I have loved movies for as long as I can remember. Growing up, there was something about the experience of going to the cinema that I found magical. Watching movies at home on my parents’ old, small, black and white TV was all well and good, but it couldn’t compete with the immersive experience of sitting…
King Kong
The original 1933 King Kong has always been one of my favourite movies. I love everything about it, from concept to execution, and IMHO it still holds up nearly 90 years later. It was – and remains – a technical marvel of stop-motion animation. Animator Willis O’Brien managed to bring real pathos to an…
Crimes of Passion
This film is cinematic Marmite – you either love it or hate it. I am in the former camp, although quite what that says about me I don’t know. I remember going to see this while at university, with my friend John. We both really enjoyed it, to the point that he recommended it highly…
The Company of Wolves/An American Werewolf
Here are a couple of dramatic werewolf transformation stills from two very different movies. You can see elsewhere on my site that I am rather partial to a good werewolf movie. However, I never particularly liked The Company of Wolves. Director Neil Jordan made some cracking films (including Interview with the Vampire and Mona Lisa),…
Tightrope
Guilty pleasure time: I have a soft spot for this moody 1984 Clint Eastwood noir thriller. I remember the UK reviews at the time were not particularly kind (“Trite rope” was the headline on one I recall). Tightrope is far from perfect, but I think its one of Clint’s better films from the 80s…
Moonraker / A View to a Kill
Here are a couple of original posters for two of the lesser Roger Moore Bonds. Moonraker IMHO is a low point in the franchise – honestly, what the hell is James Bond doing in space? It seemed then and still does a rather pathetic attempt to cash in on the success of contemporary sci-fi…
The Deer Hunter
I’ve posted elsewhere about lousy films that were promoted with great posters. This is the other way around – great film, really awful (IMHO) poster! This is the UK quad original release poster. I’m not a huge fan of photographic posters in any case, but what really bugs me about this poster is that the…
Hammer presents Dracula / The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires
Once upon a time I used to listen to this pair of records quite a lot. The Dracula album has one side with an original vampire story narrated by Christopher Lee, whilst the other has ominous theme music from various Hammer films. The story had an intro that began with something like “you think you…
Marnie
This is another poster I thought I had sold at auction and was glad to discover I hadn’t. Marnie isn’t the greatest Hitchcock by a long way. There’s been a great deal of debate about whether TIppi Hedren’s performance in the title role is deliberately mannered or just plain bad, and there have been…
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Here’s an original UK quad and a US re-release poster for this Steven Spielberg classic. I still have these, but neither are in the greatest condition, unfortunately. The UK quad is in the condition I bought it in – some tears and missing paper at the edges, which would be repairable if I were…