The Disembodied poster art

The Skeletal Spotlight shines this time on:
"The Disembodied" poster art

Haunted Horror artwork

The Skeletal Spotlight shines this time on:
The back card artwork for the Halloween sound effects cassette "Haunted Horror."
(Click on image for a frighteningly large version!)

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Well, writing many words on this blog right now is tough since it's getting into the busy time of year for me. So, rather than let it languish, I will just post some skelecentric images that I like and let them do the talking for me.

Here is the rather neat-o artwork for a horror sounds cassette tape I bought back in the early 80's and have kept ever since. And with all the many blog entries out there showcasing Halloween Sound Effects LP and CD covers, I've never seen this posted anywhere before. Not earth-shaking or soul-changing, but hey... it's a new post! Whoopee!

And more will follow with the pressure off to wax eloquent. Below is a Halloween party plate I saved from a few years ago. I suppose in 50 years it'll be worth something... but I like it.

Ray Bradbury's Skeleton

Published in 1994, special issue #1 0f Topps' adaptations of Ray Bradbury stories featured this version of his classic story "Skeleton," about a man who fears those bony horrors to such an extent that he wishes to rid himself of the one hiding inside his own body! Ordinarily this could only be solved by repeated and expensive visits to a psychoanalyst; but unfortunately (for him) he finds someone all too willing to help him achieve his goal...

Well, a little inconvenient, I'll admit... but with a large rolling bucket Clarisse should be able to help him get around. Feeding him, changing his diaper, bathing him... it's all a chore, but she looks at the good side; his not having a backbone means he'll never stand up to her mother again!

The moral: Love your skeleton or you'll lose it's support!

"Death Dives Deep" 3-D comic

The enchanting, dare I say "bewitching" bad-girl art by the late Dave Stevens adorns the cover of the 1985 issue of the "Seduction of the Innocent" comic. All of the stories are reprints from the "Adventures Into Darkness" comics originally published by Standard Comics between 1952 and 1954. The black-and-white art has been given a 3-D treatment that really adds depth to the stories, pardon the pun. The three "D's" in the title "Death Dives Deep," as well as the underwater setting, make it perfect to adapt to this format.

So, dig out those red-and-blue 3-D retro glasses, and really "get into" this simple story of deep sea death. After I did the scans I enhanced the art by adding more contrast, and the 3-D effect in the enlarged image is startlingly deep! The effect of the fish swimming through the skull's eye sockets is particularly neat. Take a deep breath and dive in, cause it's comin' at ya!

Click on the images to view full size.

Okay, as you blink and let your eyes adjust after taking off the dorky-looking glasses, let me know if you want more 3-D pages posted in the near future. A headache is a small price to pay for such coolness, and after all, that's why they made Tylenol!

The image above I clipped from a local TV guide in the year that the first "Treehouse of Terror" episode ran. The annual shows have been traditional viewing for me all through the month of October ever since. At this point I'm up to episode #4. Which one did you last watch? And which is your favorite?

For more art like this, check out my post on artist Den Beauvais over at Monster Memories!

The Amicus "Tales From The Crypt" poster

The Skeletal Spotlight shines this time on:
Amicus' "Tales From The Crypt" poster art
(Click to view monster-sized... if you dare!)

This is it, folks... the Big One. The Ultimate. This poster rocks, rules and reigns as the King of Skull Movie Posters. You would have thought that Peter Cushing's earlier film "The Skull" should have had such an awesome poster, but it didn't. This poster probably accounts for the remarkable box-office the film did, and as a result more Amicus anthology films came hot on it's bony heels. The opening credits, featuring a trip through an ancient row of crypts to the sounds of the classical "Toccata In Fugue," are eerily effective in setting the nightmarish mood. As a group of tourists follow a guide into the catacombs, the feeling of dread increases as the passageways grow narrower. And when they find themselves in a room facing a mysterious hooded figure, they are forced to recall the last thing they were doing before coming there.

As each one flashes back to the immediate events preceeding their entrance into the crypts, we find that they are events leading up to their deaths. After each person is made to face their own guilt, the horrific end awaiting them is revealed...

Be sure to click on any or all of the following images to view the full-size version.

Authur Grimsdyke returns from the grave to exact bloody vengeance on the selfish cad that drove him to suicide. The rising-from-the-grave sequence was one of the best filmed up to that time, and the empty eyesockets makeup was very effective.

It also makes a killer eye-catcher of a magazine cover! Painted to perfection and flipped to make it a little different, this FM cover is a classic.

I bought the book way before I ever saw the movie. The cover alone, scanned in above, was enough to give one nightmares. When I finally saw the movie on TV in 1981, it was truly a scary experience.

"My eye! Has anybody seen my eye?"

An alternate, less effective "eye-less" version of the poster. Perhaps the uptight British felt it was too scary for their straight-laced citizens? "I say... Boo! Sorry, old chap, didn't mean to put a fright in you!" The difference displayed really shows just how effective the lone eyeball was in making the image memorable.

More "Garfield In Disguise" comic strips:

To Be Continued!

The Evil Dead 2 poster art

The Skeletal Spotlight shines this time on:

The "Evil Dead II" posters
(Click on any images to view full size.)

We kick off the month of Halloween, known also as October, with a look back at one of the most skulleriffic movie posters of all time: "Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn." Running a close second only to the photo artwork for "Tales From The Crypt" by Amicus, this poster seems to make the horror personal. It's as if the dead in the movie had their eyes on you and intended on dragging you down with the movie's victims.

Amping up the gore and humor factor with a bigger budget, "Dead By Dawn" was even more fun than the first, and a hoot to watch with a crowd. It's one that you should put on as you gather around the TV this October with your family close beside you. As you hold each other tightly, you will all share in the warmth and love that binds you as the screams are dragged from your throats. The bonding memories will linger for years to come.

With all the demands on time that seem to increase with the fall season, and the three other blogs I run, it's tough to write a lot each time here. But, I have determined to keep the posts coming regularly, even if it's nothing more than another cool skeletoniacal poster or picture for you to peruse. I recently had an external hardrive crash on me (a Western Digital less than a year old that suddenly developed the Click of Death) and it contained the extensive files in my blog folders that I had amassed over the past 6 months or so. I lost a lot of the material I had stockpiled for future use, so I have to begin the process of relocating that material from the various places I had gleaned it, beyond what I have myself in my collection.

More "Garfield In Disguise" strips:


To Be Continued!