FOR COLLECTORS OF HAMMER, AMICUS AND BRITISH HORROR POSTERS
Me at Bray Studios in England the home of Hammer Films.
My name is Dave and I collect posters ( and lots of other stuff which will
probably end up on this site). Along with my friend and fellow collector Sam we have been busy over the past few decades collecting posters, stills, autographs and even meeting many of the people who made or starred in many of the films I loved as a kid.
This site is for collectors like myself who may never have seen many of the posters here but would like to know what they look like (that's if they ever turn up for sale), basically a reference guide. I hope it helps, there are pages on Hammer posters as well as Tigon, Amicus and many other classic British horror and fantasy films.
probably end up on this site). Along with my friend and fellow collector Sam we have been busy over the past few decades collecting posters, stills, autographs and even meeting many of the people who made or starred in many of the films I loved as a kid.
This site is for collectors like myself who may never have seen many of the posters here but would like to know what they look like (that's if they ever turn up for sale), basically a reference guide. I hope it helps, there are pages on Hammer posters as well as Tigon, Amicus and many other classic British horror and fantasy films.
Sir James Carreras
Posters and Hammer
Posters were always very important to Hammer and Sir James Carreras, in fact a
lot of the time the poster or some kind of pre-production artwork came first.
With this artwork, usually done by artists like Tom Chantrell, Sir James would
try to interest potential backers. Large numbers of these pre-production posters
were painted but that was usually as far as they got as a lot of them never
made it into production.
If a film did go into production then several initial poster designs would be
prepared to show how the poster would look. During production some stills would be provided and a final design would becompleted combining these reference stills and the initial poster design for a final release poster to be prepared.
A good example of this is “Taste the Blood of Dracula” below.
Posters were always very important to Hammer and Sir James Carreras, in fact a
lot of the time the poster or some kind of pre-production artwork came first.
With this artwork, usually done by artists like Tom Chantrell, Sir James would
try to interest potential backers. Large numbers of these pre-production posters
were painted but that was usually as far as they got as a lot of them never
made it into production.
If a film did go into production then several initial poster designs would be
prepared to show how the poster would look. During production some stills would be provided and a final design would becompleted combining these reference stills and the initial poster design for a final release poster to be prepared.
A good example of this is “Taste the Blood of Dracula” below.
|
|
|
|
|
Top left is pre-production artwork by Tom Chantrell used in trade ads. There is no face of Dracula on this artwork as Dracula wasn’t even meant to be in the story, this was later changed but by this stage it was proving difficult to get Christopher Lee to sign up.
In the middle is Tom Chantrells initial poster design before being provided with reference stills from the film, one is chosen to be used on the final design for the release posters by Tom Chantrell.
In the middle is Tom Chantrells initial poster design before being provided with reference stills from the film, one is chosen to be used on the final design for the release posters by Tom Chantrell.
Two of the best posters but not the rarest
|
|