Alex Pardee's "A Nightmare on Elm Street" and "Scream" Movie Posters

My horror geek brain just imploded on itself! Alex Pardee, who I'm pretty sure I've never covered on this blog before, has created two masterpieces in the form of his Scream and A Nightmare on Elm Street posters. I'll be brief about it, because I've still got quite a bit of packing to do, but I'm completely in love with both of these posters, which are part of Mondo's Wes Craven Director's Series.

A Nightmare on Elm Street

This is probably my favorite of the two, but that's because A Nightmare on Elm Street played a huge role in my childhood (that's probably not very healthy). I still remember being the only kid in school with a subscription to Fangoria and making my mom take me to see the tongue-in-cheek Freddy's Dead (complete with ridiculous 3D). This poster depicts Johnny Depp's (that's right, A Nightmare on Elm Street was Depp's first on screen credit) supernatural and technically brilliant death scene (they created an upside down room to make the blood look like it was shooting upwards). I could go on an on about how this poster kicks incredible ass, but I'll just sum it up by saying Alex Pardee's twisted visual style fits in perfectly with the terrifying world Wes Craven created in his 1984 classic. Pardee's A Nightmare on Elm Street poster will be available on Thursday (4/14) through Mondo for a very reasonable $35. The print measures 16" x 24" and is limited to an edition of 160. Be sure to follow @MondoNews for the exact release time (I recommend waking up early that day). And if you love A Nightmare on Elm Street as much as I do, I highly recommend picking up the amazing documentary Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy. If you're digging either of these posters you should also be sure to check out Pardee's blog and online store.

Scream

I showed this to my girlfriend and she immediately shook her head. "Nope. There's no way that's going anywhere near our walls." But you know what? I think if she sees it in person she'll change her mind immediately…or she'll make me put it in my flat file, either way I'm going for it. Pardee's grotesque Scream poster is not for the faint of heart, but then again, a lot of what Alex dreams up isn't. As usual, whenever I see an Alex Pardee print or painting I know I'm in for some incredibly detailed work. I mean look at that viscera, it's absolutely disgusting, and that's a very good thing in this case. Much like his Nightmare poster, Alex's disturbing Scream print measures 16" x 24", costs $35 and will be available this coming Thursday (4/14) through Mondo. The poster is limited to an edition of 140. Wow, I can't believe Scream is already 15 years old. What's your favorite scary movie?

My final post this week will be dedicated to Phantom City Creative's insane Back to 80's poster series. I can't wait!

Joshua Budich's "KILL BILL" Art Print

Joshua Budich is an artist I've been watching for the better part of two years now and with every print he releases he seems to be one-upping himself. His "KILL BILL" print is no exception, and as far as I'm concerned is his best looking poster yet. If you weren't able to get your hands on Tyler Stout's jaw dropping Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair poster then here's your second chance to grab a gorgeous piece of Kill Bill inspired artwork.

KILL BILL

The first thing that struck me when I saw this print was just how detailed all of the faces are. Joshua Budich took the beautiful (Uma Thurman) and the wizened (David Carradine) visages of the film's cast and brought them all to life by making every nook, cranny and wrinkle perceptible. In many ways Budich's character profiles reminds me of the incredibly realistic line work that Martin Ansin, one of my favorite poster artists, is so well known for - and in my opinion, that's one of the highest compliments I can give. Budich's layout is also deserving of praise, because it manages to balance the abundant (characters standing in front of, behind, beside, and diagonal to other characters) with the minimalist (a pair of shoes against a white background, a simple title in a conservative font - pretty much the opposite of Stout's poster) while also maintaining a consistent tone. It's a beautiful poster and I'm really hoping we'll get to see a lot more movie related prints from Joshua in the near future.

Of the 75 prints initially available, 35 were sold (and consequently sold out) through Spoke Art's "Quentin vs. Coen" art show, and the remaining 40 (plus a few APs) are being sold tomorrow (4/12) at a random time through Budich's online store. Joshua's "KILL BILL" six-color screen print measures 24" x 36", and is limited to an edition of 75. It probably wouldn't hurt to sign up for his mailing list in the meantime and I'd be sure to keep at least one window to his storefront open and a finger on the F5 key for good measure. If Kill Bill isn't your thing, fear not, he's still got some mini prints of his "Save Ferris" poster available too!

Tom Whalen's "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" Movie Poster

I promise this isn't becoming a Mondo blog, but I did want to briefly write up Tom Whalen's fun Who Framed Roger Rabbit poster. I'd previously written about Whalen's Steamboat Willie and Paul posters, but I honestly think this print trumps both of those.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit

Who Framed Roger Rabbit is one of those movies that I loved as a kid, and then re-watched as an adult and was totally floored by how much had gone over my head in the 80's; the film has something for everyone. I love all of Tom's smaller touches that don't immediately hit you until you look a little closer, like the anthropomorphized buildings in the background and the dripping ink of Judge Doom's glove. With that said, I wish Bob Hoskins had played a bigger role in the design instead of just a thumbnail in the lower left corner, however I appreciate Tom trying to keep the poster simple and clean. All in all this looks to be a fantastic poster and would be a feather in one's cap (did I really just use the term "a feather in one's cap"?) for anyone who's a fan of the film, animation, or the filmography of Robert Zemeckis (before he started working exclusively with all that motion capture nonsense, that is).

Whalen's Who Framed Roger Rabbit poster will be available at a random time tomorrow (4/8) through Mondo. Their drops usually happen around 9 AM Pacific, but the Tyler Stout Kill Bill poster dropped at around 8:30 earlier this week, so anywhere between 8:30 and 9 would probably be a safe bet (of course I could always be wrong). The poster measures 18" x 24", is limited to an edition of 210 and will cost $40. For more Tom Whalen goodness be sure to check out his website at strongstufftom.blogspot.com. Th-th-th-that's all folks!

Coming Soon

I'm moving to a new apartment this month, so a lot of my free time will unfortunately be dedicated to that arduous process we all loathe. What does this mean for you? Well, it means April will probably feature a lot less posts from me, but I wanted to take this opportunity to let you know that I haven't forgotten about this blog and to give you a better idea about what's coming down the pipeline:

• A review of Phantom City Creative's insane Back to the 80's poster series
• A review of the utterly mind blowing Attack the Block (this film JUST got US distribution!)
• A new feature called "Sometimes They Get It Right," where I'll highlight a few official movie posters that, against all odds, ended up being fairly fantastic
• Another poster contest (I still haven't chosen the two posters I'll be giving away)
• And to the best of my ability, I'll continue to write about cool posters that I see popping up on the interwebs

Please bear with me during my move, and most importantly thanks for reading!

Tyler Stout's "Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair" Posters

I wouldn't be doing my poster nerd duties if I didn't tell you about Tyler Stout's insane Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair posters, now would I? In honor of the recently premiered (in the US at least) and restored Quentin Tarantino revenge epic, Tyler Stout, a giant in the poster world, has created yet another one of his exquisitely detailed masterpieces. This one is sure to sell out within seconds.

Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair - Regular Edition

Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair - Variant Edition (in Japanese on "Rice Paper")

The yellow, gold and red inks work perfectly here, because not only does it immediately convey the film's retro Asian aesthetic, but they make the image explode visually, like your eyes are seeing different levels of heat (yellow, red and white). I've also got to give it up to Mondo for creating a variant that is unique and actually serves a purpose, instead of just changing the inks. I'd be very interested to feel the difference between their usual poster stock and the "rice paper" poster stock of the variant. Did I mention how awesome it is that they changed all of the English to Japanese? I think I can honestly say this is one of their finest variants ever.

These amazing, insane, gorgeous posters will go on sale at a random time tomorrow (4/5) through Mondo's site. As usual, if you want to receive a heads up on the drop, be sure to follow @MondoNews for all the release info. The 24" x 36" Tyler Stout Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair poster comes in two editions, a regular and a variant. The regular Kill Bill poster is out of an edition of 600 and costs $50, while the variant is limited to an edition of 225 and costs $100. If you miss out on tomorrow's Mondo release, I highly recommend heading over to Tyler's site, where you can sign up for his mailing list and be informed about any potential sales through his store down the road. Let's be honest, even if you DO get a poster tomorrow, you should probably still visit his page just to gawk at the incredible artwork. 'Nuff said. Good luck and good night!