Awesome Movie Posters from the Underground are Awesome

By on October 16, 2013

Alternative Movie Posters: Film Art from the UndergroundLook, it’s time to face facts; modern day movie posters are unbelievably lame.  Unless you just have a particular fetish for floating heads, you probably recognize that the occasional great movie deserves something better than just a collection of floating heads of the movie’s top-billed cast on its movie poster.  I know I think so, and by the looks of it, Matthew Chojnacki, author of more than one book about this kind of pop media art, thinks so as well.

He is so convinced, in fact, that he scoured the interwebz and put together more than two hundred independently created, unofficial movie posters for his upcoming book Alternative Movie Posters: Film Art from the Underground.  The biggest requirement for inclusion beyond being awesome was no official license from the subject studio—that is, the poster must come from the virtual underground of the internet.  And thanks to the The Verge, we have a few examples of some of the inclusions.

These examples favor some science fiction classics but have more than a few dramas in the mix.  The point is, that if you have not seen any one of these films, then you have a new homework assignment.   Put down your Miley Cyrus-Justin Beiber mash-up and sign up for a quick study on some of the more significant and enjoyable movies of modern times.

Now let’s start it off with Bambi, which understandably looks a lot like The Deer Hunter and understandably so.Alternative Movie Posters: Film Art from the Underground: Taxi Driver

Then we come to Beetlejuice, which does not read like home stereo instructions.  If only you could call in the ghostest with the mostest to fix Tim Burton…Alternative Movie Posters: Film Art from the Underground: Beetlejuice

Do you like the (artificial) owl?  If you can’t stay awake through one viewing of Blade Runner then you are (most) likely an empathy-lacking replicant and in need of retirement.Alternative Movie Posters: Film Art from the Underground: Blade Runner

Chances are that you probably have seen at least one of The Avengers movies, and this poster makes Iron Man look like Master Mold.  Game. Set. Match.Alternative Movie Posters: Film Art from the Underground: Iron Man

Jennifer Connelly matches wits with David Bowie in a Jim Henson-powered near freak-out, make sure you channel your inner child so as to be properly warped by Labyrinth.Alternative Movie Posters: Film Art from the Underground: Labyrinth

Jacque Cousteau has nothing on Steve Zissou, and this is your chance to become a junior member.Alternative Movie Posters: Film Art from the Underground: The Life Aquatic

There is only one concept that knows no language barrier, and that is a dying Murphy turned RoboCop, so make sure that you don’t work for Dick Jones.

Alternative Movie Posters: Film Art from the Underground: RoboCop

About Brian Hoss

As a video game designer, I have worked for years with companies like Activision, Electronic Arts and Zenimax. Naturally, my fascination with technology, the internet, and the age-old social sharing of storytelling has prompted me to indulge writing for The CheckOut. Google BMH

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