A-Z Challenge 2012: T is for Terror Movie Posters!

We're in the homestretch of the April 2012 A-Z Blogging Challenge, and it's another start to the work week - which means another trio of movie posters for perusal for


Maniacal Movie Poster Monday #65!


And this time out, it's three times the terror, because...

T is for Terror Movie Posters!

Terror in the Haunted House  (Howco International, 1960)

Here's what I had to say about this movie and "Psychorama" in an earlier post about cinematic technologies that never really caught on:

To make their not-particularly-frightening scarepic a bit more terrifying, the producers latched on to the then-new process of subliminal imagery, flashing quick split-second shots of images chosen to produce fear, or at least a sense on unease in the viewer. It didn't really work, so they tried again the next year with A Date with Death. However, someone in authority somewhere suddenly got nervous about subliminal imagery, and soon after the process of using subliminals and Psychorama were banned from being used in films or television for years, so the producers went back to making their usual boring movies.

(By the way, if you like this - and want to read about nine more of these movie technologies - the whole post can be accessed through here.)





A Study in Terror  (Columbia Pictures. 1966)

This serious (and well made) drama that pits Arthur Conan Doyle's famed sleuth against the notorious killer was released in its native England in 1965. When Columbia brought it over to America the next year, the Batman TV series was all the rage, resulting in this regrettable choice for the poster.







The Terror  (American International, 1963)

The story of how and why this Roger Corman movie was made is almost more entertaining that the movie itself.

There were some impressive castle sets about to be torn down after Corman's The Raven wrapped. That show had been shot early, so Boris Karloff still owed Corman four days of work. Corman shot for four days on the castle set with the cast - then had others take turns shooting exterior footage with everyone but Karloff across the next nine months, finally piecing the movie together from all this stuff.

And it surprisingly works pretty well as an old fashioned gothic chiller. Of course, I'd watch Karloff eat soup with a leaky spoon, so there you go.






U will hopefully return tomorrow for another post, until we meet - you Can Poke Me With A Fork, Cause I Am Outta Here!