The horror anthology The Monster Club (opens in a new tab) was produced by ex-Amicus (opens in a new tab) co-owner Milton Subotsky (opens in a new tab) and was the final feature film from director Roy Ward Baker (opens in a new tab). Subotsky had seen great success as one half of Amicus (his partner was the screenwriter Max Rosenberg (opens in a new tab)) with the release of several ‘portmanteau’ horrors, including three directed by genre stalwart Freddie Francis (opens in a new tab); Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors (opens in a new tab) (1964), Torture Garden (opens in a new tab) (1967) and Tales from the Crypt (opens in a new tab) (1972). Roy Ward Baker (opens in a new tab) is best remembered for his work on the Titanic film A Night to Remember (opens in a new tab) (1958) and several successful horror films for one of Amicus’ rival studios, Hammer (opens in a new tab), including the excellent Quatermass and the Pit (opens in a new tab) (1967) and Dr Jekyll & Sister Hyde (opens in a new tab) (1972). Baker directed a handful of horrors for Amicus, including the anthologies Asylum (1972) and The Vault of Horror (opens in a new tab) (1973), as well as the ghost story And Now the Screaming Starts! (opens in a new tab) (1973).

The Monster Club features American horror legend Vincent Price (opens in a new tab) as the vampire Eramus who bumps into the horror writer R.Chetwynd-Hayes (played by the prolific John Carradine (opens in a new tab)) and feasts on his blood but ‘doesn’t bite deep enough’ to turn him into one of his own. Eramus then invites the writer to visit the titular club claiming that he’s sure it will offer plenty of inspiration as it’s home to all manner of werewolves, ghouls, beasts and other assorted creatures (read: extras in hastily prepared rubber masks). What follows is three fairly dull horror stories featuring several notable actors (Donald Pleasence (opens in a new tab), Richard Johnson (opens in a new tab) and Britt Ekland (opens in a new tab)) but it’s the surrounding sequences in the club itself that are more interesting with a handful of catchy musical numbers (opens in a new tab) and one memorable sequence in which a stripper takes everything off (opens in a new tab), including her skin (via a shadowy animation).

The poster was designed and painted by the brilliant British illustrator Graham Humphreys (opens in a new tab). Because it wasn’t a poster we discussed during our 2011 interview I wanted to speak to Graham to hear the story of the making of this poster in more detail. Read the interview with Graham.