fun to watch his machinations for world conquest. And can't you just dig this groovy pyschedelic illo, man?
This movie's another guilty pleasure. The makeup is so gonzo, how can you not love it?
What's not to love about this over the top Mexican lobby card for Nightmare in Wax? The maniacal predator; the dripping blood; the victim's head reflecting the terror (I assume the rest of her is in the box); and an action shot filled with menace (though not sure for whom). Yup. A definite keeper. Usually, the more distasteful the advertising, the more tepid the movie. But at least we have the poster art to keep us happy with fright.
This lobby card shows an excellent use of stark imagery over credits to imply motivations for this 1964 Mexican movie.
Concisely put, Santa Claus Conquers the Martians is the worst movie ever made.
See those colorful and jubilant Martian and Earthian children? The cool retro robot? The jolly, spaceship flying, Santa holding an overstuffed bag of goodies for all the good children in the universe? None of that is in this movie. What is, are Wham-o Air Blaster gun-toting Martian adults in desperate need of NoDoz, a fuddy-duddy Santa, dopey Elves, a dopey robot, Dropo the exceedingly dopey Martian, and even a dopey 800 year-old Martian-in-the-Cave doling advice to the NoDoz Momars and Kimars because their children want presents and holiday cheer and their own Santa.
It is colorless, lifeless, quite reprehensible and, yes, Virginia, the antithesis of that Christmas Spirit we strive to nurture the rest of the year: it is a lump of celluloid coal smudging black the delights of the season.
