My latest, ongoing addiction--collecting lobby cards from Canadian horror films--is already turning into a nice little stash. I usually get them from the
Hollywood Canteen in Toronto, or visit their booth when I see them at a convention.
However, I recently picked up a few different lobby cards online, and what makes them really interesting (and perhaps not as common) is the fact that they're in Spanish--since they were all displayed at theatres in Mexico.
This lobby card, and the one above, is from the 1970 film
Flick, a.k.a.
Dr. Frankenstein on Campus. This is one of the rarest Canadian horror films out there, and I have yet to hunt down a copy. Directed by Gilbert W. Taylor, who also wrote the screenplay along with David Cobb and Bill Marshall, the story sees Viktor Frankenstein relocating to Canada and wreaking havoc at U of T. What I really like about these LCs is the colourful artwork, and the illustration of the Frankenstein monster. There are eight of them in total, of which I have five, and they each have a different B&W still photo glued to them.
Next up is another beauty: it's from
The Mask (1961), directed by Julian Roffman, which is partially shot in 3-D and considered Canada's first horror feature film. The story finds a psychiatrist driven to murder and mayhem after one of his patients, before committing suicide, sends him a strange Aztec mask. Charming! What was really groundbreaking about this film was its dreamlike/nightmarish 3-D sequences. Audience members, upon arrival to the theatre, were given special 3-D masks. When it came time to view a 3-D sequence (which coincided with the psychiatrist putting on the mask), an ethereal voice would tell them to "PUT THE MASK ON NOW!"
Of course, being a completest, I had to have one of these masks as well--thankfully they occasionally show up on ebay at a modest price. Here's a scan of the one I have:
Finally, here's the LC for
Cries in the Night (1980), a.k.a.
Funeral Home. Helmed by prolific director William Fruet, this is the story of a young woman (scream queen Lesleh Donaldson) who visits her grandmother's B&B, and becomes somewhat concerned after their guests begin to disappear. The LC is nicely designed with red text and a black background, and I really like the haunting illustration on the left-hand side. It's very '80s, and looks as though it belongs on a VHS cover.
Well, that's it for this installment of Terrors from the Lobby! I'll be posting some more LCs from Canadian films in the future, as I've just got my hands on some from
The Vulture (1966),
The Fly (1986), and
The Reincarnate (1971)!
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Ooo, I have a cool Mexican lobby card from "The Vulture", a movie that is a treasured memory from a childhood summer vacation down by the lake (we just had lunch and couldn't go in for a swim for an hour, and since it was too hot to do anything else we watched it on the local TV afternoon matinee!), and I was also lucky enough to find off eBay a B&W photo of the title terror's claws clutching star Broderick Crawford's shoulders in preparation to flying off with him (fat chance of that really...).
ReplyDeleteI also had a chance to get some English language "Frankenstein On Campus" lobby cards (some complete with hippy era nudity!) off eBay a year or two back, but they were too expensive, and I still regret letting them pass me by. Still hope to see the actual movie one day though... if they ever show more than the same two minute clip on Youtube that is!
Great story! It's funny how certain movies remind us of a place or time from our past. My LC for "The Vulture" is in English, but I still like the cool design. One of the other LCs for "Flick," which I didn't post, also includes 'hippy era nudity' ;)
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