Customer Reviews

Trash: The Graphic Genius of Xploitation Movie Posters

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All fans of exploitation cinema will find this a mandatory purchase, but with only 150 images I was a little disappointed. Another drawback is the absence of such exploitation classics as MARK OF THE DEVIL, PINK FLAMINGOS, FREAKS, REEFER MADNESS, MOM AND DAD, MOONSHINE MOUNTAIN, MS. 45, EVEN HITLER HAD A GIRLFRIEND, MANIAC, STREET TRASH and any and all nunsploitation and nazi films, but yet the inclusion of mainstream movies like MAD MAX, THE HOWLING and ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK.

Still despite all my complaints it's worth buying. Here are some of my favorites: KINGDOM OF THE SPIDERS, SIX PACK ANNE, TRIP WITH THE TEACHER, SCUM OF THE EARTH, DEATH IN SMALL DOSES and THE PUSHER.

For those of us who have wished for a book that featured nothing but beautiful color reproductions or horror, sci fi and exploitation art this is our answer.

While I love books such as "Immoral Tales" and such, sometimes I just want to look at the art of these one sheets for refrence -design ideas, painting styles, etc... and many books will have only a dozen or so nice color plates while the rest of the book is filled with the authors interpretations of the films.

Trash's focus is on the art and aside from an introduction, (where the author does explain why they chose not to airbrush out the flaws and creases of the posters in the book) there is nothing but photos.

For those who want in depth movie reviews and director profiles, there are several books and web pages out there, but for those of us who also admire the long lost poster ART, this book has fabulous images.

My one complaint is that instead of changing genres each chapter (horror, exploitation, sci fi, etc..) this book should have been a series of books, each catagory being a seperate volume! I hope they print a volume 2.

If you liked this book, check out "Blood and Black Lace" (might be out of print) which has is the definitive book on Italian Giallos, and has many color reproductions of the rare onesheets.

I've thumbed through many a poster book at my local bookstores but this one I just had to own! Probably because 'exploitation' movies are my favorite guilty pleasure cinema. Assembled here is some great art, when movie posters actually leapt off of the paper they were drawn on--to get in your face. New movie poster artists should get this book as a reference for their ad campaigns (and you can tell some are starting to...) In an age of such: passiveness in film, where everything is rated PG-13, it's nice to reflect on this golden age of poster art for films, that mostly, delivered what they advertised. A worthy purchase for the film fan.

An aptly titled book of 150 movie posters (in color) most of which are of such rock bottom awfulness that you might think, just for a moment, that they originally appeared in back issues of the National Lampoon. But these are the real thing, these are the poster styles that the Lampoon used for their inspired satires. When collected together in a book they take on a perverse fascination. I can only assume that the designers (they were designed?) knew what they were doing and the audience they were appealing to. Actually I think these three are quite good, The Howling, WUSA, Killer Force.

In six chapters, Sex, Action, Horror, Groovy, Race and Docu author and poster collector Jacques Boyreau writes a short introduction to each and his writing style is as trashy as the images. Many of the posters are full page, all the better to study their bizarre illustrations and sloppy typography, others are two to a page and here it would have been helpful to run a thin black line round the image to stop the light colours merging into the whiteness of the page.

Get the book if you are interested in this sub-genre of popular culture or if you work in the graphic design business this could be useful as a swipe file for what to avoid.

part of the appeal of trashy exploitation films are their "smear" campaigns, one-sheets full of bosomy women, firing guns, cars in collision and whatnot. On this level the book is very enjoyable -- HOWEVER, I find the grouping of the posters haphazard (what is CREATION OF THE HUMANOIDS doing in "Groovy Trash?"), many of the posters are in poor condition and the brief introductions to each chapter are highly irritating. The author trips all over himself trying to sound clever and fails dismally. Still ... where else are you going to see a four-color poster for SIX-PACK ANNIE?

A good poster book for those who like exploitation cinema. The posters (and some lobby cards) are presented as they have them, flaws and all. (I have met the authors--Besides being collectors, they run a screening room in San Francisco where they show exploitation films off of prints, some quite battered, but that adds to the pleasure.)And fortunately, since this book was published, some of these films have surfaced on DVD as well(although I would love to see Skidoo appear on DVD).

Maybe it is just me, but if you are going to publish a book
about movie posters that maybe you could find posters in
better condition than the ones presented in this book. The posters presented have obvious fold marks and even some of the have black magic marker on them. I collect movie posters myself and have some of the same posters that are in the book. But mine are in mint condition. At least they could have airbrushed the posters. Their are better poster books available, like WHAT IT IS...WHAT IT WAS.