Horror/Sci-Fi Exploitation posters

[Memphremagog]

Bride Of the Gorilla(1951)

[Memphremagog]

The Last Woman On Earth(1960)

[Memphremagog]

The Crawling Hand(1963)

[ChristineBCW]

It's probably been 10 years ago but I'd bought up a dozen copies of LAST WOMAN ON EARTH and handed them out to film-friends who were supposedly fond of all-things Roger Corman.  "Give it to a friend - make an enemy!" 

I can't quite get over the 'story' that Corman selects.  "I saw THE QUIET MAN a few years ago, and there was a 15-minute fist-fight that stretched over a few country miles.  Let's do that except make it over an island's length AND lasting an hour.  How's that sound?"

"Fine, great.  All we need is a great poster and a catchy film title."   (The true monuments to Corman's "Genius".)

"Last Loincloth on Earth?"  No no, not that one...

"Last Fight On Earth?"  No no... no good...

"Something about a Sanity Clause, maybe?"  Sorry... been done before. 

I do applaud Corman's audacity to use his idiotic 'cause' of all humanity to be wiped out, 'disappeared' so there are no steenkin' corpses laying about.  I mean, who else would have let such a nonsensical notion pass as a Mass Extinction/Removal Event?  It's like a precursor to Applewhite's Heaven's Gate Cult buying up KMart tennies and being covered with purple cloth.  "Who can believe such a thing?" 

In Corman's case, the answer was simple: "Hey - MY audience won't care one bit.  Let's chase the woman and let the men fight it out."

[Memphremagog]

It's probably been 10 years ago but I'd bought up a dozen copies of LAST WOMAN ON EARTH and handed them out to film-friends who were supposedly fond of all-things Roger Corman.  "Give it to a friend - make an enemy!" 

I can't quite get over the 'story' that Corman selects.  "I saw THE QUIET MAN a few years ago, and there was a 15-minute fist-fight that stretched over a few country miles.  Let's do that except make it over an island's length AND lasting an hour.  How's that sound?"

"Fine, great.  All we need is a great poster and a catchy film title."   (The true monuments to Corman's "Genius".)

"Last Loincloth on Earth?"  No no, not that one...

"Last Fight On Earth?"  No no... no good...

"Something about a Sanity Clause, maybe?"  Sorry... been done before. 

I do applaud Corman's audacity to use his idiotic 'cause' of all humanity to be wiped out, 'disappeared' so there are no steenkin' corpses laying about.  I mean, who else would have let such a nonsensical notion pass as a Mass Extinction/Removal Event?  It's like a precursor to Applewhite's Heaven's Gate Cult buying up KMart tennies and being covered with purple cloth.  "Who can believe such a thing?" 

In Corman's case, the answer was simple: "Hey - MY audience won't care one bit.  Let's chase the woman and let the men fight it out."

Well, this is yet another case of the poster being much better than the film; something that occurs many times in Corman's film history.

[ChristineBCW]

Oh yes, absolutely.  I just love the babes in monster posters... EARTH VS THE SPIDER - a woman sunbathing on a downtown city street as a giant spider crawls from the bowels of the earth, apparently so lust-filled by her presence.  Fortunately, a cop is nearby with his tommy gun.  Whew!  What a lucky break!

Shoulder straps in disarray, or a skirt torn halfway up a thigh... it's truly amazing Earth has survived at all because of careless babes, provoking alien invasions and monster wrath. 

In fact, one of the great research ideas MIGHT be: "What monster-babe poster is NOT as good as the film?"

THE TARANTULA (which has John Agar dragging Mara Corday away from the tarantula.  Not much of a poster.  A better film.  As if that's saying much...

Mara was on a hot-streak in this category.  THE GIANT CLAW has my perennial choice for Goofiest Monster Of All Time, and this time Mara's saddled with Jeff Morrow who is NOT a prize catch.  Heck, he just quit his previous job, building interocitors and flying around in wobbly saucers.  Then she heads off, south of the border and definitely gets an upgrade in companionship with Richard Denning (and oh yes, some pests... black scorpion type pests).  That's not much of an exploitation poster with the lusty, slobbering scorpion on one side, and Mara lounging around on the other. 

VARAN THE TERRIBLE is one of my favorite posters...

...because we have this supposedly heroic American naval officer with his .45 drawn and he's running AWAY from Varan, trampling other women and barely holding onto his current babe, ready to let go if Varan gets too close.  "Take her!  FINE!" 

Earthlings, I think, might be rightly concerned: "Dear Poster Babes - how's about less cleavage and inappropriate attire so Earth isn't destroyed by all these monster, eh?  Stop tearing your skirts. Stop ripping up shoulders or losing straps!  Save Earth!"

[Scatter]

Earthlings, I think, might be rightly concerned: "Dear Poster Babes - how's about less cleavage and inappropriate attire so Earth isn't destroyed by all these monster, eh?  Stop tearing your skirts. Stop ripping up shoulders or losing straps!  Save Earth!"

I choose to keep the tattered women's wear and take my chances against the monsters.

[ChristineBCW]

I choose to keep the tattered women's wear and take my chances against the monsters.

Well... don't say I didn't warn ya!  Here's another dandy that demonstrates all the critical issues: a poster far better than the movie:



...A terrific looking skull inside the space-helmet (the actor may have died, after all, wearing that gosh-awful gorilla costume in some sort of demonstrated version of "Not while I'm alive!" retort when handed the costume, hence the skull)...

...Dinosaurs from the Planet Harryhausen crushing downtown skyscrapers...

...A really fancy rocket ship going to ?? somewhere else...

...And of course a poster-babe, sans shoulder straps in her ruby-slippered dancing shoes, still firmly attached to her unconscious body, arms akimbo, eye-makeup perfectly afixed...

[ChristineBCW]

I just made a quick re-look at Pages 1 thru 10 of this wonderful thread, and realized there aren't too many films that ARE better than the posters.  In fact, that might be one of Memphremagog's foundational supports to the concept:

"To qualify as Horror/Sci Fi Exploitation, the Poster must be better than the Film." 

The first 10 pages - especially with females depicted - seem to bear this out. 

[Memphremagog]

Bride Of the Monster(1955)

[Memphremagog]

The Day Mars Invaded Earth(1962)

[Memphremagog]

Seddok(aka Atom Age Vampire)(1960)

[Mike Scott]

...A really fancy rocket ship going to ??

Zyra, of course! 

[Memphremagog]

Not exploitation, but a work of art, nonetheless: BEAUTY AND THE BEAST(1946)

[Mike Scott]

Love the French B&B posters!