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Streeborama and the Lost Art of the Movie One Sheet.

Scarecrow At Midnight (2011) one sheet from Mutantville Productions.

Welcome to a special edition of Streeborama as we are going to discuss the lost art of horror movie one sheets!  I expect this to be an ongoing series here at Streeborama.  I want to discuss the good poster art of the past, what made it work and what makes modern poster art so terrible.

Whether you’re a filmmaker or just a fan – we are all extremely familiar with one sheets – or posters as they are referred to in the common vernacular.  I remember being twelve years old with a green apple lollipop in my hand wandering the aisles of the local mom and pops video store and being enthralled by the sights and horrors peering at me from the cover of the VHS boxes lining the shelves.  I was never allowed to watch the movies but they intrigued me nonetheless.  They often featured a mix of blood, skulls and beautiful women but it was always in a way that implied that something sinsiter was at work behind it all.

This was a time when poster art was REAL art.  They were conceived by artists with an actual goal of creating something eye catching to draw a potential viewer in.  Poster art was exciting, mysterious, inspirational and most all of – intriguing.

(Read the rest after the leap!  Posters!!!) Continue Reading…

New ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’ Banner Unleashed.

From FEARNet:  WB provides us with a look at a new A Nightmare on Elm Street banner today. The Platinum Dunes reboot of the Wes Craven classic hits theaters April 30th 2010.

via New ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’ Banner – FEARNet.

Japanese Horror Posters Keep Art Form Alive.

The 1980′s may have been the high water mark for horror poster art.  One used to be able to walk through the halls of the local video store and see a wide variety of horrific tableau’s adorning the boxes and posters promoting horror movies.  In the new millennium, we are living in an era of bland posters and box art.  A seemingly endless parade of floating heads and faces stare back at us from what now passes for movie posters.  Where artists once strived to tell a story with a single image – now these “designers” seek to inundate us with the who’s who of actors in the film.

Poster art is truly a lost art form.  That’s why it always thrills me to see the Japanese designs for Western films.  They are simply the best produced poster works on the planet.  Let’s celebrate this lost art form by taking a peek at a few fantastic designs from the land of the rising sun.