Although there were a fair number of horror movies released during 2007, there was a definite lack of creative and economic success. Still, there were a few posters worth remembering.
Back to the Grindhouse
Looming large over all other 07 horror movies was Grindhouse, the Tarantino/Rodriguez collaboration that became a favorite topic of Internet conversation. Unfortunately all that virtual ink wasn’t enough to get people to go out and see the movie.
The Grindhouse posters were many people’s favorite posters of the year. Like I mentioned on my post highlighting 10 posters from actual grindhouse movies, they don’t really look like genuine grindhouse posters. They do incorporate some of the conventions, and go for a worn down look, but they are obviously much less cheap looking then any actual Grindhouse poster ever was.
Despite that lack of authenticity, or perhaps because of it, I really loved these posters. But I guess they do work better as pieces of art than as marketing tools.
Blood Red Night Forever
The posters for 30 Days of Night also managed to make it into quite a few horror fans’ top posters list. They are interesting to look at and do have a very unique, very recognizable visual identity. But I still think they could have done something more connected to the movie’s premise.
Much Blood, Much Gore
Another year, another SAW, another bloody SAW poster. And despite the fact that I no longer think these posters are effective as they used to be, the SAW brand was still strong enough to make SAW IV one of the few economic highlights of last years’ crop of horror movie.
However, Hostel 2 went much farther with it’s posters than the people behind the SAW franchise were willing to go and ended up getting pie on it’s face. The dismal boxoffice returns of Hostel 2 proved that simply being the most graphic and gory kid in town is not enough to make people actually want to see the movie.
Much Ado About Nothing
The captivity posters ended up generating a lot of controversy, due to the use of non MPAA billboards in public places. However the controversy never translated into an audience interested in seeing the movie.
From Enticing to Trash
The Invasion deserves a mention for starting with a good teaser poster and then following that with what was one of the very worst posters for any major motion picture from last year.
Korea Represents
In 2007 we had two Korean monster movies opening stateside. And both D-Wars and The Host brought with then some excellent posters.
These posters made me curious, so I decided to seek out a few other Korean horror movie posters from 2007. To my delight there were a few very amusing ones.
Having Some Fun With It
Sorely lacking in most of this years Horror movie posters is a sense of humor. One shining exception was this poster of teeth, which found a a comedic way to deal with the movie’s disturbing premise. Of course, now that they are positioning the film for actual distribution another poster has surfaced which takes itself much more seriously.
Another good one is this poster for Severance, which makes the most out of the title’s pun.
Japan Comes Through
The posters for Aliens Vs. Predator 2 were generally not bad, but they were a bit unexciting and obvious. But once again Japan managed to bring us some much needed weirdness.
Hazard Suits are in Again
Two different film posters featuring prominently hazard suits? What are the odds!
I do think the one for 28 Weeks Later looks much better tough.
Looking Forward
There were at least a couple of posters released last year for films that will open in 08 that really caught my attention. One is the poster for The Eye above, which manages to be both very creepy and very original.
Another one is the first poster for Funny Games. Different, bold and still the most disturbing poster I have seen all year.
A Little History
I just have to mention this poster for Dead Silence, because it was the subject of the very first post in this blog. Ah, the memories.
[...] at my horrors of 2007 post I can’t say I see any domestic poster from 2007 that really belonged here instead of the [...]
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