Editorials
Best & Worst of 2010: The Year’s Best One Sheets
A film’s poster (also known as a one-sheet) is often the first impression we get of a movie, making it an incredibly important tool in building advance buzz. The job of these posters is two-fold: a) to catch our attention and get us interested in learning more about the film in question; and b) to give us at least a basic sense of what the film is about. While multiplexes are littered with generic one-sheets that might as well have been spit out by a computer, there are always a select few that manage to get it right, and like years past B-D has compiled a list of the best from the past year. Whether the films turned out to be worthy of the artistry that went into marketing them is another question entirely, which just goes to show that sometimes even the worst movies are backed by a savvy marketing team, whose job it to sell the product – no matter how sub-par (or downright awful) that product may be.
BEST ONE SHEETS | WORST ONE SHEETS
BEST ONE SHEETS OF 2010
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Posters listed in no particular order
While the domestic Black Swan one-sheets are pretty decent, there’s just no topping the illustrated international versions. These gorgeous creations don’t tell us much about the movie, but then they don’t really have to – their artful compositions, utilizing a simple palette of red, white, and black, are so eye-catching they’re bound to pique one’s curiosity. While it’s hard to choose a favorite, this one edges out the others if only for the way it blends the forms of dancer and swan so beautifully. Quite reminiscent of an old Giallo poster, no?
In case you haven’t read the reviews, you should know that Tucker & Dale vs. Evil is a broad horror-comedy featuring lots of gore. Not that you need me to tell you that, considering the poster basically says it all. Exhibit A: The gruesome sight of a man’s torso-less body being dragged through the dirt (there’s the gore). Exhibit B: The tagline – “This Year Spring Break Is Cut Short!” (there’s the comedy). In other words, if you end up buying a ticket to this bad boy based solely on the poster art, you probably won’t be disappointed.
Believe it or not, Repo Men actually came out, though you wouldn’t know it based on the rather scant marketing campaign. But if you managed to catch one of these striking one sheets featuring full-color artificial body parts against X-ray images of human skeletons – each part with its respective price tag attached – they doubtless managed to catch your attention. Unfortunately for those involved, they didn’t do anything to boost the film’s dismal box-office take.
The Last Exorcism marketing team wisely used the disorienting sight of Ashley Bell’s possessed (?) character bent backwards at an unnatural angle to create a shiver-worthy poster that has in some ways already become iconic. The simple one-sheet, rendered in black and white and with the lighting creating a spooky shadow effect on the wall behind her, creates an unmistakable atmosphere of dread and unease, while the small hanging cross and simple tagline (“Believe In Him”) add just enough creep-factor without overpowering the stunning central image.
This series of attention-drawing, “ripped-from-the-grindhouse” Machete one-sheets put the focus on the film’s large, eclectic cast of supporting characters, a shrewd choice considering star Danny Trejo’s rather limited box-office appeal and the fact that the film suffered from a rather limited central concept. Featuring De Niro, Jessica Alba, Steven Seagal, etc. in full kick-ass mode – each holding their weapon(s) of choice – and with their names prominently displayed was an attempt to pull in a multitude of different demographics, and while it probably didn’t work as well as the studio wanted (the film made a very modest $36 million worldwide) it was certainly a valiant attempt.
This “There’s Something In The Water” Piranha one-sheet was great at conveying the film’s gratuitous mixture of oiled-up party girls and flesh-chomping killer fish action, with its Jaws-like visual of an attractive sorority chick floating on a raft and a truly formidable school of razor-toothed piranha swimming in the water just below her. The poster also effectively represented the film’s 3-D aesthetic by giving the illusion of depth, with its central image of open-mouthed piranha swimming directly at us.
While the “elevator button” Devil one-sheet was also very good, this one, featuring an orange light in the shape of an upside-down cross emanating from between the cracks in the elevator doors, summed up the core idea behind the movie in striking and succinct fashion. The only downside is the “From the Mind of M. Night Shyamalan” wording placed directly beneath the title. Impressed with ourselves much?
As the title indicates and the impressive one-sheet bears out, Buried takes place entirely inside a coffin containing a man (Ryan Reynolds) who has been buried alive. It’s a horrifically claustrophobic premise expertly conveyed in the poster, which shows us the inside of the casket containing Reynolds – lit up by the orange glow of a flashlight – at the very bottom and above it mounds…and mounds…of dark earth. If that weren’t enough to spell it out for us, the poster also gives us the basic premise in five short lines of white text that lead down, and down, into Reynolds’ underground tomb.
While opinions on the films themselves are wildly divergent, even a cynic like me can’t deny the genius of the Saw one-sheets, and the poster for Saw 3D is no exception. This one, featuring a giant Jigsaw (aka John Kramer) being constructed by an assortment of ominous machinery, is most definitely the standout of the bunch from the latest (last?) sequel. The most effective thing about it is its creation of a richly imagined visual world; just when you think you’ve taken it all in, a new detail emerges from the gloomy landscape of coal-spewing smokestacks and sizzling orange sparks.
Talk about eye-catching – this Let Me In poster, featuring a nearly all-white Abby curled into a fetal position against a red background, uses its simple three-color scheme to great advantage. It may not spell out the film’s premise satisfactorily for those unfamiliar with the original, but the striking imagery – along with the simple tagline “Evil Dies. Abby Doesn’t.” – has an appealing air of mystery about it that more than makes up for the lack of an explanation.
This oddly beautiful Monsters one-sheet, featuring an up-close shot of star Whitney Able in a gas mask (there’s just something creepy about them, isn’t there?), has an almost documentary-style feel that well approximates the experience of watching the movie itself. Unlike some of the trailers it also doesn’t oversell the alien creatures (which are featured only sparingly in the actual movie), instead giving us merely a small, captivating glimpse of black, swirling tentacles reflected in one of the mask’s eyepieces.
As we said in our official review, Skyline the movie was just “meh”, but this stunning one-sheet is anything but. True to the film’s tentpole aspirations, the poster features the “money shot” of thousands of people being sucked up into the giant blue maw of an alien spacecraft, with Eric Balfour and Donald Faison helplessly watching from the rooftop of an L.A. highrise. It’s the visual that sold us in the film’s teaser trailer and which made the resulting film feel all the more disappointing, but nevertheless it was a smart choice to feature it on the posters.
This Drive Angry one-sheet gets right to the point: if you like fast cars, faster bullets, and hot, sexy women, you’re gonna like our movie. Oh, and it was actually “shot in” 3-D as opposed to being post-converted. How do we know that? Because it proudly says so just below the title. Perhaps the best thing about this poster, though, is that it manages to convey a sense of forward momentum and balls-to-the-wall action within a single, static image. Putting living Barbie doll Amber Heard front-and-center probably doesn’t hurt with luring in the film’s target demographic (namely, young straight males) either.
What can you really say about this one? All we’re given is a nice big close-up shot of the iconic Ghostface mask, and yet somehow that’s enough. We also get a hint of what to expect – or rather what not to expect – with the ingeniously simple tagline “New Decade. New Rules.” Bring it on!
It’s probably gonna suck (just my own bias against any film produced by Screen Gems), but the theatrical poster for The Roommate, outside of that generic title, actually sells the project pretty well. In short: this is a one-sheet you look at and instantly know what the movie is. The premise is spelled out clearly and succinctly in three short sentences, and the ominous backdrop and central imagery combine to both illustrate the concept and clue us in to the film’s darker tone (i.e. this is not going to be a light and fluffy college-set comedy). I wouldn’t say I’m personally sold, but this should have the desired effect on the target demographic. I only question why they’re not releasing this in August, when a whole new crop of college freshmen will be facing the possibility of a psycho roomie for the first time?
How to market one of the most disgusting films ever made? IFC cracked the code with this green-hued Human Centipede poster, which hints at the movie’s horrific premise in a pretty ingenious way. Kudos too for the Clive Barker-esque “Their Flesh Is His Fantasy” tagline, and also for incorporating Six’s “100% Medically Accurate” claim into the mix.
This one-sheet for the darkly comedic Greek horror film Dogtooth uses a powerful, eye-catching close-up of one of the lead actresses with bloodstains around her mouth to suggest horrible things happening just off-screen. Is this woman a cannibal? A vampire? Sometimes not telling is the most powerful way to advertise a movie, particularly one as idiosyncratic and hard to define as this one.
Yes, Hayden Christensen is in it (snooze), but there’s no doubt this Vanishing on 7th Street poster is eye-catching and gives you a good sense of what to expect from the latest Brad Anderson flick. I love the way the background tavern, with its red neon sign and warm orange lights, is framed by the penetrating darkness of the alleyway that seems to be moving in from all sides, ready to consume the central figure. The spidery, creeping hands reaching from some unseen place out of frame complete the stunning visual palette, along with a tagline – “Stay in the Light” – that sufficiently sums up the film’s premise in just four simple words. In short, this is the way to sell a movie.
Soon after the New Hollywood generation took over the entertainment industry, they started having children. And more than any filmmakers that came before—they were terrified. Rosemary’s Baby (1968), The Exorcist (1973), The Omen (1976), Eraserhead (1977), The Brood (1979), The Shining (1980), Possession (1981), and many others all deal, at least in part, with the fears of becoming or being a parent. What if my child turns out to be a monster? is corrupted by some evil force? or turns out to be the fucking Antichrist? What if I screw them up somehow, or can’t help them, or even go insane and try to kill them? Horror has always been at its best when exploring relatable fears through extreme circumstances. A prime example of this is Larry Cohen’s 1974 monster-baby movie It’s Alive, which explores the not only the rollercoaster of emotions that any parent experiences when confronted with the difficulties of raising a child, but long-standing questions of who or what is at fault when something goes horribly wrong.
Cohen begins making his underlying points early in the film as Frank Davis (John P. Ryan) discusses the state of the world with a group of expectant fathers in a hospital waiting room. They discuss the “overabundance of lead” in foods and the environment, smog, and pesticides that only serve to produce roaches that are “bigger, stronger, and harder to kill.” Frank comments that this is “quite a world to bring a kid into.” This has long been a discussion point among people when trying to decide whether to have kids or not. I’ve had many conversations with friends who have said they feel it’s irresponsible to bring children into such a violent, broken, and dangerous world, and I certainly don’t begrudge them this. My wife and I did decide to have children but that doesn’t mean that it’s been easy.
Immediately following this scene comes It’s Alive’s most famous sequence in which Frank’s wife Lenore (Sharon Farrell) is the only person left alive in her delivery room, the doctors clawed and bitten to death by her mutant baby, which has escaped. “What does my baby look like!? What’s wrong with my baby!?” she screams as nurses wheel her frantically into a recovery room. The evening that had begun with such joy and excitement at the birth of their second child turned into a nightmare. This is tough for me to write, but on some level, I can relate to this whiplash of emotion. When my second child was born, they came about five weeks early. I’ll use the pronouns “they/them” for privacy reasons when referring to my kids. Our oldest was still very young and went to stay with my parents and we sped off to the hospital where my wife was taken into an operating room for an emergency c-section. I was able to carry our newborn into the NICU (natal intensive care unit) where I was assured that this was routine for all premature births. The nurses assured me there was nothing to worry about and the baby looked big and healthy. I headed to where my wife was taken to recover to grab a few winks assuming that everything was fine. Well, when I awoke, I headed back over to the NICU to find that my child was not where I left them. The nurse found me and told me that the baby’s lungs were underdeveloped, and they had to put them in a special room connected to oxygen tubes and wires to monitor their vitals.
It’s difficult to express the fear that overwhelmed me in those moments. Everything turned out okay, but it took a while and I’m convinced to this day that their anxiety struggles spring from these first weeks of life. As our children grew, we learned that two of the three were on the spectrum and that anxiety, depression, ADHD, and OCD were also playing a part in their lives. Parents, at least speaking for myself, can’t help but blame themselves for the struggles their children face. The “if only” questions creep in and easily overcome the voices that assure us that it really has nothing to do with us. In the film, Lenore says, “maybe it’s all the pills I’ve been taking that brought this on.” Frank muses aloud about how he used to think that Frankenstein was the monster, but when he got older realized he was the one that made the monster. The aptly named Frank is wondering if his baby’s mutation is his fault, if he created the monster that is terrorizing Los Angeles. I have made plenty of “if only” statements about myself over the years. “If only I hadn’t had to work so much, if only I had been around more when they were little.” Mothers may ask themselves, “did I have a drink, too much coffee, or a cigarette before I knew I was pregnant? Was I too stressed out during the pregnancy?” In other words, most parents can’t help but wonder if it’s all their fault.
At one point in the film, Frank goes to the elementary school where his baby has been sighted and is escorted through the halls by police. He overhears someone comment about “screwed up genes,” which brings about age-old questions of nature vs. nurture. Despite the voices around him from doctors and detectives that say, “we know this isn’t your fault,” Frank can’t help but think it is, and that the people who try to tell him it isn’t really think it’s his fault too. There is no doubt that there is a hereditary element to the kinds of mental illness struggles that my children and I deal with. But, and it’s a bit but, good parenting goes a long way in helping children deal with these struggles. Kids need to know they’re not alone, a good parent can provide that, perhaps especially parents that can relate to the same kinds of struggles. The question of nature vs. nurture will likely never be entirely answered but I think there’s more than a good chance that “both/and” is the case. Around the midpoint of the film, Frank agrees to disown the child and sign it over for medical experimentation if caught or killed. Lenore and the older son Chris (Daniel Holzman) seek to nurture and teach the baby, feeling that it is not a monster, but a member of the family.
It’s Alive takes these ideas to an even greater degree in the fact that the Davis Baby really is a monster, a mutant with claws and fangs that murders and eats people. The late ’60s and early ’70s also saw the rise in mass murderers and serial killers which heightened the nature vs. nurture debate. Obviously, these people were not literal monsters but human beings that came from human parents, but something had gone horribly wrong. Often the upbringing of these killers clearly led in part to their antisocial behavior, but this isn’t always the case. It’s Alive asks “what if a ‘monster’ comes from a good home?” In this case is it society, environmental factors, or is it the lead, smog, and pesticides? It is almost impossible to know, but the ending of the film underscores an uncomfortable truth—even monsters have parents.
As the film enters its third act, Frank joins the hunt for his child through the Los Angeles sewers and into the L.A. River. He is armed with a rifle and ready to kill on sight, having divorced himself from any relationship to the child. Then Frank finds his baby crying in the sewers and his fatherly instincts take over. With tears in his eyes, he speaks words of comfort and wraps his son in his coat. He holds him close, pats and rocks him, and whispers that everything is going to be okay. People often wonder how the parents of those who perform heinous acts can sit in court, shed tears, and defend them. I think it’s a complex issue. I’m sure that these parents know that their child has done something evil, but that doesn’t change the fact that they are still their baby. Your child is a piece of yourself formed into a whole new human being. Disowning them would be like cutting off a limb, no matter what they may have done. It doesn’t erase an evil act, far from it, but I can understand the pain of a parent in that situation. I think It’s Alive does an exceptional job placing its audience in that situation.
Despite the serious issues and ideas being examined in the film, It’s Alive is far from a dour affair. At heart, it is still a monster movie and filled with a sense of fun and a great deal of pitch-black humor. In one of its more memorable moments, a milkman is sucked into the rear compartment of his truck as red blood mingles with the white milk from smashed bottles leaking out the back of the truck and streaming down the street. Just after Frank agrees to join the hunt for his baby, the film cuts to the back of an ice cream truck with the words “STOP CHILDREN” emblazoned on it. It’s a movie filled with great kills, a mutant baby—created by make-up effects master Rick Baker early in his career, and plenty of action—and all in a PG rated movie! I’m telling you, the ’70s were wild. It just also happens to have some thoughtful ideas behind it as well.
Which was Larry Cohen’s specialty. Cohen made all kinds of movies, but his most enduring have been his horror films and all of them tackle the social issues and fears of the time they were made. God Told Me To (1976), Q: The Winged Serpent (1982), and The Stuff (1985) are all great examples of his socially aware, low-budget, exploitation filmmaking with a brain and It’s Alive certainly fits right in with that group. Cohen would go on to write and direct two sequels, It Lives Again (aka It’s Alive 2) in 1978 and It’s Alive III: Island of the Alive in 1987 and is credited as a co-writer on the 2008 remake. All these films explore the ideas of parental responsibility in light of the various concerns of the times they were made including abortion rights and AIDS.
Fifty years after It’s Alive was initially released, it has only become more relevant in the ensuing years. Fears surrounding parenthood have been with us since the beginning of time but as the years pass the reasons for these fears only seem to become more and more profound. In today’s world the conversation of the fathers in the waiting room could be expanded to hormones and genetic modifications in food, terrorism, climate change, school and other mass shootings, and other threats that were unknown or at least less of a concern fifty years ago. Perhaps the fearmongering conspiracy theories about chemtrails and vaccines would be mentioned as well, though in a more satirical fashion, as fears some expectant parents encounter while endlessly doomscrolling Facebook or Twitter. Speaking for myself, despite the struggles, the fears, and the sadness that sometimes comes with having children, it’s been worth it. The joys ultimately outweigh all of that, but I understand the terror too. Becoming a parent is no easy choice, nor should it be. But as I look back, I can say that I’m glad we made the choice we did.
I wonder if Frank and Lenore can say the same thing.
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