The Art of the B-movie Poster

Book excerpt: Exploding off the page with over 1,000 of the best examples of exploitation, grindhouse, and pulp film poster design comes The Art of the B-Movie Poster, a collection of incredible posters from low-budget films from the 1940s, 50s, 60s, and 70s. Once relegated to the underground and midnight movie circuit, these films and their bombastic advertisements are experiencing a surge of mainstream popularity driven by fans appreciative of the artistic skill, distinctive aesthetic, and unabashed sensationalism they relied on to make a profit, with the quality of the poster often far surpassing that of the film itself. The book celebrates this tradition with sections divided into "moral panic" films, action, horror, sci-fi, and of course, sex, each introduced with short essays by genre experts such as Kim Newman, Eric Schaffer, Simon Sheridan, Vern, and author Stephen Jones, winner of the Horror Writer's Association 2015 Bram Stoker Award for Non-Fiction. Edited by Adam Newell and featuring an introduction by author and filmmaker Pete Tombs, The Art of the B-Movie Poster is a loving tribute to the artwork and artists that brought biker gangs, jungle girls, James Bond rip-offs and reefer heads to life for audiences around the world.