Sometime around 1989, I spent a few months working in Munich, and many happy hours at late night screenings at the Lichtspiele in Liliensraße (which holds the record for the longest consecutive showing of The Rocky Horror Picture Show), and Lupe 2 on Ungererstraße. It was at the former that I saw a Joe Spinell/Caroline Munro double bill of William Lustig's Maniac (1980) and David Winters' The Last Horror FIlm (1982), both banned under the 1984 Video Recordings Act (aka the Video Nasty Act) in the UK and, as the grainy images flickered on screen, I sat drinking a beer, marveling at the true freedom to be experienced in a country outside of Thatchers's vicious-nanny state. It was with some dismay, then that I discovered a couple of days later that the cinema had been raided the following night and the owner arrested – it seems that all was not well in the Weltstadt mit Herz.
I was reminded of this while enjoying Volume #1 (May 2009) of Thorsten Benzel's German magazine Creepy-Images, the first fanzine devoted to horror and exploitation movie memorabilia from the 50s to the early 80s. Within its digest size pages (5.5 x 8.27 inches/148 x 210 mm), the magazine gorgeously reproduces posters, and lobby cards from "the more sinful side of cinema", including Anthrophagus (aka Anthropophagus The Beast, The Grim Reaper, and Man-Eater) from director Joe d'Amato (Aristide Massaccesi), which is described as being banned during the "German video nasties" campaign. But for my own near miss with the powers-that-be in Germany, I would never have thought that a country that lifted its pornography ban in the mid-70s, would have suffered the same ridiculous prohibition endured in the UK, and it would be great to hear more about how the German ban played out in future issues.
Anthrophagus was also forbidden from cinemas in Germany, so it's especially informative to view the 16 lobby cards (four of which were also banned from public view), and two posters in all their gut-munching glory. Also in this issue are French promotional materials from The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (not released there until 1982); Italian posters and lobby cards (or fotobuste, as we learn they're called) from Ken Wiederhorn's nazi zombie-fest Shock Waves (1977); German poster, press book ad, and 12 piece lobby set from Andrea Bianchi's Le notti del terrore (1981, aka Burial Ground in the USA, Nights of Terror, and The Zombie Dead in the UK, and Zombie 3 in Europe); and Spanish poster and lobby set from Jesus Franco's Spanish/French co-production Drácula contra Frankenstein (1972, aka Dracula, Prisoner of Frankenstein, and The Screaming Dead).
As previously stated, the print quality of all these pieces is exceptional and Benzel is providing a real service by letting us see this original material, and preserving it in print form (with well-written, informative notes in English) for future research. He runs the Website classic-movie-posters.de, which sells Horror, Sci-Fi and Exploitation memorabilia, and it's to his credit that the mag is the work of a true fan, and never feels like an ad for his commerce site.
Volume #2 (August 2009) features similar marketing materials from Lucio Fulci's Zombi 2 (aka Zombie in the USA, and Zombie Flesh Eaters in the UK), Japanese promotion for Stuart Gordon's classic Re-Animator (1985); French material for d'Amato's Antropophagus sequel Rosso Sangue (1981, aka Absurd, Horrible, The Grim Reaper 2); Spanish work for Dario Argento's Suspiria (1977) – a must for Argento fans as lobby sets are apparently quite rare; a beautiful Italian poster and gaudy lobby cards for José Luis Madrid's Paul Naschy vehicle Jack el destripador de Londres (1971, aka Seven Murders for Scotland Yard); and a highly informative piece on marketing materials for Hammer films in Japan, by Armin Junge, proprietor of www.posteroid.com.
Volume #3 is promised for December of this year, and I look forward to seeing what weird, wonderful and obscure pieces Creepy-Images can uncover this time. The magazine can be found at www.creepy-images.com, which will send you to an eBay store for purchase – cost is $9.50 an issue with $8 postage to the USA - items ship very quickly, and delivery time is about one week to the West Coast.
Post a Comment