Legendary pop artist Andy Warhol had been making films since the early 1960s but after his near fatal shooting in 1968 he relinquished direct involvement in those coming out of The Factory. Warhol’s acolyte and assistant Paul Morrissey stepped into the role of director and made close to a dozen films over the following years. Two of these, filmed at the Italian studio Cinecittà, were unquestionably more mainstream than the others; Blood for Dracula (1974) and Flesh for Frankenstein.

Morrissey is co-credited with prolific Italian director Antonio Margheriti although the latter’s role in the production has since been disputed by several people involved, including Morrissey. The film is a sex and gore-filled update of the classic tale, starring German cult favourite Udo Kier as the insane Baron Frankenstein who is obsessed with breeding a Serbian super-race by creating the perfect couple, bit by bit. He makes a poor choice for the male’s head (and brain) when his assistant Otto (Arno Juerging) kidnaps a local man who had plans to enter a life of celibacy in a monastery nearby.

Factory regular Joe Dallesandro plays a randy stablehand and friend of the kidnapped man who ends up at Frankenstein’s castle and  quickly gets caught up with the mad doctor’s wife (Monique van Vooren) whilst trying to rescue his friend. The film features a bucket-load of blood and guts, perverted sexual behaviour (including the use of all-new orifices), hints of incest and plenty of wild dialogue. The film was originally released in 3D, which served to enhance the already over-the-top gore with disembowelled innards being thrust towards the audience.

The film was also released in 2D but was granted an X-rating in the US on its initial release. This poster is for the 1982 3D re-release and is markedly different from the original 1974 one sheet; the tagline leaves you in no doubt as to the audience the re-release was aiming for. I’ve been unable to determine the artist for this poster so please get in touch if you have an idea.

In the UK the film was released as Flesh for Frankenstein and was originally passed with an X-certificate with over 8 minutes of cuts. It was later caught up in the infamous Video Nasties debacle and was only finally released uncut in 2006.

The trailer is on YouTube.

Considered by many to be Italian horror maestro Dario Argento‘s best, Suspiria is an absolutely stunning supernatural horror film and has influenced countless imitations ever since its release in 1977. The visual style is superb and the film features an incredible colour palette throughout; something that would become an Argento trademark. The memorable soundtrack is by the Italian rock band Goblin who are frequent collaborators with the director.

The film sees American student Suzy Banyon (Jessica Harper) travel to the German city of Freiburg to attend a prestigious dance academy there. After a student is brutally murdered, Suzy begins to suspect all is not as it seems at the school and it’s not long before she’s forced to confront the sinister forces responsible.

The film is the first in Argento’s ‘Three Mothers’ trilogy of films. It would be followed by 1980’s Inferno and end 27 years later with the disappointing Mother of Tears.

This Japanese poster features Stefania Casini, who plays Sara, bathed in green light during one of the more terrifying sequences in the film. Jessica Harper can be seen at the bottom of the poster. The bloody ballet figure features on the superior Italian poster (image taken from eatbrie.com).

The bonkers US trailer for the film can be seen on YouTube.

Notorious Danish director Lars von Trier‘s apocalyptic drama Melancholia‘s 2011 release was somewhat overshadowed by the controversy surrounding his comments at the Cannes festival press conference for the film in which he expressed various (idiotic) thoughts, including ‘What can I say? I understand Hitler, but I think he did some wrong things, yes, absolutely. … He’s not what you would call a good guy, but I understand much about him, and I sympathise with him a little bit.’ This and various other comments saw the director being declared ‘persona non grata’ by the festival’s directors in an unprecedented move. Von Trier apologised for his remarks hours later and even held a press conference in Danish, but the damage was done.

Arguably the director’s most accessible film, certainly when compared to his earlier Dogme 95 features and 2009’s Antichrist, Melancholia opens with a stunning CGI sequence showing the destruction of Earth as the titular planet smashes straight into it. Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg) and Justine (Kirsten Dunst) are sisters dealing with different forms of anxiety and depression during the latter’s wedding reception taking place on the family estate. Justine is shown to be almost catatonic with depression whilst Claire is dealing with her fears over a large blue planet which is revealed to be on a collision course with Earth. The film is split into two sections and follows the way each woman deals with the impending destruction and their relationships with the people around them.

According to this interview article with the director, ‘the idea for the film emerged while he was in treatment for the depression that has haunted him in recent years. A therapist told him a theory that depressives and melancholics act more calmly in violent situations, while “ordinary, happy” people are more apt to panic. Melancholics are ready for it. They already know everything is going to hell.’

This is the ‘static lightning’ style American one sheet for the film that, like the ‘water‘ style is pretty much a still shot from the film (with likely some minor adjustments). It was designed by the Los Angeles-based company Gravillis inc. who are responsible for some of my favourite recent one sheets, including Monsters and I Saw the Devil. IMPAwards features a gallery of a lot of their work. Melancholia was also given a set of teaser posters that can be seen on IMPAwards and features, bizarrely, a Lars von Trier version!

Notorious Danish director Lars von Trier‘s apocalyptic drama Melancholia‘s 2011 release was somewhat overshadowed by the controversy surrounding his comments at the Cannes festival press conference for the film in which he expressed various (idiotic) thoughts, including ‘What can I say? I understand Hitler, but I think he did some wrong things, yes, absolutely. … He’s not what you would call a good guy, but I understand much about him, and I sympathise with him a little bit.’ This and various other comments saw the director being declared ‘persona non grata’ by the festival’s directors in an unprecedented move. Von Trier apologised for his remarks hours later and even held a press conference in Danish, but the damage was done.

Arguably the director’s most accessible film, certainly when compared to his earlier Dogme 95 features and 2009’s Antichrist, Melancholia opens with a stunning CGI sequence showing the destruction of Earth as the titular planet smashes straight into it. Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg) and Justine (Kirsten Dunst) are sisters dealing with different forms of anxiety and depression during the latter’s wedding reception taking place on the family estate. Justine is shown to be almost catatonic with depression whilst Claire is dealing with her fears over a large blue planet which is revealed to be on a collision course with Earth. The film is split into two sections and follows the way each woman deals with the impending destruction and their relationships with the people around them.

According to this interview article with the director, ‘the idea for the film emerged while he was in treatment for the depression that has haunted him in recent years. A therapist told him a theory that depressives and melancholics act more calmly in violent situations, while “ordinary, happy” people are more apt to panic. Melancholics are ready for it. They already know everything is going to hell.’

This is the ‘water’ style American one sheet for the film that, like the ‘lightning‘ style is pretty much a still shot from the film (with likely some minor adjustments). It was designed by the Los Angeles-based company Gravillis inc. who are responsible for some of my favourite recent one sheets, including Monsters and I Saw the Devil. IMPAwards features a gallery of a lot of their work. Melancholia was also given a set of teaser posters that can be seen on IMPAwards and features, bizarrely, a Lars von Trier version!