While watching Joel, Trace, and Josh promote Cinematic Titanic and discuss their past work on MSNBC’s Countdown recently, they mentioned how the filmmakers behind many of these B-movies would often put a great deal of work into the marketing efforts of the films to attract commercial interest on the distribution circuit of the day. Heavy emphasis was placed particularly on creating unique and stylized-looking posters and taglines. Some of my favorite MSTed movie posters include “The Crawling Eye” because it doesn’t reveal what the titular monsters actually look like in the film while still stirring a mysterious, atmospheric effect. Another favorite of mine is the promotional work for “Village of the Giants” as a notable example of B-movie marketing from the 60s.
If I had to pick one, it would be this one, for Women of the Prehistoric Planet, complete with the little inset scenes. Awesome.
What’s your favorite? By the way, you don’t necessarily have to pick posters for MSTed movies, but let’s keep it in the B movie arena.
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As I’ve said in the past, I wish they would have done “The Giant Claw”. The poster shows a much more menacing bird of course, not the laughable one in the film. Plus it flies 4 times the speed of sound! Really?
http://www.cryptomundo.com/wp-content/GiantClaw.jpg
An MST favorite of mine, Santa Claus Conquers the Martians has a lot going on in it’s movie poster. It’s also in space-blazing color!
http://images.hollywood.com/site/santa-claus-conquers-the-martians-poster.jpg
I love these kinds of posters; I have them up all over my house. Here’s my collection so far: http://eegah.bravehost.com/mst3k/posters/
Of the ones that I have, my faves are Monster A-Go-Go, The Green Slime, The Unearthly, The Thing that Couldn’t Die, Invasion U.S.A, and Horror of Party Beach. I’d kill (or at least maim) for Viking Women vs. the Sea Serpent or Fire Maidens of Outer Space.
Movie posters are a passion for me, especially when you’re talking about sci-fi/horror films. So often, the poster for a movie just completely eclipses the film itself. This one for the Green Slime is one of my favorites.
http://www.impawards.com/1968/green_slime.html
See all the posters for MSTed films here-http://www.mst3ktemple.com/posterindex.html
Warrior of the Lost World wins here because the director David Worth was given, not a script, but a poster of the movie to work from when he went to Italy. I guess this is the poster:
http://www.mst3ktemple.com/images/Warrior_Lost_World_video_rel.jpg
You can see Megaweapon in it!
“The Green Slime” is one of the first ones I thought of, too. The poster for “Merlin’s Shop of Mystical Wonders” always cracks me up. :lol:
My favorites are mostly the posters from the classic Universal monster movies, in particular “Dracula,” “The Mummy” (the original, with KArloff), and the first two Frankenstein films. “Nosferatu” and “Metropolis” have some pretty amazing posters, too.
http://www.mst3ktemple.com/posterindex.html
I don’t know why the link didn’t work the first time.
The poster for Amazing Colossal Man was so good it was shown in another movie, Earth vs the Spider. What? That movie was made by Bert I Gordon, too? Shame on you, Bert I Gordon!
“The poster for Amazing Colossal Man was so good it was shown in another movie, Earth vs the Spider. What? That movie was made by Bert I Gordon, too? Shame on you, Bert I Gordon!”
Ah, don’t forget that Ed Wood sinks even lower in The Sinister Urge. Not only does a scene feature posters of other Ed Wood movies (The Violent Years, Jail Bait, and I think Bride of the Monster although it’s hard to make out in my copy), the dialogue of the scene goes out of its way to draw attention to the posters. Auteur!
I have both posters of The Amazing Colossal Man and Attack of the 50′ Woman, so I’m partial to those, but the poster for Viking Woman vs. The Sea Serpent is pretty striking as well.
#5\Is that supposed to be Megaweapon in
the bottom left? Doesn’t look as cool,
too mmuch like a regular semi with a
few tusks attached. I doubt the bots
would have been impressed.
I have a bunch of posters of MST3K movies as wall decor. I think my favorites, out of the ones I have, are Bloodlust and Angels Revenge.
http://www.dannythestreet.com/posters/
I’m partial to posters for the Japanese monster films MST3K did. While I didn’t enjoy the Gamera episodes all that much, you have to admit the posters are pretty stylish:
http://www.mst3ktemple.com/images/Gammera_OS.jpg
The Steve Reeves Hercules film posters aren’t bad either:
http://www.mst3ktemple.com/images/502-hercules.jpg
It’s not a movie poster, but the reverse side of the VHS case for Time Chasers is great! It has two pictures of both Nick and Lisa posing with a gun, which is hilarious in itself, but Lisa NEVER uses a gun in the movie. They should have had JK with a bazooka or something.
The poster for The Projected Man is interesting as it features Dr. Paul Steiner with the burnt face, and he’s carrying Sheila in her underwear, who is fully conscious.
It’s funny to me that they would highlight that moment from the film on the poster (not that I blame them), but Tracy Crisp isn’t listed anywhere on the poster. Most of the other actors are though. It’s funny that Tracy was good enough to be shown on the poster in her underwear, but not good enough to have her name on it.
The Deadly Mantis. Far too colourful for such a drab film.
http://www.wrongsideoftheart.com/wp-content/gallery/posters-d/deadly_mantis_poster_01.jpg
Anyone else notice how the woman’s spacesuit in the Green Slime poster is open at the hands and neck…?
Damn, guys, these posters are awesome! I had no idea there was a site that collected them. I’m still looking through them all, but I noticed one great injustice. The “Sing Whenever I Sing” guy, Don Sullivan, is credited on the Giant Gila Monster poster, as is his “famous” song (as “My Baby, She Rocks). However, he is not credited at all on the Rebel Set poster! That is just wrong! He was the guy in the light summer casket!
@19 – No, I’m still too distracted by that big-ol’ grammatical error glaring us in the face. :mrgreen:
As for J-monster, it could be said that Godzilla vs. Megalon was the product of the US cultural associations of its day:
http://www.mst3ktemple.com/images/godzilla-megalon-us.jpg
And for fantasy, the rule was, use Boris Vallejo before you even know what the darn thing’s about:
http://www.mst3ktemple.com/images/deathstalker.jpg
I have to go with Mitchell. A few observations:
He’s still practicing his Tai Chi. Linda and Merlin look on adoringly (although it’s hard to tell if Merlin is laughing or crying), while the edges remind us of some of the highlights of the film. We’re offered a clue as to what happened to John Saxon (go on YouTube if you don’t know the truth!).
The movie’s slogan is, “Brute force with a badge.” Surely they were referring to Mitchell’s chief? The cowardly detective who fears big shoes? I don’t think Mitchell ever flashed his badge, just conducted “police investigations” where ever he happened to be…
@21 I agree, best poster. I may be biased, though, since I actually own one, currently hanging in my bedroom! Used to have some lobby cards from Mitchell, too, but a cat destroyed them a few years ago.
The poster for The Day the Earth Froze wins the prize for revealing the least about the movie. Annikki looks kind of like Judy Jetson in that poster. And what’s with the giant eye? I don’t remember any giant eyes. Just giant bags of wind.
Uhhhhhhhhhh… Ummmmmmmmm… Hmmmmmmmmmmm…
Perhaps, the posters for “Deadly Mantis,” “Gorgo,” “Godzilla vs. Megalon” and “First Spaceship on Venus.”
Did “Creeping Terror” even have a poster?
How have I not known about these posters before? They are fanciful, misleading as hell, and more fun than should be legal. My phone has new wallpaper background. “Do you recognize me now, Ruth?”
@23 – That one at least looks like fantasy–Most of the US posters tried to step around the whole “Nordic” thing and imply that the Earth Was Freezing because of an alien ray-gun menace…Hence the title.
@24 – The Creeping Terror is one of the few MSTied movies I’ve never been able to find a movie poster or original video case art for. I keep looking, but no luck so far.
Oh, and I guess I’ll just say I love ’em all. That’s why I’ve collected them all these years and posted them on my site. Glad we can all share them on this fun thread.
The Mitchell poster is worthy of both purchase and framing. Just legendary. Are there sites out there that sell old movie posters in good condition?
Looking over all the posters/promotional art though, the one that kills me the most is the video release for ‘The Final Sacrifice’ as ‘Quest For The Lost City’. The home video art features someone who might be Satoris looming largely in the background, while two nondescript people not even from the movie are featured up front. Was that supposed to be Troy and Rowsdower? Or maybe they are depicting the cult members…only they’re unmasked and not wearing tights? Huh?
Honorable mention goes to the ‘Time Chasers’ poster, as I guess the movie apparently never showed us the amazing space battle as depicted there.
eegah #3 – Might you and I discuss larger versions of the movie posters?
One of my favorites is the poster from The Angry Red Planet (www.wrongsideoftheart.com/2009/07/the-angry-red-planet-1960-usa), with the bat/rat/spider thingie.
Also, check out The Brain from Planet Arous at http://www.impawards.com/1957/brain_from_planet_arous.html
I really like the Laserblast poster. It shows his freaky eyes and his baleen! I’m disappointed that they couldn’t squeeze the “are you ready for some football!” guy onto the poster somewhere. He ruled.
Someone with talent at graphic arts (that is, not me) should supply what’s lacking from this: posters for the MST3K shorts. Obviously these would have to be created from scratch but imagine the possibilities: a film noir style poster, all shadows and harsh angles, for “Cheating”; a Peter Pan style poster for “Mr. B Natural”, featuring Betty Luster with an unnatural gleam in her crazed stare and manic smile; an Andy Warhol-style matrix of identical (but differently colored) telephones for Once upon a Honeymoon.
I have an original movie poster from Horror of Party Beach. I like how it has drawings of some of the minor characters, and it’s interesting to note that the artist wisely replaced the hot dogs stuffed in the monsters’mouths with some sharp teeth.
I also own an original lobby card from The Mole People with a picture of Sylvie or Chris, I’m not sure which. It’s pretty nifty too.
Stating something most of you probably already know, or at least suspected: With a lot of schlock producers, the movie poster came BEFORE the actual film. If said poster (and/or title) excited preview audiences, a film would quickly be slapped together to go with it.
@29 PeaceTalk – My brother and I both scored original Mitchell posters on eBay. That was probably about 7 years ago or so, but I’m sure others are floating around.
Mike #13 That is a really cool version of the Angels Brigade poster. I’ve never seen that one before.
Giz #30 For most of my posters, I just basically stole mst3ktemple’s thumbnail because I was too lazy to take a picture. I suppose I could also link to his larger version, but I already feel guilty enough. ;) His selection is far more complete than mine, so you should just probably look there.
I HAD NEVER ENCOUNTERED THE MST3KTEMPLE POSTER COLLECTION. I HAVE JUST BLOWN TWO HOURS MEMORIZING THE MST3KTEMPLE POSTER COLLECTION. I HATE YOU. I HATE ALL OF YOU. STOP MAKING ME DO BAD THINGS.
@39 FastEddie; calm down, for Petey Plane’s sake!
I know it’s cool and all, but we gotta be tougher than the movies, bro! Breath deeply, and just keep thinking of England’s airspace…
^^^ my vote for most dissapointing poster ever. They don’t even break the ionosphere in this clunker, just drop munitions on cactus…
My favorite poster is from KING DINOSAUR. Only four people were on the space ship but the poster shows five people on the planet – hilarious!
Untamed Youth certainly is near pronographic in words and innuendos for it’s day & age;
http://www.mst3ktemple.com/images/112-untamed_youth.jpg
@42 – Untamed Youth certainly is near pronographic in words and innuendos for it’s day & age
“Disgraceful penal abuse!” Hmmm… :roll:
Bingo!
THE THING THAT COULDN`T DIE, THE UNDEAD, & THE SHE CREATURE, THE DEADLY MANTIS & THE MOLE PEOPLE are all tops. There is a better EARTH VS THE SPIDER poster where the spider`s head is a skull.
What about the poster for “The Final Sacrifice” aka “Quest for the Lost City”?
None of the characters depicted in the artwork remotely resemble any of the heroes or villains in the film.
The older guy holding the rifle, presumably Rowsdower, looks kind of like Marc Singer. The younger guy holding the flashlight, Troy’s stand-in, looks vaguely like Christian Slater or Corey Feldman. Finally, there’s a vaguely menacing guy, who I guess is supposed to represent Satoris, has a broadsword partially obscuring his face (swords never appear in the movie, although machetes do). All in all…a lame, inaccurate and misleading poster.
http://www.mst3ktemple.com/images/910-final_sac.jpg
I’ve always been extremely partial to the poster for Undersea Kingdom. The artwork and colors are just beautiful, and very evocative of the period.
http://www.mst3ktemple.com/images/406s-undersea_kingdom.jpg
And…as far as misleading (and downright BAD) posters go, the color version of the “Wild World of Batwoman” poster is guilty on both counts. I mean, I think EVEN I could create better artwork than that. (And why is Batwoman carrying a girl around on her shoulders???)
http://www.mst3ktemple.com/images/batwoman_poster2.jpg
The Bad Waitress on 26th and Nicollet Ave. in Minneapolis is decorated primarily by B-movie posters, and at least a half dozen are MSTed movies (PHANTOM PLANET, REVENGE OF THE CREATURE, BRIDE OF THE MONSTER, are the only ones I can think of now). I always wonder if the owner is a MSTie.
Robot Monster had some really fun movie posters that the movie needless to say did not quite deliver on, though the movie is fun for reasons probably not intended by the makers. Lots of images here.