Top Ten 1980’s Inspired Movie Posters

July 9, 2013 Adam Parker-Edmondston Leave a comment

With the up and coming documentary about poster artist Drew Struzan coming to cinema screens soon, it seems that more and more people are interested in the movie poster as a valid and exciting part of the cinema going experience. Back in the 80s, poster art reigned supreme with some of the greatest examples becoming not only popular with fans, but iconic for film goers. Who can forget the posters for movies like Star Wars, The Goonies, Back to the Future, Big Trouble in Little China, and how these images bombarded our senses when we went to see a movie? It seems in the last few years that interest in the fine art of poster making has picked up again with some truly stunning pieces of art coming out for mainstream blockbusters. There has also been an interest in the 80s style of poster making. It has a very distinct quality with brass colors, fully loaded designs filling the screen with outlandish characters from the movie, or in some cases just posing down. Here are some eye catching examples, most of which are official alternative posters for mainstream films that have come out in the last few years.

So without further ado, let’s brace ourselves for neon lights and over the top action with ten of the best 80’s inspired posters…

10) Drive (2011)

Drive, with its thumping 80s soundtrack and gritty feel really caught the imagination of many cinema goers, and the original artwork for it is incredible. This early promotional piece gave us the cool factor that Ryan Gosling exuded in this film, but it also gives off a Miami Vice vibe with its bright, but not over powering, use of color and the sun back rising up from behind the cast.

9) Hobo with a Shotgun (2011)

The poster that really started the ball rolling with a return to the grindhouse style of artwork found in cinema houses and video shops back in the early 80s. Sure the Grindhouse movies by Tarantino and Rodriguez (which spawned this film) did a great job of bringing this particular style back to the masses, but it was this gritty poster art that really got a lot of viewers’ attention. This poster just makes you take notice, even with its muted color scheme, it still manages to elicit a response. Many 80s posters had guns shoved into the viewer’s face and this is following in that long tradition. Below is one of my favorite examples of this style from an actual 80s movie…

8 & 7) V/H/S and V/H/S/2

On first glance the poster for the great horror throwback V/H/S does not seem incredibly 80s, but when compared to the poster below for the 1982 William Shatner and Micheal Ironside horror thriller Visiting Hours, you can see they share a striking resemblance.

Now for V/H/S/2 they have gone over board with the poster art. There are tons of great promotional pieces out for this movie, but the key one was in the incredibly gory cover by ex-Walking Dead artist Tony Moore. It encapsulates the gory covers VHS stores used to use to grab viewers into to the store. It also bears a resemble to one of the most notorious horror covers of all time, the cult movie Cannibal Holocaust. Not an exact copy, but the style is very similar.

6) The Heat (2013)

Now the more popular and incredibly generic posters that have come out for this movie in cinemas recently has come under tons of controversy due to the abuse of Photoshop to enhance one of the co-stars features. This could have all been avoided if the advertising department had decided to go for the more action packed poster shown above. I had no interest in this movie up until I saw this poster that basically just told me that everything explodes in this film. Whether it does or not hardly matters because this is a great example of how to advertise a mainstream movie using poster art. Here is another great example of how the 80s action flick used to use this very same method of presentation.

5) Rewind This (2013)

We have mentioned Adjust Your Tracking on Grizzly Bomb before and also Plastic Movies Rewound, but we have never really looked at the other recent VHS related documentary Rewind This, and it gives me great pleasure to present it here. It covers a mix of those other two documentaries and will definitely be one to look out for VHS fans. The cover is amazing and it looks exactly how I remember the 80s movie art. Horror pictures especially always had a hand sticking out the front. Look at this one for example.

Another great retro poster though not based on any film is this one for Video Nasties which I just threw in here as a companion piece for Rewind This just because it look to good not to include it.

4) The Last Stand (2013)

The film may have been a bit of a damp squib in the action department, feeling like a cross between Knightrider and Jackass in places, it did give us this great late 70s-early 80s style action poster which seems to follow the motif we have seen for many action movies past and present, the bomb exploding! It’s a great way to grab an audience’s attention and certainly got me to watch the movie.

3) Wreck-It Ralph (2012)

Now it is easy to put a poster about video games into this article because of how many of the classic (and not so classic) 80s sprites popped up within this heart-warming tale, but what really caught my attention was this great poster actually showcasing Wreck It Ralph as a real life computer game coming soon to your local arcade. It’s the attention to detail which I found fantastic, and it reminded me of my childhood and seeing similar poster advertisements in issue of Crash magazine.

2) The Expendables 2 (2012)

The Expendables posters have always been full of testosterone, but this cover really gives off that macho 80s action movie vibe, with its collage of armored killers ready for action. This cover looks so much like a 80s action flick that someone decided to create a VHS cover and 80s style trailer for it!

Shame the film did not deliver on the action goods but it does not take any power away from the extreme cover which is an amalgamation of several different types of 80s poster. [Ed. Note – I disagree. Obviously.]

1) Manborg (2011)

By far the best cover on this list is for retro film Manborg, which takes the best elements of 80s cheese and rolls them up into a tiny package for a new audience. The cover reminded me of so many other covers from the dawn of the video shop era. Just look at some of the VHS sleeves for The Eliminators and Rotor and you can see where this cover got its inspiration. Absolutely stunning.

That was just a small taste of what’s around at the moment and websites like Mondo and The Alamo Draft House are making superb posters like this all the time. It has never been such a great time to be a fan of poster art. Here is hoping we get more and more examples of this type of art popping up in the near future.

Sunday Night TV: This Week’s Top 5 Moments – Staple Guns, Eskimo Brothers, and Sookie Stackhouse

July 9, 2013 DrKronner Leave a comment

So last week’s Sunday night shows were so good we decided that they needed to be recognized, and I had planned to make this a weekly feature. The problem now though, there was a noticeable dip in quality from last week to this week.

What follows were my top 5 TV moments from Sunday night…

Continue reading Sunday Night TV: This Week’s Top 5 Moments – Staple Guns, Eskimo Brothers, and Sookie Stackhouse →

Movie Trailers

Curse of Chucky: First Trailer Hits the Internet, and It’s Creepy

July 8, 2013 Adam Parker-Edmondston 3 Comments

Grizzly Bomb has had its eye on the new Childs Play film Curse of Chucky for quite some time, and finally we have news that the new trailer has come online. The movie is going straight to Blu-Ray and DVD on October 8th, but don’t let that stop you from checking this out because this short trailer makes Chucky scary again. You can see for yourself below…

http://youtu.be/Y16TEl6Ek1M

The reinvention of the Chucky doll design from stitched up, comical mad man to a reworked design of the original dolls from the first Childs Play movie has been a big pay off because this tweaked design looks incredibly creepy in every scene it’s in. The moment the dolls eyes expand you know this is going to be a more chilling affair than some of the more recent comical movies in the series.

The scene with him tormenting a wheelchair bound woman are reminiscent of the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre in the sense that they are both films feature tense scenes involving a victim stuck in a situation they could possibly avoid if only they were more mobile. It creates a real sense of foreboding.

The final scene in the trailer where Chucky stares up from behind his brow won this writer over. Chucky has suffered the same fate as Freddy did in the Nightmare on Elm Street movies and become a bit to comical for his own good, so it is great to see this newer, more sinister take on the character. The damage the doll takes seems a lot more natural in this new film with one scene seemingly to show Chucky with a black eye. This seems to give the doll a more human quality to it, a nice juxtaposition to the blank doll expression we see in other scenes in this trailer.

Here is hoping that the film lives up to the standard the trailer has now set. In only a minute and 14 seconds it has managed to give us a new lease of life for the Childs Play series which will hopefully bring fresh blood to the franchise and keep Chucky alive…or whatever he is.

Movie News & Opinions

Who Do You Trust? 12 Cinematic Governments That Scare the Crap Out of Us

July 8, 2013 Scoot Allan Leave a comment

As the resident bearded Canadian on staff, I spend a lot of time examining and sometimes criticizing my fellow writers various governments (and hygiene), despite the fact that my own government (and hygiene) is probably just as bad, if not worse than those I attack with conspiracy theories and kindness (I am Canadian, after all). While most of our banter is good humored and based off of a need to verbally attack each other, sometimes relevant facts do make it into the conversations.

Some of these relevant facts are usually discussed and related to using the films that feature some of the same issues governments of the world are dealing with every day, and it opened our eyes to the many different versions that evil governments take on film. With some recent public (and not so public) demonstrations against select governments of the world, it may be time to take a look (with minimal help from Kronner) at some of the films that feature the best ‘Evil’ Governments

Continue reading Who Do You Trust? 12 Cinematic Governments That Scare the Crap Out of Us →

Dexter: 8.02 – ‘Every Silver Lining’ Review

July 8, 2013 Michelle L. Mattock Leave a comment

‘Every Silver Lining’ was a very dramatic episode. Since this is the final season of Dexter, every episode counts, and I think this is a great example of that. With the introduction of Evelyn Vogel, plus Deb’s apparent breakdown, this will hopefully be one season we will not soon forget. This and the first episode seem very predictable and at times dull because we Dexter fans are used to being exposed to amazing kill scenes and other psychopaths. However, I must hold out hope for season 8!

This episode begins with a videotaped session between Harry and Evelyn Vogel. Harry is going on about how he showed Dexter a crime scene and how his deranged son reacted. Dexter even took a piece of bloody glass as a souvenir… his first blood slide. Evelyn has known all about Dexter for a very long time. She is the one who convinced Harry that Dexter’s urges could be controlled, and she helped come up with his code; the code that Dexter has lived his whole life by. What is that going to do to Dexter emotionally, assuming he has those types of emotions? Is he going to take Evelyn on as a mother-figure knowing that she had such a large hand in raising him? Or is he going to lose that sense of morality when choosing his victims, because the code wasn’t really Harry’s? Or Vogel could just be manipulating him in an extreme way and using what he does only for personal gain.

Vogel reveals to Dexter that the killer from the previous episode could be one of her former patients. Dexter at first shows no interest in helping her, but later agrees after finding the second dead body missing a piece of his brain.

Deb and her boss go to check out the place that she lived with Briggs, her now deceased boyfriend. As they head out to go to the storage unit, El Sapo (hitman from the last episode) sees Deb. When she goes to the storage unit alone to look for the stolen jewelry, she finds it in a dresser drawer, but it gets stolen by El Sapo. She attacks him with little regard for her own life, and he kicks the shit out of her. Which is easy of course, she is the size of a ragdoll.

After checking out Sussman’s (the man who matched the fingerprints found at the Brain Surgeon crime scene) home, Dexter and the team get called away because of a man found dead in his vehicle…. El Sapo! Masuka finds another gun in the glove box… which is obviously Deb’s gun! Dexter drives over to her place and she is sleeping soundly on the couch. She wakes up and they talk. She explains that she didn’t want to hate her brother, she wanted the opposite (sexy time!). Then she kicks him out. I cannot help but think that Deb and Dexter may be perfect for one another now, both having killed. I wonder if Vogel can provide that type of therapy… yikes!

Dexter gets to the Sussman’s cabin. He sees that Sussman hung himself. Dexter goes to Vogel who helps him understand her views on psychopaths and how they are a gift to society. She explains that psychopathic traits can be found in CEOs and politicians.

Dexter ran the blood on the window glass from El Sapo’s car. He realizes that it was Deb who killed El Sapo (totally called it!). Right after he realizes this, Deb walks into the precinct to answer some of Quinn’s questions about the El Sapo case. Dexter pulls her out of the room and takes her outside to talk to her. He tells her he knows she killed El Sapo. She asks Dexter to switch the gun that Masuka found from evidence so that they don’t know it is Deb’s. Deb tells Dexter that El Sapo is not the first person she shot, and he may not be the last. This is either a cry for help, or (more probably) a confession of her intentions. She seemed pretty shaken up when Quinn showed her the photos of the El Sapo crime scene, but I do not think that will stop her. Especially since she now has drugs to calm those worries.

Vogel calls Dexter and tells him that someone is inside her house. He comes over and makes sure that it is empty. She realizes that she was left a DVD. On the DVD you see that Sussman was forced to suffocate the victim because he was held at gunpoint. Whoever the real killer is, he was not Sussman and he is still out there.

Dexter also tells Vogel that he destroyed Deb and that he is a mistake.
Vogel then hugs him in a somewhat creepy & motherly way and tells him he is perfect.

In many ways I am excited for season 8. First off, I would never have guessed to see Deb on the wrong side of the law. She is now a liar, a druggie, and even a murderer! But how far will she go? What I do love about this season so far is that it leaves me asking questions. For example, will Dexter and Deb ever make up? Will Deb keep killing? Will she and her brother join forces and create a brother/sister dynamic duo of vigilante superheroes? Will Deb kill Dexter, since she has already admitted that she should have? Will Dexter have to kill his sister? Wouldn’t he have to if she kills someone innocent? If he had to kill his sister, would he then kill himself? Where the hell is Harrison if Jamie is trolloping around with Quinn and Dexter is out the whole episode? What ever happened to Astor and Cody? And with Quinn’s suspicious eyes and his constant tracking of Deb, will douche-of-the-century Joey Quinn be the man who finally takes down Dexter Morgan? There are too many questions to be answered just yet… but I cannot wait to see what happens next!

I give ‘Every Silver Lining’ a 2.5/5 – On pace with the season 8 premiere.

Tom Weston-Jones on Season Two of ‘Copper’, Kevin Ryan, and Merkins

July 7, 2013 Amanda Broyles Leave a comment

Season two of Copper is well underway on BBC America, and during a recent interview with Collider, Tom Weston-Jones talked about his character, Corky, and various aspects of this second season. As most interviews do, it had moments of really interesting info interspersed among the typical answers.

My favorite part was a question I really wanted answered and didn’t realize it until I’d seen it asked. It addresses how Tom Weston-Jones and Kevin Ryan dealt with being the best of friends one season to being bitter enemies in the next.

[box_light]When you do an entire season with Corcoran and Francis (Kevin Ryan) being best friends, how weird is it to then shift that dynamic and really have them be enemies this season

Weston-Jones: It’s been a nice transition. I think the writers have done a fantastic job, and me and Kevin speak, at great lengths, about it. It actually reminds me, very much so, of the relationship that Corcoran has with Ellen (Alex Paxton-Beesley). There is always an elephant in the room, whenever they’re around each other. It’s important to remember, when you’re playing sworn enemies, that you should never forget the best possible time you’ve had together because that’s something that will pain you. That’s what we’ve always tried to remember. It’s important to remember the fact that these people were incredibly close, and you should never really let go of that. That’s where the turmoil comes from. Francis has betrayed Corcoran, or it feels as though he’s done him wrong. So, I always try to remind myself of the best possible times we could have had when we were friends, before all these things happen. I think me and Kevin have navigated it pretty damn well.[/box_light]

How often do we see this in TV shows where a character is betrayed? You have to wonder how an actor can shifts gears like that believably since they weren’t themselves betrayed and they’ve spent x amount of time being friends with this other character. It was really interesting to get that view of that situation from the actor perspective.

The full interview is quite good so head on over to Collider to check it out. For now, let’s all laugh at another interview Tom Weston-Jones did, this time with Nerdist. While it’s from last year, it is still quite funny because let’s face it, merkins are funny.

Of course the title, ‘The Merkins of Copper‘ is made even more humorous when you know that BBC America often will do “The _____ of Copper” much like this “hats of Copper“.

We can’t really talk about Copper without a bit of Donal Logue so let’s fix that.

If you aren’t watching Copper, you need to remedy that. GB head honcho Brian says it is one of the top Sunday night shows, and we like to think he knows what he’s talking about.

You can catch Copper tonight on BBC America at 10 Eastern.

Grizzly Bomb

Yearly Archives: 2013