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Iconic horror movie posters lovingly recreated in felt

October 31st, 2019 by Marc Comments

“In space no one can hear you stitch”

Every big budget blockbuster requires an iconic poster to capture the essence of the movie, pique your interest, but not give too much away. Some of the most recognisable movie posters have featured work from the world’s greatest illustrators and designers, such as Saul Bass, culminating in a piece of art that is often as iconic as the movie itself.

But what if you took away the big budget, all the CGI and photoshopping, and brought it right back to basics with a bit of simple crafting? Would it still be possible to capture the essence of the movie in a medium as quaint as ‘felt’? And  what if those movies were horror movies? I guess you’re about to find out…

Alien

Original poster credit: Steve Frankfurt & Philip Gips

Often touted as “the perfect movie poster” the image conveys all the atmosphere of the movie, with something as simple and innocent of an egg. Okay, an alien egg… but still…

I imagine a felt “facehugger” might be more cuddly, though.

A Clockwork Orange

Original poster credit: Philip Castle

The original poster for Kubrick’s classic thriller, is an airbrushed masterpiece of the pre-digital world. The artist, Philip Castle, famously stated that Photoshop had “put [him] out of work!”, and yet the poster and its iconography has endured as one of the most recognisable of all time. 

Jaws

Original poster credit: Roger Kastel

Originally painted for the novel’s cover, the artist used stuffed sharks in a museum as reference and paid a model $35 to simulate a swimming motion as she lay across two stools. In spite of the homemade approach, the end result was so visually arresting the filmmakers used it for the movie poster too.

We used buttons for eyes… 🙂 

Jurassic Park

Original poster credit: Sandy Collora

The story behind the Jurassic Park poster is one filled with both secrecy and hype. To capitalise on the excitement, Spielberg demanded that none of the promotional material were to include any of the  movie’s dinosaurs. The result is remarkably minimalist, and as iconic as the dinosaurs themselves.

The Shining

Original poster credit: Saul Bass

Saul Bass is regularly credited with designing some of the best movie posters of all time, so it comes as some surprise that Stanley Kubrick rejected most of his early ideas for The Shining. Eventually, Bass’s heavy stippling and clever use of negative space won him over.

The Silence of the Lambs

Original poster credit: Dawn Baillie

Even within the horror genre, there aren’t many posters as haunting as that of The Silence of the Lambs. The contrast between Jodie Foster’s pale face against the blood red and darkness of the Death’s-head hawkmoth really evoke the paralysis that only true terror can induce. 

The Terminator

If ever there was a movie poster that defined the action genre of the 1980s it’s the one for The Terminator. It’s all there: the lasers, the gun, the sunglasses… the overt masculinity – they all scream the eighties. Recreating such a brutalist piece of art with felt was certainly a challenge. Not so tough now, are we Arnie?

Source: The Mill Shop

Marc is a self-confessed nerd. Ever since seeing Star Wars for the first time around 1979 he’s been an unapologetic fan of the Wars and still believes, with Clone Wars and now Underworld, we are yet to see the best Star Wars. He’s a dad of two who now doesn’t have the time (or money) to collect the amount of toys, comics, movies and books he once did, much to the relief of his long-suffering wife. In the real world he’s a graphic designer. He started Following the Nerd because he was tired of searching a million sites every day for all the best news that he loves and decided to create one place where you can go to get the whole lot. Secretly he longs to be sitting in the cockpit of his YT-1300 Corellian Transport ship with his co-pilot Chewie, roaming the universe, waiting for his next big adventure, but feels just at home watching cartoons with his kids….