Hello there.
Oh my stars! It's already August? How did that happen? (Well, I am really writing this on July 18th, so...I'm still a ways away.) Did anyone bid in / watch the Heritage 'Signature Auction this past weekend? I will have been at work that whole weekend (Remember, i am writing this from BEFORE the auction), but I already have some snipes in on 5 things. I doubt I'll win any of them--but if, unfortunately, I DO win them, they SHOULD be listed below. ( 7/31: I actually DID end up winning some. EEEK! Now I have to (gulp...) PAY for them. I sniped some since I was working that weekend--as usual--not expecting to win anything, but also hoping I would/wouldn't win something. Fortunately the two things I wanted the most I was outbid on. I believe I was the 2nd place bidder for PLAN 9 FROM OUT SPACE...which, with fees, went for several hundred over $2,000. Yikes! I couldn't afford that. My wins were costly--but not THAT costly.) I hope YOU won whatever you were hoping to get.
BTW, I recently posted a mystery poster...RETURN OF THE ZOMBIES. I say mystery because, although in English, I have no idea where the poster came from. As I said, here the movie played as THE HANGING WOMAN. I just noticed that the title is missing the E in ZOMBIES, making it ZOMBIS...which is the Italian and Spanish spelling. I believe the movie is originally from Spain (it features Paul Naschy), so perhaps this was a country of origin poster printed for English speaking countries? It's a not a great poster, but it makes me curious...
Okay...FINALLY! Here is my usual post-a-rama. Read it or DON'T! (Definitely do NOT hold your breath. I've not had much luck lately --with the exception, I guess, of the Heritage auction wins--and have just not been "feeling" it at all. Oh well... My slump will hopefully end soon... Now on to the less than groovy poster offerings for the first half of August):
HORROR OF THE BLOOD MONSTERS:
I think I probably already have this, but I'm not sure. Why did I get it? I have been collecting the posters for the BLOOD ISLAND series of films from the 60s and 70s. I have most of them, with the notable exception being the first--BRIDES OF BLOOD. The series proved profitable for the distributor and every Halloween season they had a BLOOD movie in the theaters for several years. When the Filipino-based BLOOD movies dried up, the distributor attempted to snow the audience with faux BLOOD-titled movies in their place. BRAIN OF BLOOD is one of those faux BLOOD ISLAND films as is this movie, HORROR OF THE BLOOD MONSTERS.
Here is the bargain basement trailer for the film. So cheesy--better than the movie. The movie was one of the final nails in the coffin for the BLOOD series as it was such a rip-off. It was some bad black & white movie, tinted in various colors (so they can say the movie is "in color") with color wrap-around scenes produced by Al Adamson that try to tie in with the original movie.
<![CDATA[<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/zj-78jRaWJ4" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/zj-78jRaWJ4</a>]]> A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 2: FREDDY'S REVENGE:
Another thing I'm also not really sure WHY I bought it. I already have (at least) one copy. But with the NIGHTMARE series, you can't go wrong with collecting for down the road. The older the poster in the series (especially the first three??), the more desirable. Right? I don't know. I shouldn't have got it--but it was cheap-ish.
NIGHTMARE (International version):
Not really attractive--or horrifying, this is the international poster for the low-budget cult slasher NIGHTMARE that, on the original US ads, tried to imply that effects wizard Tom Savini had done the effects---and promptly got sued for that...causing a slight alteration. The movie is not all that good (or memorable. I saw it in the theater...forgot what happens. Bought the DVD and watched it...and still do NOT remember much about it. Ha!). The US poster is pretty badly done (A screaming woman and an arm reaching up from no where... Huh?). I have a copy (or two or three or...) of the US version, so i thought I'd snatch this unusual International version as well. I know... WHY?, right?
DAWN OF THE DEAD:
I already have a copy. ARGH! I saw this for roughly the same price as I paid for my other copy 10 or 15 years or so ago...and snatched it up. To all of those "watchers" out there, you snooze--you lose! But man, o' man...I really need to STOP doing that. I'm not only a collector--but with these repeat buys all of the time, I really am becoming a poster hoarder. EEEK! However the poster is in gorgeous shape---MUCH NICER than the copy I've had for years. Zowie!
THE NEON DEMON:
Oh MAN! I only wish I had become aware of this movie earlier---I really want to see it. I think it came and went already--while I was on my road trip. Dang!
LAND OF THE MONSTERS and
REVENGE OF THE GLADIATORS (British Quad combo):
It's British Quad time. I have a string of new quads starting with this peplum/sword & sandal (or, as I call them, "Hercules movies"...even though Herc isn't in either one) double feature quad. LAND OF THE MONSTERS is a re-titling of something...but I'm too lazy to bother looking it up. REVENGE OF THE GLADIATORS was called the same thing here. I didn't need this poster, but I do like my old Hercules-type movies...especially when they have magic, fictional worlds, or MONSTERS (as the first feature apparently does). How fun.
BEYOND THE DOOR (aka DEVIL WITHIN HER and CHI SEI?):
Okay--I admit it. BEYOND THE DOOR is a guilty pleasure favorite of mine. Sort of a hybrid ripoff of both THE EXORCIST and ROSEMARY'S BABY (Warner's sued...and LOST!) and filmed in/around San Francisco in the mid-70s, it's a cheesy, bizarre Italian romp with lots of
and other weirdness. While the British Quad isn't that exciting (the face on the woman is kind of horrific), what excited me (lover of gimmicks) is that this quad (there are similar quads that omit this blurb altogether--why bother?) advertises that the film is "The ultimate in audience involvement through VIBRASOUND! You will definitely quiver with fright." For YEARS I've been searching for reference on a US poster with a similar blurb. When it toured the US, the film was promoted as being in "4-quad POSSESSISOUND". Zowie! The British VIBRASOUND is probably as close as I'll ever get to POSSESSISOUND. That added tag "It is strongly advised that persons with a nervous disposition do not see this film." is a nice added bonus/touch. Ha!
SHIVERS (aka THEY CAME FROM WITHIN) and
RABID (British Quad combo):
Here is an unexpected little pick up, a British quad combo for two of David Cronenberg's 70s horror flicks. Although I never cared much for RABID (Marilyn Chambers and her vicious armpit "penis" didn't work for me--but the poster image was pretty awesome), SHIVERS (which I saw as a kid in the theater as THEY CAME FROM WITHIN) I thought was creepily, nauseatingly brilliant. EEK! Sexual parasites!!!
FORBIDDEN ZONE (French small affiche):
I stumbled on this movie back in the 80s as a video rental---and was just in AWE of it. What a strange little movie. It wasn't until years and years later (the original place I'd rented if from lost it---so I was never able to rent it again)
when I finally tracked it down on DVD that I got to see it again. It didn't hold up to what I remembered it being--but it was still an influential movie (to me). I don't think I've ever seen a US one sheet for this movie---but the poster art is the same as the VHS box and the soundtrack CD. YIPPIE that I got it.
SON OF DRACULA (1957 re-release British Quad):
This poster has several issues I'm not too keen on (as can be seen in the photo), but it's a cool poster and re-release or not, how much in the way of classic Universal monsters do I have in my collection? Virtually NONE. So I could NOT resist. This is a good candidate for restoration---something i may very well consider once i am back home in my house and have more time/space for my posters.
A NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS (Lenticular):
Oh my stars! I have a folded copy of the A NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS poster and have long been half-heartedly looking for a better, rolled copy. It never seemed to happen. The real dream was the 3D lenticular version---which I remember being dazzled by when I first saw the poster (the first movie poster lenticular I had ever seen) at the theater when I went to see the movie. The lenticulars are so rare and so utterly out of my price range...I never thought I'd have one. Thanks to my crazy high snipe, one became mine. YIKES! How am I going to pay for it? But oooooo....I am super thrilled! I know my final price was outed elsewhere on the forum...but remember I bid LESS than the final price. (The final price includes the buyer's premium). This is, i believe, the 2nd most I've spent on a poster (right behind my 1957 re-release of KING KONG that I got last year). Dang! What was i thinking...?
ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE:
Wow! Another poster I didn't expect to win. While it's not a great poster in itself. What it represents to me is that I am inching closer to the old Universal Monsters. (In the Heritage auction, it was even grouped with the classic monster posters they had up for bid.) When the monster sequels died off, many were spun off into Abbott and Costello comedies. So this is a step or two passed the Universal Monsters (which i will never be able to afford/get) posters in a way. Now i just have to be stressed out about paying for it... But---it';s mine. Golly.
That's it. Now, just one more month of summer to get through (I am sooooo DONE with the heat already). Stay cha-cha-cha groovy! Thanks for visiting.
CHEERS!
