horrors!

[kip-w.livejournal.com]

Just over a year ago, an exhibit of horror movie posters from Ghana came to Holyoke Community College.





These 80s advertisements for (mostly) horror movies were hand-painted by local artists on materials that included flour sacks. The writing from the sacks shows through in at least one of the items. That's this one here:



The promoters went from village to village, showing the movies on a VCR and TV set powered by a generator. The posters were re-used in town after town.



There were a couple dozen posters in all, and they were for sale as well. I learned about the show from another blogger in my area and drove over and snapped photos of all of them, plus extras to be sure I got everything, and some close-ups.



I don't know what the movies were like, but the posters have images that make quite an impact. Fish-lady! Bony woman! Upskirt dwarf with feather! (I don't want to know what he's seeing.)



Religious images! Snakes! Martin Luther King Snake! Bowls of blood!



Snake in the belly!



!!!



The ability of the artists varies somewhat. This guy has great technique in a lot of ways, and is just a little bit off in others.



This one is almost like a Byzantine icon in its treatment of the devil guy. He's bad!



More religious imagery.



Nuns with guns.

Okay, we've seen the highlights. There are still some others in my flickr set, including close-ups of the most lurid parts. Happy Halloween, folks!

Comments

WAZOMBIE!

[bolddeciever.livejournal.com]

"Ancestors of the Past" was way better than the sequel, "Ancestors of the Future."

But kidding aside, this is a great set. Thanks.

[joshuavorbis.livejournal.com]

[babooinoshido.livejournal.com]

Ooh.. great posters. :D

[ariamech.livejournal.com]

500% AWESOME. Thank you so much for sharing!

[otana.livejournal.com]

Amazing! Thanks for sharing them, those were fascinating.

[longlongwaytogo.livejournal.com]

Wow. That's so interesting, thanks for that! And the travelling around with a tv and generator!

[subtler.livejournal.com]

WAZOMBIE!!!

[pleasing-tint.livejournal.com]

Great posters! What were they selling for? Do you recall?

[kip-w.livejournal.com]

I don't, but that's why I photographed the card at the exhibit that said how much. $350 (a year ago), and the seller was Michelle Gilbert, a teacher at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, NY. She had other posters, but these are what fit in the small exhibit room.

(http://www.flickr.com/photos/kipw/249167703/)

[pleasing-tint.livejournal.com]

Far out! Thanks for that. They're a little steep but hand painted and all and quite unique. Probably still worth it.

[kip-w.livejournal.com]

I just revisited the original blog post that led me to the exhibit, and the writer says that if you search for these, there's a firm selling similar posters on ebay for something like $110. That was a year ago. Might be worth it -- buy two and still save. I guess it depends on how good the others are.

[pleasing-tint.livejournal.com]

I collect film posters but mostly sleaze. I have seen examples of these types of things from Asia, Africa and South America. They're really cool but, like I said, I'm not sure if I'd want to collect them at that price and proving authenticity would be tough. Still, totally unique and interesting for sure! Insane D.I.Y. type stuff!

[albear.livejournal.com]

Holy crap. Indeed, some of those are scary. The very last one, "Black Angel" reminds me of Monsignor Martinez from King of the Hill.
PRetty cool folk art too.

[badfae.livejournal.com]

Via...con Dios

[tres-faux.livejournal.com]

This is absolutely fascinating. Thank you.

[nwhepcat.livejournal.com]

Cool, thanks for sharing these!

I have bought one of these on eBay, and had very good luck with the seller, who's in Ghana. It's on a flour sack, rather battered around the edges from being tacked up. Mine's fairly well painted and a little less gore-laced, because I wanted something I could put on my living room wall and not be perpetually creeped out. Mine was about $100, which isn't that much more than the paperback edition of the coffee table book Extreme Canvas, which shows a bunch of these. The same seller also carries barber shop posters, which are another form of traveling business announced by a hand-painted poster.

[d-tretyakov.livejournal.com]

Волшебно! Спасибо ) Na zdorovie!

[lucindalunacy.livejournal.com]

Thank you so, so much for sharing these!

[(Anonymous)]

Like a arts of old MTG.