31 days of Horror Nerd Indoctrination- Day Eight: Posters

     Posters are huge for me, I remember just starting at the upcoming films when I would go to the theater.  In the eighties specifically posters really grabbed you, I mean hard like that weird uncle.  Every time I would see the poster for the new Nightmare on Elm Street or Friday the 13th I would have to go sit down on the couch that was over by the video games because my ten year old dick was rock hard.  That uncle loved that, no wonder he took me to all those movies.  On a side note I am glad that I sat on that couch as I found a huge banner for Nightmare four shoved under the cushions whehn I stuck my hand down there. Why did I stick my my  hand down there? That I have no fucking clue. The thing is I did and I was stoked because I have had

that banner for years and every time I move it is one of the first things I hang up. This is where it is displayed at the current house of grog, anyways back to theatrical one sheets.  They are beautiful, well they can be. Over the years the poster design has went down faster than aspiring alter boy but in the heyday posters were art. You had artist like Drew Struzen making posters that drew(see what I did there?) you in  and put you in the film before you even started watching it. There were plenty of other amazing posters and don't get me wrong still are today.

     Once video stores became prominent it started being easier to get your hands on some great posters, sure they weren't the theatrical posters but they still looked god damn amazing.  I remember getting my hands on a Hellraiser 3 poster that made me uber stoked. The thing about the VHS posters is, well there were so many. I would get in good with the clerks at these stores and convince them to give me the posters when they were done with them. This was a great way to get art for the old walls.

     See up in till this point I would just take all the Fangoria's I bought, cut them up like I was in crafts class and tape them to my wall, a method I still use and enjoy.  It was nice to be able to mix it up now.  One wall with a collage and one with promo posters.  My grandma was stoked, she loved walking in and seeing pinhead stare at her with a bunch of slashed up naked girls all over my closet.  I had conversations similar to the ones Spinell had with his mom in Maniac, granted my my grandma wasn't dead.

     Today we have so many amazing posters coming out, sure not necessarily theatrical, with a few exceptions like The Human Centipede theatrical one sheet. I don't care what you think about the movie that is one bad ass poster, sure it's not as cool as some of the beautiful VHS box art of the eighties but for a modern theatrical one sheet that is fanfuckingtabulous, but like I was saying we have tons of great posters coming out and that is due to the resurgence of art prints.  Mondo is probably at the top of the game with so many great ones, not all horror but their horror ones will blow you away. They have gotten some great artist's like Alex Pardee and Drew Struzen and more than I feel like looking up but do yourself a favor and look it up, some great people have made some amazing prints. If you want a Mondo poster you are going to have to work for it or get insanely lucky. Most of of their posters sell out in a matter of minutes. Some that I have missed out on have been House of the Devil, Frozen, The Human Centipede, Basket Case, Night of the Creeps, Dream Warriors, Rabid and so many more. Gabe Nye the Science guy has scored himself the Swamp Thing and Zombi ones while I was lucky enough, with his help to get the Maniac one which from what I hear was originally going to be inked in blood till the printers wife persuaded him not to allow it. It still is bright ass red and makes me feel like I have a piece of evidence from a crime scene hanging on my wall.

     While Mondo is one of the big players there are still tons of great other indies doing some beautiful work. London 1888 have done everything from Killer Klowns from Outer Space to Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey. Lost Highway did a side by side Halloween/Trick r Treat which I proudly have hanging in my kitchen they have included some real classics in their list of prints with Night Breed, Hellraiser, Re Animator and Maximum Overdrive. 

     In closing I will leave you with a fact I have had to come to terms with. There is only so much wall space in a house. 

Tromeric