Seller seacheese has been putting these up for auction on eBay. I love the "Do Not Eat" in small print on the package. This theater giveaway for The Brotherhood of Satan has a great graphic on the front of the package. I imagine it would be cool to do this again, along with a midnight showing for the movie, but fill the package with Pop Rocks candy (or maybe even Red Hots) instead of Fright Seeds.
So I'm thinking if you're not young and beautiful, you're safe, right? By the 1970s, pressbooks were becoming cut-up and paste efforsts (worst efforts, clever huh) with lurid colors and few pages. This one is a double-sided sheet. That's it. Two beautiful girls stumble onto a ghost ship filled with flesh-eating ghouls. They (the girls) insist on checking it out so they can be devoured as they (the ghouls) check them out. Rescuers arrive for more snacks. And the illustration makes it look like she's fighting little people dead men with rope. In a bikini. Midnight show anyone? And yes, it's those Knights Templars back for more. This is the third installment, El Buque Maldito, in the Blind Dead series. It does have its atmosphere and creep factor, though, so midnight show, anyone?
Remember this one? If not, you're lucky. Who knew laserdisc players were so darn useful for killing zombies AND playing movies?
Continue reading "Pressbook: Raiders of the Living Dead (1986)" »
Thanks to Tony Rivers and his taste in classy, ahem, movies, we have this double bill pressbook for Viking Women and the Sea Serpent and The Astounding She Monster. The pressbook is the folder design with insert sheets, which makes a wonderful presentation for distributors. Usually, this pressbook winds up being cut up and in terrible shape (maybe those movies were pretty popular!?) when it comes up for auction, but thanks to Tony and his pressbook collection (yeah, Zombos is jealous), we've got a great bunch of scans to share with fellow lovers of feminine pulchritude and pugilistic prowess.
I'll never forget seeing this one, with my mom, at the Benson Theater (86th Street, Brooklyn). It was a hot summer evening, the air-conditioning was busted, and they kept the doors open to the street in a futile attempt to cool the theater. I pity the poor bastard running the projector that night. Every so often the elevated train would rumble past. We didn't care. We loved the movie. One of Vincent Price's best. Here's the pressbook.
One of my favorites. The kicker ending was quite a shock to my young mind in the 1960s. Jack Pierce did the mutant makeup and Edgar G. Ulmer directed. Budget movie, but the storyline is still very interesting. Here's the pressbook.
Continue reading "Pressbook: Beyond the Time Barrier (1960)" »
What is it about vent dummies that scare us so much?
Annoying fungi wreak havoc in outer space. Of course, the heroine on the cover of this pressbook seems to be enjoying the terror a little too much. Whoever did the poster art must have thought this was a musical. And remember, glamour is still important in outer space.
Continue reading "Pressbook: Mutiny in Outer Space (1965)" »
Short and simple pressbook for Face of Terror, but neatly designed: it's one sheet with the ends folded toward the center to create left and right flaps that open to reveal the face of terror!
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)
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.
