Movie Poster a Day with JayDee

I wasn't planning on repeating a film quite so soon but after Mark's brilliant post about Jake LaMotta pitting olives I felt the need to dedicate a poster to him. So this is for Mark.

Now I'll admit that a number of the posters I'm choosing would not actually have worked at the time of the film's release as a piece of promotion. They work for those who have seen the film by paying reference to particular elements of the film in clever and entertaining ways. This is one such poster, alluding to the scene at the town hall where Quint is introduced by scratching his nails on the chalkboard. Just a very clever concept that blends the scratches and the iconic shark itself

God bless the Japanese and their zany ways. When An American Werewolf in London was released in 1981, pretty much every country in the world promoted the horror element of the film. Not Japan though. No they apparently decided to sell it as some kind of bawdy sex comedy; a sort of 'Carry On Werewolf' if you will. But for the image of the guy covering his naked body with balloons you really would be questioning whether the artist had actually seen a single second of the film.

And as I'm sure everyone can guess my favourite part of the poster is to be found in the bottom left hand corner as we see the werewolf apparently performing oral sex on the nurse. Once again allow me to say, god bless the Japanese!

I actually had another poster in mind for today but instead I've decided to stay in Japan for another example of their bewildering marketing. This time out it's the fifth entry in the Nightmare on Elm Street series. Around the world it was sold along the same lines as the previous four films; as an out-and-out horror film with Robert Englund's visage pushed to the fore. Not Japan! They would apparently have audiences believe that the franchise had been relaunched as a goofy comedy that will be perfect for the entire family. Just look at how adorable those little Freddy Krueger's are! I want to keep one of them as a pet.

The poster would also have you believe that Freddy vs Jason was not the first team-up film for Freddy. Apprently this film saw him appear alongside Dennis the Menace! Either that or it's Macaulay Culkin.