Celebration of lurid monster-movie posters

Swan Galleries is auctioning off a collection of 139 old movie posters, including a lot of wonderful, monstrous film posters from around the world, in a collection called "Monsters with Maidens." The auction runs to Dec 18, and though there's plenty of very high-priced items, there are some bargains to be had, too.

MONSTERS WITH MAIDENS: FILM POSTERS (via Kadrey)

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MORE: auctions • gender • gift guide • happy mutants • illustration • Monsters • movies • Old school • science fiction

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Brainspore

I did a college lecture on that “Monsters with Maidens” trope once. At its peak it was so expected in posters of the sci-fi/horror genre that they even used it where the “monster” in question was actually a protagonist, like Robby the Robot from Forbidden Planet.
bruceburbank

Your link gave me a 404. This one might be better-

http://catalogue.swanngalleries.com/asp/searchresults.asp?st=U&view1=View&sale_value=2299&rf_lot_range_from=1&rf_lot_range_to=End
Henry Pootel

I like how they have a “3D” preview of a 2D art collection.
Gilbert Wham

I fuckin’ LOVE that ‘Horrible Carnage’ poster. Shame I can’t afford even the cheapest of these. Bah. Stupid job…
kiptw

Six years ago, an exhibit of movie posters came to a community college near me, and somehow I happened to see it. Each one of these (99% horror) posters was hand-painted — some entrepreneur in Ghana went from village to village with a VCR, a monitor (or projector?) and a generator, showing these bloody horrors to folks. Then the poster would be taken down and hung in the next place on the list. I photographed all the ones that were there. They were for sale too, and I wish I’d had more dough. The artists (often using canvas from flour sacks — visible, in some cases) varied from polished to comical, but they all went for the visceral thrills. My favorite was the half-man, half-dog.