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!)
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.
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.
Continue reading "Movie Pressbook: The Human Vapor (1960)" »
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.
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.)
Continue reading "Movie Pressbook: The Brides of Fu Manchu (1966)" »
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.
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.
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.
Professor Kinema pulled out a Xerox copy, buried deeply in his archives, of this pressbook for The Ghost of Frankenstein. The movie stills in the copy didn't scan well, but overall you will find this a treat, especially when you consider how difficult it is to find this pressbook, and the cost when you do. (Note: I'm not sure if this copy contains all of the pages in the original pressbook.)
What piqued my interest the most, however, is the wartime publiclity angle on page 7. Will the Nazi Frankenstein Monster Follow the Famous Legend and Destroy Its Makers, timely monster contest.
"Cash in on the times with a patriotic contest calling for letters stating how and when entrants think the Frankenstein Monster created by the Axis and now endangering the world will turn on its Nazi makers just as the screen monster in "The Ghost of Frankenstein" turns and destroys its creator."
This folder styled campaign manual for Night of the Blood Beast and She Gods of Shark Reef double bill is approximately 11 x 15 inches when folded, and highlights the sensational poster art depicting damsels in distress. The use of strategically placed Leilani flowers in the She Gods of Shark Reef Poster is inspiring, isn't it?
Here's a shot of the the opened folder showing the slightly overlapping For Profits! column. Unfolding the page on the right opens the folder into three sections, with the middle section holding the separate promotion sheets for each movie for an impressive commercial presentation.
Put Return of the Ape Man in a midnight spook show with a few Three Stooges shorts and I'm in heaven. Really.
Stunningly morbid poster art and the sickly green coloration to the cover highlights this 11 x 17 inches pressbook for The Oblong Box. Note the commercial importance of Vincent Price's persence in the movie, conveyed through the watermark on the synopsis page.
