You searched for: 1989

Blades / one sheet / USA

05.01.18

Poster Poster
Title
Blades
AKA
--
Year of Film
1989
Director
Thomas R. Rondinella
Starring
Robert North, Jeremy Whelan, Victoria Scott, Holly Stevenson, William Towner, Peter Wray, Charlie Quinn, Bruce Katlin, Lee Devin, Bill Kimble, Donald Jackson
Origin of Film
USA
Genre(s) of Film
Robert North, Jeremy Whelan, Victoria Scott, Holly Stevenson, William Towner, Peter Wray, Charlie Quinn, Bruce Katlin, Lee Devin, Bill Kimble, Donald Jackson,
Type of Poster
One sheet
Style of Poster
--
Origin of Poster
USA
Year of Poster
1989
Designer
Unknown
Artist
--
Size (inches)
27 2/16" x 40 15/16"
SS or DS
SS
NSS #
--
Tagline
Golf - A Game of Hooks, Slices and ... Slaughter | Just When You Thought It Was Safe To Putt

The notorious schlockmeisters Troma, headed by Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz, were behind what must surely be one of the only golfing-related horror films ever made (unless you count the clubs wielded by the killers in Michael Haneke’s Funny Games), 1989’s Blades. The film was directed by Thomas R. Rondinella and is his only cinema-released feature to date and, as is typical with most Troma productions, the cast is mostly made up of jobbing b-movie actors. As the second tagline alludes to, the film is apparently a pastiche of Jaws with the shark replaced with a killer lawnmower wielded by a mysterious killer (and often show from the blades’ point of view).

The plot is described thusly on IMDb:

People are showing up sliced and diced at Tall Grass Country Club. Norman, the owner of the club, wants to avoid undue publicity on the eve of the televised pro-am tournament, and encourages new pro Roy to get to the bottom of the killings quietly. Roy has a history of alcohol problems since he choked while playing a big tournament years before, and Kelly, who feels she should have been hired as the new pro, isn’t making the situation easier for him, insisting they cancel the tournament until the killer can be stopped. After a seedy character named Deke Slater is arrested, the owner relaxes, but Roy and Kelly begin to feel that Deke’s rantings about a runaway lawnmower aren’t so far-fetched after all, and after Deke is released the three of them prepare for a battle to the death out on the uncharted fairways.

The film was apparently only released in a small handful of US cinemas before heading to video and HBO soon afterwards. I may be wrong but I don’t believe it ever saw release over here in the UK.

Erik the Viking / Thailand

17.07.17

Poster Poster

This Thai poster for Terry Jones’ 1989 fantasy film Erik the Viking features artwork by Tongdee Panumas. The prolific Jones (actor, director, author, screenwriter, poet, historian) is best known as a Monty Python member and director of the comedy group’s feature films. The film was inspired by Jones’ own 1983 children’s book The Saga of Erik the Viking but shares only character names; the plotline is completely different. Based largely on Norse mythology, Tim Robbins stars as the titular Viking who discovers in the opening scene that he has no taste for the usual Viking activities of raping and pillaging. He learns from a wise old woman that Fenrir the wolf has swallowed the sun and plunged the world into the chaotic age of Ragnarök. Erik resolves to gather a motley crew together to travel to Asgard and petition the gods to end Ragnarök and bring sunlight back to his people. First he must travel to Hy-Brasil and recover the ‘Horn Resounding’ and there he meets King Arnulf (Jones) and promptly falls in love with his daughter, Princess Aud (Imogen Stubbs).

The film was largely critically panned and didn’t fare too well at the box-office. Over the years Jones and his son Bill have made a few edits to the film, with a VHS release chopping 18 minutes from the runtime, before a 2006 “Director’s Son’s Cut” saw it reduced down to just 75 minutes (from the original theatrical running time of 107 minutes).

This Thai poster features a repainted take on the figures falling out of the viking boat, as seen on the German poster (and painted by Renato Casaro), but adds more colour and a montage of action scenes as was typical of the artist responsible. Tongdee Panumas was an incredibly prolific film poster artist during the 70s, 80s and 90s. I’ve been unable to find out much about him, other than that he was born in 1947, so if anyone has any more details please get in touch.

Note that this particular copy of the poster has been hand-signed by Tongdee and I bought it from someone who had visited Thailand, met the artist and had him sign a few posters. I’ve seen photographic evidence that it’s a genuine signature.

Leviathan / A1 / Germany

04.02.15

Poster Poster

Leviathan was one of multiple ‘aliens in the deep’ films released in 1989, with James Cameron’s The Abyss being by far the most successful and memorable of the lot (which also included Deep Star Six and The Evil Below). I have absolutely no idea what made Hollywood decide that underwater peril was the situation du jour at that time, but it wasn’t to last as most of the films performed badly at the box-office and made little critical impact. Only Cameron’s film would go on to gather any kind of cult following and the release of a Director’s Cut of the film certainly helped.

Leviathan is set on a deep-sea mining platform with a crew of eight, including geologist Steven Beck (Peter Weller) a new recruit brought in by the Tri-Oceanic Corp to manage the team. During a routine dive one of the crew slips, falling down a ravine and when they land they discover the wreck of a Soviet submarine called Leviathan hidden in a trench. The team manage to salvage a safe from within the ship and bring it back onto the rig.

After opening it up they discover records relating to the death of crew members of the Leviathan as well as what appears to be a bottle of Vodka. Beck and the crew doctor investigate the fate of the submarine whilst some of the other crew members decide to partake in some of the booze. Unbeknownst to them it contains an alien pathogen which causes the pair who drink it to develop severe rashes and then perish before reanimating as a hideously twisted creature (very much in the vein of the creations seen in John Carpenter’s The Thing). Although Beck and the others manage to expel the creature from the rig, part of it remains onboard and mutates into a multi-tentacled beast which stalks the rest of the crew forcing them to fight for their lives and ultimately abandon the platform.

Unfortunately the film fails to generate much in the way of horror or tension and, though the set designs are top notch, the creature effects are largely woeful, particularly the painfully obviously man in bad rubber suit final version of the creature. Weller gives it his best shot but fails to convince as a hero. Apparently the film was originally going to have more in the way of creature effects and there are clearly whole scenes missing, which all points to studio interference.

This German A1 was designed and painted by Renato Casaro, an Italian-born artist who was working prolifically on German posters during the 1970s and 1980s. I interviewed him for this site in 2013 and he talked about his work for the market:

‘You worked on many posters for the German market. Was there a reason for that?
Yes, Germany didn’t really have many posters designers and artists working during the 1970s and 1980s and I certainly didn’t have much in the way of competition. In the 1950s and 60s they had several good artists working on film posters but after that they all retired or died, so there was a gap. I was really fortunate with that whole situation because I was able to work with most of the distributors over there and I was able to choose to work on some really great projects. My work was in demand so Studio Casaro was very busy, especially in the 1980s. Even when some other markets might have been quiet, there was always a project to do for a German client.’

The poster has some similarities with the US one sheet, designed and painted by John Alvin.

Lady Terminator / one sheet / USA

01.02.13

Poster Poster
Title
Lady Terminator
AKA
Pembalasan ratu pantai selatan (Indonesia - original title) | Nasty Hunter (France / International) | La maledizione di Erika [The Curse of Erika] (Italy) | Snake Terminator: The Snake Wench Dies Twice (Japan - English title)
Year of Film
1989
Director
H. Tjut Djalil (as Jalil Jackson)
Starring
Barbara Anne Constable, Christopher J. Hart, Claudia Angelique Rademaker, Joseph P. McGlynn, Adam Stardust, Ikang Fawzi
Origin of Film
Indonesia
Genre(s) of Film
Barbara Anne Constable, Christopher J. Hart, Claudia Angelique Rademaker, Joseph P. McGlynn, Adam Stardust, Ikang Fawzi,
Type of Poster
One sheet
Style of Poster
--
Origin of Poster
USA
Year of Poster
1989
Designer
Unknown
Artist
--
Size (inches)
27" x 41"
SS or DS
SS
NSS #
--
Tagline
She mates... then she terminates

You have to love that tagline! From Indonesia comes this brazen rip-off homage to James Cameron’s original sci-fi classic, which not only rehashes most of the original’s premise but actually lifts entire shot sequences and even lines of dialogue, including the famous ‘come with me if you want to live’. Lady Terminator was apparently the product of a period of boom in the Indonesian economy that lasted from the early 1970s up until the 1990s and had a knock on effect the country’s cultural output, including the fledgling film industry. Eager directors filmed a number of low-budget exploitation features, often with western distribution in mind, and the results are a mish-mash of Hollywood tropes and Indonesian culture.

Arguably the most well-known of these films is this 1989 action/horror that features an admirably ludicrous plot blending the history of the legendary Indonesian spirit The Queen of the Southern Sea with a series of loosely connected action scenes featuring a possessed anthropology student on a murderous rampage. This page on Rotten Tomatoes does a better job at summarising the plot than I ever could:

In 1889, the vicious “Queen of the South Sea” collects men that she murders during sex, thanks to a magical eel that lives inside of her vagina and bites the penises off of those who can’t satisfy her lust. Finally, one man pleasures her long enough to reach inside and pull out the creature, which instantly turns into a dagger. Furious, the Queen vows that she’ll take her revenge on the man’s great-granddaughter, and goes into the sea to wait for one hundred years.

A century passes, and Tania, a plucky anthropologist, finds an ancient book on the legend of the Queen and decides to investigate. She charters a boat to take her to the area where the Queen is believed to have disappeared, but while skindiving, a tidal wave destroys the vessel and Tania suddenly finds herself tied to a bed in a mysterious room. When a mystical eel enters her, she is possessed by the spirit of the bloodthirsty Queen. After killing a pair of drunken punks in a lascivious manner, she sees the image of Erika, a pop singer, on television and recognizes her as the descendant of the man the Queen vowed revenge on a century before.

Just…wow! Check out the trailer to get a glimpse at this insanity. Lady Terminator was played by the London-born model Barbara Anne Constable who grew up in Australia and landed the role in Lady Terminator whilst visiting Hong Kong. It ended up being her only film role and there’s a great interview with her on this website.

New York Stories / one sheet / USA

17.05.11

Poster Poster

Arena / one sheet / USA

18.05.11

Poster Poster
Title
Arena
AKA
--
Year of Film
1989
Director
Peter Manoogian
Starring
Paul Satterfield, Hamilton Camp, Claudia Christian
Origin of Film
Italy | USA
Genre(s) of Film
Paul Satterfield, Hamilton Camp, Claudia Christian,
Type of Poster
One sheet
Style of Poster
--
Origin of Poster
USA
Year of Poster
1989
Designer
Unknown
Artist
--
Size (inches)
27 1/4" x 41 1/8"
SS or DS
SS
NSS #
--
Tagline
For a thousand years no human has been the champion. He wants to be the first.

Redneck Zombies / one sheet / USA

18.05.12

Poster Poster
Title
Redneck Zombies
AKA
--
Year of Film
1989
Director
Pericles Lewnes
Starring
Steve Sooy, Anthony M. Carr, Ken Davis, Stan Morrow, Brent Thurston-Rogers, Lisa M. DeHaven, Tyrone Taylor, Anthony Burlington-Smith, James H. Housely, Martin J. Wolfman
Origin of Film
USA
Genre(s) of Film
Steve Sooy, Anthony M. Carr, Ken Davis, Stan Morrow, Brent Thurston-Rogers, Lisa M. DeHaven, Tyrone Taylor, Anthony Burlington-Smith, James H. Housely, Martin J. Wolfman,
Type of Poster
One sheet
Style of Poster
--
Origin of Poster
USA
Year of Poster
1989
Designer
Unknown
Artist
--
Size (inches)
27 2/16" x 41 9/16"
SS or DS
SS
NSS #
--
Tagline
They're Tobacco Chewin', Gut Chompin', Cannibal Kinfolk from Hell!

The notorious schlockmeisters Troma released this 1987 zombie splatterfest, the title of which leaves you in no doubt as to the kind of film you’re in for. The plot sees a bunch of hillbillies discovering a misplaced barrel of nuclear waste and deciding to use it as a container to brew up some moonshine. It’s not long before the toxic concoction has turned them into the titular creatures and they’re munching on a bunch of unlucky city slickers who are lost in the nearby woods.

Pericles Lewnes, the excellently named director, actually shot this film on weekends (32 in total) over the course of a year and then went about trying to sell the film to various distributors. He went on to work as a special effects technician on several subsequent Troma productions. Apparently, the film was one of the first to be released straight to video, made even easier since it was entirely shot on video tape.

This quote from a review on IMDb gives you an idea what kind of film you’re in for:

There’s plenty here for fans of the horror genre (including some hilarious Texas Chainsaw Massacre parody scenes), and (of course) fans of Full Moon and/or Troma won’t be disappointed. My personal favorite scene involves the genuinely creepy Tobacco Man. To this day, at work or in social gatherings, I’ll occasionally pull out the line “Dark times is comin’.” And when everyone looks at me like I’ve just vomited human excrement onto the rug, I know deep down that I am the coolest person in the room.

Note the text on the bottom declaring that it was filmed in ‘Entrail-Vision’ and that ‘Repeat viewing of Redneck Zombies has been shown to cause insane laughter in laboratory animals’.

The original trailer is on YouTube.

Society / one sheet / USA

17.05.11

Poster Poster
Title
Society
AKA
--
Year of Film
1989
Director
Brian Yuzna
Starring
Billy Warlock, Connie Danese, Ben Slack, Evan Richards, Patrice Jennings, Tim Bartell, Charles Lucia, Heidi Kozak, Brian Bremer
Origin of Film
USA
Genre(s) of Film
Billy Warlock, Connie Danese, Ben Slack, Evan Richards, Patrice Jennings, Tim Bartell, Charles Lucia, Heidi Kozak, Brian Bremer,
Type of Poster
One sheet
Style of Poster
--
Origin of Poster
USA
Year of Poster
1989
Designer
Unknown
Artist
Bilkas?
Size (inches)
27" x 39 6/8"
SS or DS
SS
NSS #
--
Tagline
The rich have always fed off the poor. This time it's for real.

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier / quad / UK

18.05.11

Poster Poster

The Abyss / one sheet / USA

17.05.11

Poster Poster
Title
The Abyss
AKA
--
Year of Film
1989
Director
James Cameron
Starring
Ed Harris, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Michael Biehn, J.C. Quinn, Kimberly Scott, Leo Burmester
Origin of Film
USA
Genre(s) of Film
Ed Harris, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Michael Biehn, J.C. Quinn, Kimberly Scott, Leo Burmester,
Type of Poster
One sheet
Style of Poster
Dark credits version
Origin of Poster
USA
Year of Poster
1989
Designer
Unknown
Artist
--
Size (inches)
26 6/8" x 39 6/8"
SS or DS
SS
NSS #
--
Tagline
--

The Abyss / quad / advance / UK

18.05.11

Poster Poster
Title
The Abyss
AKA
--
Year of Film
1989
Director
James Cameron
Starring
Ed Harris, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Michael Biehn, J.C. Quinn, Kimberly Scott, Leo Burmester
Origin of Film
USA
Genre(s) of Film
Ed Harris, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Michael Biehn, J.C. Quinn, Kimberly Scott, Leo Burmester,
Type of Poster
Quad
Style of Poster
--
Origin of Poster
UK
Year of Poster
1989
Designer
Unknown
Artist
--
Size (inches)
30" x 40"
SS or DS
SS
Tagline
There's everything you've ever known about adventure and then there's...

UHF / one sheet / style A / USA

17.05.11

Poster Poster
Title
UHF
AKA
UHF: i video idioti [UHF: The Video Idiots] (Italy)
Year of Film
1989
Director
Jay Levey
Starring
Weird Al Yankovic, David Bowe, Fran Drescher, Victoria Jackson, Kevin McCarthy, Michael Richards, Anthony Geary, Billy Barty, Trinidad Silva
Origin of Film
USA
Genre(s) of Film
Weird Al Yankovic, David Bowe, Fran Drescher, Victoria Jackson, Kevin McCarthy, Michael Richards, Anthony Geary, Billy Barty, Trinidad Silva,
Type of Poster
One sheet
Style of Poster
Style A
Origin of Poster
USA
Year of Poster
1989
Designer
B.D. Fox Independent
Artist
Unknown
Size (inches)
27" x 41"
SS or DS
SS
NSS #
890050
Tagline
A lot of TV stations have forgotten what "quality" means. But not Channel 62. They NEVER knew what it meant.

Violent Cop / B2 / Japan

17.05.11

Poster Poster
Title
Violent Cop
AKA
Sono otoko, kyôbô ni tsuki (Japan - original title)
Year of Film
1989
Director
Takeshi Kitano
Starring
Takeshi Kitano, Maiko Kawakami, Makoto Ashikawa, Shirô Sano, Sei Hiraizumi, Mikiko Otonashi, Hakuryu, Ittoku Kishibe, Ken Yoshizawa
Origin of Film
Japan
Genre(s) of Film
Takeshi Kitano, Maiko Kawakami, Makoto Ashikawa, Shirô Sano, Sei Hiraizumi, Mikiko Otonashi, Hakuryu, Ittoku Kishibe, Ken Yoshizawa,
Type of Poster
B2
Style of Poster
--
Origin of Poster
Japan
Year of Poster
1989
Designer
Unknown
Artist
Photography by Noboru Takahashi
Size (inches)
20 6/16" x 28 14/16"
SS or DS
SS
Tagline
--

Warlock / quad / UK

18.05.11

Poster Poster
Title
Warlock
AKA
Warlock: The Magic Wizard (Philippines - English title)
Year of Film
1989
Director
Steve Miner
Starring
Julian Sands, Lori Singer, Richard E. Grant, Mary Woronov, Kevin O'Brien, Richard Kuss, Allan Miller
Origin of Film
USA
Genre(s) of Film
Julian Sands, Lori Singer, Richard E. Grant, Mary Woronov, Kevin O'Brien, Richard Kuss, Allan Miller,
Type of Poster
Quad
Style of Poster
--
Origin of Poster
UK
Year of Poster
1989
Designer
Unknown
Artist
J R Gilkes
Size (inches)
30 3/16" x 39 15/16"
SS or DS
SS
Tagline
He's come from the past to destroy the future

Godzilla vs Biollante / B1 / Japan

18.07.13

Poster Poster

A colourful montage on this Japanese B1 poster for Godzilla vs Biollante, which was the 17th film in the series featuring the King of the Kaiju (giant monsters). The film was also the second release in the second generation of Godzilla films, which were part of the Heisei era of Japanese monster movies (daikaiju eiga). The eras are named after the Japanese emperor at the time, so the first generation of Godzilla films were part of the Shōwa era.

This film was the belated follow up to the 1984 series reboot, Return of Godzilla, and the concept for the film was actually the result of a fan competition to decide the plot, which had seen Shinichirô Kobayashi, a dentist and part-time scriptwriter, emerge as the winner. His script was heavily altered before filming began. Considered something of a box-office failure, Godzilla vs Biollante features the legendary beast facing off against a brand new foe that hadn’t featured in the franchise before and this was used to excuse its poor showing. Toho would return to familiar enemies in the films that followed in the franchise, such as 1991’s Godzilla vs King Ghidorah.

In this film, which follows on from events in ‘Return of…’, a team of American paramilitary soldiers working on behalf of a US genetics company attempt to collect material left over from Godzilla’s last attack on Tokyo. Whilst escaping with a sample, the team are attacked by a mysterious lone operative and the material is stolen. Meanwhile, Genshiro Shiragami, a Japanese scientist working in the Middle East, is about to return home with his beloved daughter Erika when a terrorist strike destroys his lab and kills Erika. Five years later, a grief stricken Shiragami is working on experiments for the government to try and develop a way to defeat Godzilla should he return. What his benefactors don’t realise is that Shiragami has also conducted a secret trial in which he combined the cells of Godzilla with those of a rose (the psychic energy of which he has also been studying) and the cells of Erika. The result is a creature he calls Biollante, and before long Godzilla is released from his volcano prison and heads straight for a confrontation with the new kaiju.

The artwork on the poster is by Noriyoshi Ohrai who is something of an enigma, even in his native Japan. I’ve been unable to find much about him beyond a few pages like this one on the Star Wars Wookiepedia. He’s responsible for a number of Star Wars posters, including this lovely 1982 B2 to celebrate the release of the Japanese dubbed version of the original film and the brilliant design for The Empire Strikes Back.

Ohrai painted a poster for each of the Heisei era of Godzilla films, which were always accompanied by a photographic-style poster. I will be adding more of the Ohrai Godzilla posters over the coming weeks.

The other Ohrai posters I’ve added to the site so far can be seen by clicking here.

Licence to Kill / one sheet / teaser / ‘S’ version / USA

07.07.14

Poster Poster
Title
Licence to Kill
AKA
License to Kill (alternative, pre-release spelling)
Year of Film
1989
Director
John Glen
Starring
Timothy Dalton, Carey Lowell, Robert Davi, Talisa Soto, Anthony Zerbe, Frank McRae, David Hedison, Wayne Newton, Benicio Del Toro, Anthony Starke, Everett McGill, Desmond Llewelyn
Origin of Film
UK | USA
Genre(s) of Film
Timothy Dalton, Carey Lowell, Robert Davi, Talisa Soto, Anthony Zerbe, Frank McRae, David Hedison, Wayne Newton, Benicio Del Toro, Anthony Starke, Everett McGill, Desmond Llewelyn,
Type of Poster
One sheet
Style of Poster
Teaser - 'License' version
Origin of Poster
USA
Year of Poster
1989
Designer
Steven Chorney
Artist
Keith Hamshere (photography)
Size (inches)
27 1/16" x 41 1/16"
SS or DS
SS
NSS #
--
Tagline
His bad side is a dangerous place to be.

Celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, Licence to Kill, the sixteenth James Bond adventure, marked the end of an era in the franchise. Whilst certainly not in the running for best Bond film, it’s nevertheless a solid entry with excellent use of locations (actually forced due to budgetary constraints), a memorable bad guy in Robert Davi‘s drug kingpin Sanchez and a number of impressive stunt sequences. Fans of the original Ian Fleming novels often rate Licence to Kill as the film that’s closest to the original source material’s harder-edged action. Licence to Kill marked the last Bond film for director John Glen who had been involved in the series since 1969 and also saw legendary producer Albert R. Broccoli effectively retire from the reigns of a franchise he had begun with producing partner Harry Saltzman back in 1958. 

The story is significantly darker and grittier than anything that had come before in the series, particularly those films released during the Roger Moore era. It opens with Bond and old friend CIA agent Felix Leiter on the way to the latter’s wedding ceremony in Key West (Florida) when they’re informed that Sanchez, a wanted drug lord, has been spotted in the area. The pair manage to apprehend the kingpin after an exciting chase that ends with them parachuting out of a helicopter and landing in front of the church, just in time for the ceremony. After the title sequence (with the excellent Gladys Knight theme tune) things take a dark turn as Sanchez escapes and takes revenge on Felix and his new bride.

When Bond discovers a badly mutilated Leiter and his dead bride he vows revenge, but when his superiors deny his request and order him on another mission to Turkey, Bond flees and has his licence to kill revoked. With the help of one of Leiter’s friends, he follows a trail leading him from the Bahamas to the fictional Republic of Isthmus where Davi’s plan for global drugs domination is revealed. The film ends with a thrilling chase involving several tanker trucks along a dangerous highway, which is easily one of the most memorable action sequences in the series’ history. The film was Welsh actor Timothy Dalton‘s second appearance as 007 and would ultimately prove to be his last after a protracted legal wrangle meant that no Bond film was put into production until 1995’s Goldeneye, by which time the actor had moved on and was replaced by Pierce Brosnan.

The marketing of the film went through a number of iterations, designers and artists and, crucially, marked the first time that painted artwork gave way to a photographic montage. Despite some initial sketches and concepts by the legendary artist Bob Peak, MGM decided to commission a number of designers and artists to work on the posters, including American Steven Chorney who designed this particular advance one sheet, and British design firm FEREF (led by Robin Behling) which designed a montage that was used on the international one sheet, the British quad and for some other posters around the globe. Although initially produced under the title ‘Licence Revoked’, MGM feared that American audiences wouldn’t understand the second word and changed it to the title we know today. Note that there was some wrangling over whether to go with the American spelling ‘License’ or the British-English ‘Licence’. Eventually the latter won out, but not before these posters had been printed with the American spelling (the same poster also exists with ‘Licence’ too).

Sex, Lies, and Videotape / quad / UK

09.06.15

Poster Poster
Title
Sex, Lies, and Videotape
AKA
--
Year of Film
1989
Director
Steven Soderbergh
Starring
James Spader, Andie MacDowell, Peter Gallagher, Laura San Giacomo, Ron Vawter, Steven Brill
Origin of Film
USA
Genre(s) of Film
James Spader, Andie MacDowell, Peter Gallagher, Laura San Giacomo, Ron Vawter, Steven Brill,
Type of Poster
Quad
Style of Poster
--
Origin of Poster
UK
Year of Poster
1989
Designer
Unknown
Artist
--
Size (inches)
30" x 40"
SS or DS
SS
Tagline
--

Sex, Lies, and Videotape (the oxford comma was a stylistic choice) is an important film for a number of reasons. It was the directorial debut of Steven Soderbergh, who apparently wrote the script in just eight days during a trip across the States, and the film would go on to win the prestigious Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, as well as launching Soderbergh’s impressive career (recently potentially ended for good). It was also a defining moment for the independent film movement, particularly since it was met by rave reviews and grossed multiple times its original budget (reported to be around $1.2m). A slew of successful indie pictures would follow during the 1990s and this film is often credited with kickstarting it all.

The film introduced Andie MacDowell and the next decade saw her becoming a hugely successful actress, particularly in the romantic comedy genre. It was also an important role for James Spader who had previously appeared in films like Wall Street and Pretty in Pink, but ‘Sex, Lies…’ gave a great boost to his career. MacDowell plays Ann Bishop Mullany who is living in Baton Rouge and is unhappily married to John (Peter Gallagher), a successful lawyer. Unbeknownst to Ann, her husband has been sleeping with her sister Cynthia (Laura San Giacomo) for some time, using Ann’s disinterest in sex as an excuse. Spader plays Graham, an old friend of John who returns to Baton Rouge after a nine year absence and stays with the Mullanys until he finds an apartment. Graham reveals that he records women talking about their sexual experiences and fantasies, and that its the only way he can receive sexual gratification. This revelation stirs up differing responses from the group and soon all of their lives will be changed for good.

I’m unsure who is responsible for the design on this British quad but it is unique to this particular poster. If anyone has any ideas please get in touch.

Innerspace / B1 / Poland

07.10.15

Poster Poster

This is the Polish B1 poster for the release (in 1989) of Joe Dante’s 1987 sci-fi comedy Innerspace, in which Dennis Quaid plays the brilliantly named Tuck Pendleton, a loudmouth test pilot who is shrunken to miniature size as part of an experiment and then accidentally injected into the body of hypochondriac Jack Putter (Martin Short) during a robbery at a science lab. Madcap high-jinks ensue and the films nods heavily in the direction of the classic sci-fi film Fantastic Voyage. The film is definitely one of the high points in the myriad of high-concept films of the 1980s and I rate it as one of Joe Dante’s best films.

This poster was designed and illustrated by Andrzej Pagowski, a prolific film poster artist who was born in Warsaw in 1953 and studied at the celebrated University of Fine Arts in Poznań, graduating in 1978 under the tutorship of the noted artist Waldemar Świerzy. In 1990 he started his own graphic design studio called Studio P, which he developed into an advertising agency by 1993. According to the biography on his official site, Pagowski has illustrated over 1000 posters during his career and has also done work for books, magazines and music covers. In addition, he is also a TV and theatre stage designer and a screen writer. Undoubtedly a man of many talents! His official site features an extensive gallery of his work, including several of the posters. Polishposter.com also features multiple pages worth of his movie posters and this culture.pl article is well worth a read too.

Dotknieci / B1 / cup on head style / Poland

03.02.16

Poster Poster
Title
Dotknieci
AKA
Stricken (English language title)
Year of Film
1989
Director
Wieslaw Saniewski
Starring
Ewa Blaszczyk, Piotr Fronczewski, Olgierd Lukaszewicz, Robert Rogalski, Katarzyna Skolimowska, Tadeusz Szymków, Joanna Trzepiecinska, Agnieszka Wagner
Origin of Film
Poland
Genre(s) of Film
Ewa Blaszczyk, Piotr Fronczewski, Olgierd Lukaszewicz, Robert Rogalski, Katarzyna Skolimowska, Tadeusz Szymków, Joanna Trzepiecinska, Agnieszka Wagner,
Type of Poster
B1
Style of Poster
Cup on head style
Origin of Poster
Poland
Year of Poster
1989
Designer
Stasys Eidrigevičius
Artist
Stasys Eidrigevičius
Size (inches)
26 11/16" x 38 7/16"
SS or DS
SS
Tagline
--

A striking illustration by Stasys Eidrigevičius features on this B1 poster for the little-seen Polish drama Dotknieci. It’s also known as Stricken so I’m assuming it was given a release outside of Poland but I can find no evidence of a UK or US cinema run. I’ve struggled to find out much about the film other than it was directed by Wieslaw Saniewski who made his name internationally with the release of Nadzór (Custody) in 1984. He’s hardly a prolific director and only has 9 features to his name.

Stasys Eidrigevičius was born in Lithuania in 1949 and would go on to study at the College of Fine Arts and Crafts in Kaunas, which is the country’s second largest city. In 1973 he moved to Vilnius where he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts and graduated from there with a diploma. Then in 1980 he moved to Poland and lived in Warsaw from where he pursued a career in design and illustration. As well as his award-winning work on film posters, Stasys is also a celebrated illustrator for book covers as well as a photographer. His own website has plenty of galleries of his work to view and an extensive biography.

Galleries of Stasys’ work can be seen on polishposter.com, and poster.pl. The Polish poster gallery site has six pages dedicated to his work. Check out Stasys’ personal website and you can find him on Facebook here.

A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: the Dream Child / B2 / photo style / Japan

18.07.16

Poster Poster

A bizarre design features on this Japanese B2 for the release of the fifth entry in the much-loved horror franchise, A Nightmare on Elm Street 5. The film’s subtitle ‘the Dream Child’ hints at the plot for the film, which sees Freddy attempting to return from hell by using the mind of an unborn baby. The child belongs to Alice (Lisa Wilcox) who was the main character in the previous film and the father is her boyfriend Dan (Danny Hassel) who also returns from Part 4. The Dream Child was only the second film directed by Stephen Hopkins, the Jamaican-born English-Australian director best known for helming Predator 2 and the 1998 reboot of Lost in Space.

Set a year after the previous film, the story sees Alice and her friends graduating from high school with Freddy Krueger seemingly vanquished for good. Alice begins to have strange dreams in which she finds herself in the asylum where Freddy’s mother, a nun named Amanda, was attacked and raped by the inmates. Later she has another dream in which she witnesses Amanda giving birth to a strange, deformed baby. The creature scuttles off and ends up in the church where Alice vanquished Freddy in Part 4 whereupon it grows into an adult Krueger. He immediately begins to taunt Alice, claiming he has found a way to return for good. When she wakes from the dream she immediately summons Dan to her but he falls asleep at the wheel of his motorbike and Freddy attacks and, during a gruesome sequence, melds him together with the bike before crashing him into a truck. Soon afterwards she learns that she is pregnant with Dan’s child and immediately begins to fear for its safety.

Alice and her friends must once again battle together with the spirit of Amanda Krueger to stop Freddy before he is able to return and take over the mind of Alice’s unborn son (Jacob). To be honest, the film gets very confusing and it’s hard to follow what’s happening most of the time, never mind how an unborn baby suddenly becomes a ten-year-old child in some of the sequences. The usual dream deaths are pretty dark and there are some gruesome moments for horror hounds, but the story barely hangs together, with choppy editing and hammy acting not helping at all. Although not a box-office disaster, the film failed to make anywhere near the box-office of Part 3 and 4 and audiences were certainly cooling towards the franchise by this point.

The smiling boy depicted on this poster doesn’t appear in the film and my guess is that he was chosen for a photoshoot by the poster’s designer. I’m not sure who was responsible for the artwork of the cartoon Freddy characters so if anyone has an idea please get in touch.

A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: the Dream Child / B2 / art style / Japan

26.10.16

Poster Poster

Unique artwork features on this Japanese B2 for the release of the fifth entry in the much-loved horror franchise, A Nightmare on Elm Street 5. The film’s subtitle ‘the Dream Child’ hints at the plot for the film, which sees Freddy attempting to return from hell by using the mind of an unborn baby. The child belongs to Alice (Lisa Wilcox) who was the main character in the previous film and the father is her boyfriend Dan (Danny Hassel) who also returns from Part 4. The Dream Child was only the second film directed by Stephen Hopkins, the Jamaican-born English-Australian director best known for helming Predator 2 and the 1998 reboot of Lost in Space.

Set a year after the previous film, the story sees Alice and her friends graduating from high school with Freddy Krueger seemingly vanquished for good. Alice begins to have strange dreams in which she finds herself in the asylum where Freddy’s mother, a nun named Amanda, was attacked and raped by the inmates. Later she has another dream in which she witnesses Amanda giving birth to a strange, deformed baby. The creature scuttles off and ends up in the church where Alice vanquished Freddy in Part 4 whereupon it grows into an adult Krueger. He immediately begins to taunt Alice, claiming he has found a way to return for good. When she wakes from the dream she immediately summons Dan to her but he falls asleep at the wheel of his motorbike and Freddy attacks and, during a gruesome sequence, melds him together with the bike before crashing him into a truck. Soon afterwards she learns that she is pregnant with Dan’s child and immediately begins to fear for its safety.

Alice and her friends must once again battle together with the spirit of Amanda Krueger to stop Freddy before he is able to return and take over the mind of Alice’s unborn son (Jacob). To be honest, the film gets very confusing and it’s hard to follow what’s happening most of the time, never mind how an unborn baby suddenly becomes a ten-year-old child in some of the sequences. The usual dream deaths are pretty dark and there are some gruesome moments for horror hounds, but the story barely hangs together, with choppy editing and hammy acting not helping at all. Although not a box-office disaster, the film failed to take anywhere near the box-office of Part 3 and 4 and audiences were certainly cooling towards the franchise by this point.

This artwork is a modified take on the photographic image of Freddy with the pram seen on the German A1 poster. I’m not sure who was responsible for the painting so if anyone has any ideas please get in touch. The small illustrated figure in the bottom right is actually from the alternate style Japanese B2 poster which I also have in the collection here.

A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child / one sheet / USA

18.05.11

Poster Poster

Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan / one sheet / teaser / recalled / sticker / USA

17.05.11

Poster Poster
Title
Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan
AKA
Ashes to Ashes (USA - fake working title)
Year of Film
1989
Director
Rob Hedden
Starring
Jensen Daggett, Scott Reeves, Barbara Bingham, Peter Mark Richman, Martin Cummins, Gordon Currie, Alex Diakun, V.C. Dupree
Origin of Film
USA
Genre(s) of Film
Jensen Daggett, Scott Reeves, Barbara Bingham, Peter Mark Richman, Martin Cummins, Gordon Currie, Alex Diakun, V.C. Dupree,
Type of Poster
One sheet
Style of Poster
Teaser - recalled - with sticker
Origin of Poster
USA
Year of Poster
1989
Designer
Spiros Angelikas
Artist
--
Size (inches)
27 1/16" x 40 1/8"
SS or DS
SS
NSS #
--
Tagline
--

Ghostbusters II / one sheet / teaser / USA

17.05.11

Poster Poster
Title
Ghostbusters II
AKA
Ghostbusters II: River of Slime (USA - working title)
Year of Film
1989
Director
Ivan Reitman
Starring
Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver, Harold Ramis, Rick Moranis, Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts, Peter MacNicol, Wilhelm von Homburg
Origin of Film
USA
Genre(s) of Film
Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver, Harold Ramis, Rick Moranis, Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts, Peter MacNicol, Wilhelm von Homburg,
Type of Poster
One sheet
Style of Poster
Teaser
Origin of Poster
USA
Year of Poster
1989
Designer
Unknown
Artist
--
Size (inches)
27" x 41"
SS or DS
SS
NSS #
890001
Tagline
Guess who's coming to save the world again?

Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan / one sheet / teaser / recalled / USA

17.05.11

Poster Poster
Title
Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan
AKA
Ashes to Ashes (USA - fake working title)
Year of Film
1989
Director
Rob Hedden
Starring
Jensen Daggett, Scott Reeves, Barbara Bingham, Peter Mark Richman, Martin Cummins, Gordon Currie, Alex Diakun, V.C. Dupree
Origin of Film
USA
Genre(s) of Film
Jensen Daggett, Scott Reeves, Barbara Bingham, Peter Mark Richman, Martin Cummins, Gordon Currie, Alex Diakun, V.C. Dupree,
Type of Poster
One sheet
Style of Poster
Teaser - recalled
Origin of Poster
USA
Year of Poster
1989
Designer
Spiros Angelikas
Artist
--
Size (inches)
27" x 40 1/16"
SS or DS
SS
NSS #
--
Tagline
--