An iconic image depicting David Byrne (Talking Heads) in his ‘big suit’, from Stop Making Sense, a documentary that is considered among the best live concert films ever released. Filmed over three nights by Jonathan Demme (Silence of the Lambs) it was the first film of its type to employ digital audio recording and is also unique in that it shows minimal footage of the audience, instead focusing on Byrne and the rest of the band as they join him on stage and build towards the crescendo at the end of the film.

It’s a simple but striking poster with what appears to be hand drawn type for the logo and credit block (if it’s actually a typeface I’ll happily stand corrected).

Update – as per John’s comment below, it’s likely that the text was done by graphic designer Pablo Ferro since it appears in the title sequence and is the same one seen in a number of his other works. Someone has even made a typeface called Pablo Skinny.

The photograph is by Adelle Lutz.

Here’s the (poor quality) original trailer.

This version of the Terminator one sheet is known as the Cleveland NSS variant as it was printed at the NSS office in Cleveland, Ohio and is the only version of the poster that measures 27″ x 41″. As is clear, this was achieved by adding white bars to the top and bottom of the original printing plate that had been designed for 27″ x 40″. It is definitely harder to find than the standard one sheet, but I’d argue that the regular version is more desirable since the white bars look quite odd.

Released by the infamous American production and distribution company Troma, The Toxic Avenger went on to become their most successful film, spawning numerous sequels and spinoffs. He’s now featured as their official mascot.

This poster features artwork by Sid Blaize and is one of two one sheets printed for the film. The other one looks like this (image taken from emovieposter.com).

The superb original trailer can be viewed on YouTube.

Gremlins, director Joe Dante‘s classic horror comedy, was one of the biggest box-office hits of the 1980s and this tale of small, malevolent creatures attacking the residents of a small town spawned countless imitations, including Critters and Troll, none of which were able to match the quality of the film they were attempting to emulate. The film was produced by Steven Spielberg through his Amblin Entertainment company, the logo of which features on the jeans button on this poster (see this close up on the American one sheet).

Thanks to several violent scenes, the film is credited, along with Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, for the introduction of the PG-13 rating in America, which was intended to be applied to films that fell into the gap between the PG (Parental Guidance, but safe for children) and R-rated (intended for over 17-year olds). The equivalent in the UK is the 12A rating, which was introduced in 2002 and replaced the 12 rating that had been instigated at the end of the 1980s (for Tim Burtons’s Batman).

The poster artwork on this British quad is by the late American designer and artist John Alvin, who was responsible for over 135 film poster designs over a thirty year period. Alvin painted many unforgettable pieces of artwork, including Blade Runner and E.T. The Extra Terrestrial, and this image he created for Gremlins is definitely one of his most beloved. It was used around the globe to promote the film, including the US, Japan and multiple European countries. Alvin sadly passed away too early, just shy of his 6oth birthday (in 2008), but his fantastic designs will live on for generations to come.

To see the posters I’ve collected by Alvin click here.

A true cult horror – you only have to look at the list of references in pop culture on its Wikipedia page to get an idea of how much impact the film has had – this poster features a memorable tagline and a teaser of the creatures of the title. The story may be schlocky; toxic mutants living in the sewers of New York are attacking its inhabitants and it’s up to ragtag group of people (cop, fashion reporter, soup-kitchen owner!) to save the day, but the film works with its low budget to create some memorable gore-filled scenes and features fun acting from the likes of John Heard and Daniel Stern. It also has an excellent none-more-80s synth soundtrack.

Chud has since been appropriated to describe ugly, stupid people thanks mainly to its use in Kevin Smith’s Clerks II. It’s also used as the domain name of an excellent cult film website (Cinematic Happenings Under Development).

Here’s the original trailer.

‘Jaws with boars’, Razorback was the debut feature of Australian director Russell Mulcahy, probably best known for the 1986 fantasy classic Highlander. Prior to shooting the film Mulcahy had been working as a successful music video director for several years and is credited with the first video ever to air on MTV (Video Killed the Radio Star by The Buggles).

Set and filmed in the Australian outback, the story sees American Carl Winters (Gregory Harrison) traveling there to investigate the mysterious disappearance of his wife, a reporter who was looking at the illegal hunting of outback wildlife. Carl soon discovers that she was attacked by an oversized Razorback boar and teams up with a local hunter (Bill Kerr), whose grandson was killed by the beast, and his friend Sarah (Arkie Whiteley). They set out to track down and stop the creature before it can kill again but have to contend with a pair of deranged locals intent on covering up their part in the death of Carl’s wife.

Mulcahy’s direction and Dean Semler’s award-winning cinematography elevate the film above the usual low-budget horror fare. The special effects used to realise the titular beast aren’t particularly great but there a handful of scenes that are well done, including some long shots of the rhino-sized animatronic monstrosity. The ending feels notably rushed and an interview with Alan Jones (critic, and friend of Mulcahy) on the DVD makes it clear that the director was forced to film the last few minutes against his wishes; Mulcahy having planned an alternative ending.

I’m crediting the artwork to ace illustrator Boris Vallejo, despite the lack of his usual signature, because it’s clearly his work as seen on this signed Belgian poster (image taken from emovieposter). It could be that Boris worked on a landscape layout, but It’s likely that a British designer was tasked with adapting his original artwork to the quad format. It’s equally possible that a British illustrator was asked to ape his style with a new layout. Regardless, it’s only fair that he is given the credit.

The original trailer is on YouTube.

James Cameron’s seminal sci-fi classic The Terminator was given a unique poster design when it was released on these shores in January 1985. The US poster had featured the iconic photograph of Arnold Schwarzenegger alongside the lengthy tagline (that also appears on this quad), but the decision was taken to go with a painted portrait of the actor, which also features a depiction of the robotic endoskeleton underneath the Arnie exterior.

The person responsible for the image on this quad was the British artist Mike Francis. Whilst putting together the must-own book British Film Posters, Sim Branaghan met and spoke to Francis about his life and career and, as always, I heartily recommend picking up the book to read the section in full. Born in Surrey in 1938, Francis got his first job in commerical art in the early 1950s at the Rome Studios in Soho, London. Starting out as a messenger boy he began to be given illustration jobs and after a stint as a National Serviceman he returned to the studio in 1958 to a welcome pay raise and an increase in illustration work.

Mike stayed with Rome Studios until 1970 when he left to join Illustrators of London on Great Marlborough Street and this is where he was given his first film posters to work on. His first quad was for the 1971 version of Black Beauty and he also worked on posters for Hammer and other independent companies. In 1974 Francis won the National Gallery’s 150th Anniversary Award, and with the prize money he took the decision to go freelance. Although film posters were only a small part of his overall output (he estimates he was doing a couple per year) he continued to paint for film-related studios such as Downtons and some of his other quads include The Karate Kid (1984), Not Quite Jerusalem (1985) and The Holocroft Covenant (1985).

By about 1990 the illustration work had dried up completely but Francis had been painting highly finished photorealist work for many years and this side of his career had taken off significantly with high-profile exhibitions and celebrity clients. However, in terms of film work there’s no question that this painting for The Terminator is the artist’s most iconic work.

A brilliant design on this Polish poster for Robert Zemeckis‘ 1984 adventure comedy, Romancing the Stone, which starred Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner. The latter plays Joan Wilder, a romance novelist who discovers that her sister has been kidnapped in Colombia and, after receiving a mysterious treasure map in the mail, she travels to South America to meet the treasure-hunting criminals responsible and make an exchange. After getting lost in the jungle she meets soldier of fortune Jack Colton (Douglas) who offers to lead her to safety and the pair embark on madcap adventure to rescue Joan’s sister. The film was successful enough to warrant a sequel, The Jewel of the Nile, that was released only a year later.

This poster features artwork by a designer and artist called Jakub Erol who was born in Zamość in 1941 and graduated from the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts in 1968. He worked as a prolific poster artist for over 25 years and designed several iconic images for both Polish and American films. Some of his other poster highlights include the bizarre image he conjured up for Ridley Scott’s Alien, a striking design for James Cameron’s The Terminator and the excellent poster for Raiders of the Lost Ark.

The Polishposter.com website features many of his designs, several which are for sale, and the Polish cinemaposter.com website also features three pages of his work. This list of his designs on the same website gives you an idea of how prolific an artist he was.

A great illustration on this Japanese B2 for Nausicaä, considered to be the first film from Studio Ghibli, the legendary animation studio founded by Hayao Miyazaki shortly after this film was released. Nausicaä was released in the US retitled as ‘Warriors of the Wind’ and was severely edited with many of the film’s themes and characters diluted.

Miyazaki has publicly stated how much he hates this version and the story goes that when Princess Mononoke was bought by Miramax Films for US distribution someone at Studio Ghibli sent a Katana sword with the simple message: ‘No cuts’. See the Wikipedia page for more details and a picture of the bizarre US poster.

This portrait of Princess Nausicaä with her fox-squirrel companion Teto was painted by Miyazaki himself and  it appears in a book of Nausicaa art titled The Nausicaa Watercolor Collection, which includes annotations by Miyazaki. In his annotation for the image, he attributes himself as the artist, while also complaining about her posture! “I know I’m the one who drew this, but I don’t really like this picture. The Nausicaa inside me would never pose like this.” Thanks to site reader Reynold for confirming this.

The poster is missing an Eirin mark, despite being the standard B2 size, and I suspect it may have been a commercial poster sold in cinemas at the time of the original release.

Nausicaä was the first Studio Ghibli back-catalogue title to be released on blu-ray in 2011.

Here’s the trailer for the film.

A joint collaboration between two British production companies, Palace Pictures and Lew Grade’s ITC Entertainment, The Company of Wolves was helmed by the Irish director Neil Jordan and based on a short story by the late English author Angela Carter, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Jordan. The film begins in the modern day with the  lead character Rosaleen (played by first-time actress Sarah Patterson) having moved with her parents to a large house in a forest. At night Rosaleen falls asleep and has a vivid dream in which she is a medieval peasant girl who lives with her grandma (played by Murder, She Wrote’s Angela Lansbury) in a woodland village. Sitting by the fire one evening her grandma begins to tell her a story and what follows is a series of surreal, fantasy tales, with multiple narratives and narrators, most of which feature wolves or werewolves, and all of which are ripe with hidden meanings and deeper significances (check out this page on IMDb to give you an idea).

Featuring elements of the classic Little Red Riding Hood fairytale (and indeed the film features a blood red shawl worn by a young girl) the film is a parable of the loss of innocence and the beginning of adolescence and sexual awakening – as the Grandma says at one point ‘Never stray from the path, never eat a windfall apple and never trust a man whose eyebrows meet in the middle.’ Overcoming a slight budget The Company of Wolves has a dream-like, eerie atmosphere helped in no-small part by excellent production and costume design. There is also a werewolf transformation scene that challenges the famous one seen in American Werewolf in London. Palace Pictures would re-team several more times with Neil Jordan, including for Mona Lisa (1986) and Oscar-winning The Crying Game (1992)

This one sheet was printed for use in the UK alongside the quad, which is markedly different in its design and can be viewed here. The artwork was painted by the celebrated British artist George Underwood, who is perhaps best known for his work on album covers for the likes of David Bowie (Hunky Dory, Space Oddity and more), T.Rex and The Fixx. Born in Bromley, Kent in 1947, Underwood went on to study at the nearby Beckenham Art School and then afterwards at Ravensbourne College of Art. After a brief flirtation with the music industry (Bowie being a lifelong friend of his), he decided to concentrate on his design and illustration, beginning his career by working on LP covers and book covers.

Later on, Underwood would start work as a freelance illustrator, which is when he would have painted this poster for Palace Pictures. In the 1970s he began painting in oils, creating wonderful surrealist portraits and his official website features galleries of these and his other work, including album covers. I’m unsure whether he worked on any other film posters but I intend to contact the artist to find out.

A minor sci-fi classic, The Last Starfighter is one of those perennial favourites that seemed to be on TV every month and, along with films like Flight of the Navigator and The Goonies, became a cult favourite for children of the 1980s. The film’s plot is fairly straightforward; Alex Rogan (Lance Guest) is a frustrated teenager who dreams of leaving his small American town to study at university, despite the protestations of his girlfriend Maggie (Catherine Mary Stewart). One day he beats the high score of an arcade game called Starfighter that is secretly a recruiting tool for the Star League, a team of space pilots who are battling against an overwhelming force threatening the entire galaxy. When an alien recruiter arrives and takes Alex to the headquarters of the defence force, the teenager is at first reluctant to join the war, but when a surprise attack from the enemy force destroys most of the command centre and the other starfighters, Alex decides to step up to the challenge.

Ably directed by Nick Castle, a friend and former classmate (at USC) of John Carpenter – Nick actually played the part of Michael Myers in Halloween – the film has a sweet story filled with memorable characters, such as the late, great character actor Robert Preston as the alien benefactor who recruits Alex and Dan O’Herlihy as Grig, his alien co-pilot (as seen to the right of Alex on this poster). The film is perhaps most notable for being a milestone of technical achievement for its pioneering use of CGI to depict most of the scenes involving space battles, or ‘digital scene simulation’ as it’s (unusually) credited as on the bottom of this poster.

A company called Digital Productions was hired to work on these sequences and, as detailed in the excellent making-of documentary found on the blu-ray of the film, the artists and technicians were pushing the boundaries of what was possible with the available hardware – a giant supercomputer called Cray – on a daily basis. It was the first time that CGI was used to depict scenes in a film that weren’t explicitly part of a computer simulation (like Tron, for example) and the team had to battle against time and a plentiful supply of naysayers who were trying to push Castle and the producers to use the more traditional model work seen in other films of the period. The director stood his ground and the results speak for themselves. Viewed now it’s clear how far the technology has come, but audiences must have been thrilled back in 1984 and some of the sequences still look pretty decent even today.

This Japanese poster features a montage of images from the film, including some of Alex’s fellow starfighters, although fans of the film will notice that the designer of the poster has taken some liberties by placing a starfighter helmet on the head of one of the main bad guys (the brown-faced alien with the eye glass). I’m assuming it had something to do with making the design more symmetrical, unless there’s a deleted scene that I’m unaware of!