This is the end of vampire TV week. Next week begins movie week. In celebration, I’m forgoing looking at a TV show today and I’m just going to present you with a potpourri of scary vintage movie ads featuring vampires. You can see more of these ads on my other blog Held Over.

First lets see some newspaper ads.

This is a 1952 ad for a revival of the Dracula stage play. This was an adaptation of the Bram Stoker novel that originally ran in 1927 and starred Bela Lugosi. It was this adaptation that Universal remade for the 1931 film in which Bela reprized his stage role as the Count.

This is a 1992 ad for Francis Ford Coppola’s rather indulgent adaptation of the Bram Stoker novel.

This ad is for Love at First Bite starring George Hamilton. It’s a 1979 spoof of Dracula that has the Count getting kicked out of his Transylvanian castle and having to move to America and blend in with the people of 70s New York.

Dracula: Dead and Loving It is a 1995 Dracula spoof by Mel Brooks starring Leslie Nielsen. It, unfortunately, is not as successful in it’s merry making as Brooks’ earlier Young Frankenstein.

And here are some awesome vintage Dracula posters from one of my favorite movie poster websites Wrong Side of the Art.

(Via WrongSideoftheArt.com)
Here’s one of the many posters for the 1931 Universal Dracula movie.

(Via WrongSideoftheArt.com)
This is an entertaining poster for the movie Dracula and Son.  This was a French spoof of the Hammer Dracula movies. It even starred Christopher Lee as Dracula.

(Via WrongSideoftheArt.com)
Dracula vs Frankenstein from 1971. This movie was Lon Chaney’s final appearance. Chaney was the only actor to play the Wolf Man in all of the classic monster movies.

(Via WrongSideoftheArt.com)
I literally just discovered this movie today. From 1974, it’s a Dracula spoof starring David Niven. I love that they riffed off the Young Frankenstein title. Check out the trailer. It’s narrated by Wolfman Jack. How awesome is that? I have to see this movie.

This is a poster for Wes Craven’s take on the Dracula tale.  Gerard Butler,  in one of his earliest roles, played Dracula.  Christopher Plummer played Van Helsing.

(Via WrongSideoftheArt.com)
Also, check out the blog Countdown to Halloween for more Halloween-y, bloggy AWESOMEness.

Everyone remembers Michael Bay’s “Aaron Burr”.  Or the fun “Milk it Does a Body Good” commercials.  Or the ubiquitous “Got Milk?” print ads.  Classic advertising.  I especially like the ones I’m going to show you today. They are all print ads for the “Got Milk?” or “Body by Milk” campaigns and they all feature movie versions of comic book super heroes.  I love explosions of pop geeky culture like this.  I found many of these while thumbing through old magazines I had in my garage.

Please to enjoy.

Batman Begins (2005) and The Dark Knight (2008) – Two of the greatest Batman movies we probably will ever see.  The Dark Knight is great, however, for re-watchability, I pick Batman Begins every time.  I love the sequel, I really do, but when I want to watch a Batman movie I put on Batman Begins.

Superman Returns (2006) - I love Brandon Routh.  However, this movie sucked.  One giant missed opportunity.  The lead was great and the effects were awesome.  But everything else was wrong.

Green Lantern (2010) - This movie ended up exactly like Superman Returns.  The lead was great and the effects were awesome, but everything else was a fumbled missed opportunity.  Kudos for a great looking ad, though.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) – Hugh looks jacked, man (see what I did there?) You know with the hair and beard, if you glance at this ad quickly, he kinda looks like Conan O’Brien.  But, dude, Jackman is totally ripped like a pair of 80s acid wash jeans.

Fantastic Four (2005) – I’m a huge fan of the FF, the comic version. I didn’t hate these movies (like most did), I just thought they weren’t as good as they should have been. Chris Evans was the perfect Torch. Michael Chiklas was a surprisingly good Thing. However, I didn’t like anyone else and that’s a problem in a super hero team movie.  Alba was just flat out TERRIBLE.

Hulk (2003) – Ang Lee’s Hulk. *shakes head* So many problems. Too much story, not enough Hulk.  The Hulk fights a cloud of smoke at the end.  Nick f**king Nolte.  It’s just rife with problems and boringness.  But there are some cool things like Hulk battling the Army while jumping and super running through the desert and, you know, Hulk Dogs.  But, overall, the movie blew.  This ad looks cool though.

You know some super hero milk ads I’d like to see?  Wesley Snipes as Blade.  How perfect would that be?  Or Iron Man?  Or a Christopher Reeve Superman?  Those ads would be great.  I will probably have to Photoshop them in order for them to exist.  And that’s just SAD.  Maybe we’ll get an Avengers group milk ad.  That would rock.

Anyway, check back tomorrow, I think I’m going to look at some of my favorite milk commercials.

It’s the Vincentennial! Vincent Price would be 100 years old this year, so people all over the net are celebrating the films of the godfather of horror. Strange Kids Club has been having Price-centric articles all week. I wrote one about Vincent Price and the origin of the Michael Jackson song Thriller.  Today, I thought I’d continue the celebration with a look at some awesome and vintage movie ads for some of Vincent Price’s films.

Some of these movies are his most popular (The Fly, Masque of the Red Death) and some may surprise you (Beach Party?).  Regardless, they are an awesome bit of marketing and movie history.  So without further ado, here are 10 vintage ads for movies starring Vincent Price.  I’ve put them in chronological order.

The Fly (1958) – One of his most famous. And a suitably creepy movie on its own.

Return of the Fly (1959) – Rushed sequel that can’t really live up.

The Bat (1959) – A serial killer called The Bat terrorizes the residents of a creepy mansion.

Beach Party (1963) – Yes, Vincent Price played Big Daddy in this Annette Funicello-Frankie Avalon beach comedy. I love the art and how busy this ad looks. The ad itself is huge, so click the image to see it FULL SIZE.

Masque of the Red Death (1964) – A Satan worshipping prince provides shelter to his supporters during a plague known as The Red Death. Soon, a very real killer, dressed all in red, is stalking the Prince. Click the image to see it a bit bigger.

Twice Told Tales (1964) – This movie contains three smaller stories based on the writings of Nathanial Hawthorne.

War Gods of the Deep (1965) – I featured this ad on Held Over earlier this year for my underwater disaster series.  The movie title is super bad ass and I love the look of this ad.  The alternative title was City in the Sea, which, honestly, is LAME in comparison to War Gods of the Deep.

House of Wax 3D (1981) – A pretty good horror story about the creepy owner of wax museum. You can also see Charles Bronson in this movie. This would be remade in 2005 with Elisha Cuthbert and Paris Hilton.

The Great Mouse Detective (1986) – Disney’s anamorphic animal take on Sherlock Holmes. Price voices the villain, Professor Ratigan. It’s a classic and definitely worth watching, especially if you are a Holmes fan.

Edward Scissorhands (1990) – In one of his last filmed movie roles, Price plays the Frankenstein-like Inventor to Johnny Depp’s Edward. While he takes his lumps from “The Internet”, for me, Burton is mostly good. I enjoy Batman, Beetlejuice, Ed Wood, Nightmare Before Christmas and Pee Wee’s Big Adventure. I do not enjoy Planet of the Apes, Mars Attacks! or Big Fish. And there are other movies of Burton’s I just enjoy regardless of how good they are.  I do, however, like this movie. It’s not a “sit down and watch at any time” classic like Nightmare Before Christmas or Beetlejuice, but I think it’s a good movie.  Anthony Michael Hall is hilarious as Jim.

Here are some candies, pastries, etc that were re-branded to promote a movie. I’m going to exclude the Star Wars saga from this article because, honestly, I could do a series of articles on Star Wars and food branding.  Images are from my own Flickr stream unless otherwise noted.  See all images BIGGER by clicking on them.

King Kong Hostess pastries – Back in 2005, Hostess did a big promotion for Peter Jackson’s King Kong remake. They added banana to several of their products. In the pics you can see Banana Twinkies as well as Banana Walnut mini muffins. Interestingly enough, Twinkies’ original flavor was, in fact, banana.

(Via Jason Liebig)
Hulk Sour Lime Life-Savers – A Hulk branded Sour Lime flavor promoting the 2003 Ang Lee Hulk movie. I don’t actually remember these at all, I just saw the wrapper pop up on my buddy Jason Liebig’s Flickr stream. Jason states that it may have been a Canadian only product.  I like this much better than I liked Ang Lee’s movie, and I haven’t even tried these.

Hostess Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Pies – From 1991. This was sort of a dual promotion. The packaging used artwork from the cartoon, but it was released around the time of the second live-action movie. You can even see a movie promotion on the packaging.  Matt from X-Entertainment did a great write up of this product.  The pies were green and filled with vanilla pudding.  There were four package designs each featuring a different Ninja Turtle.

(Via Jason Liebig)
Hostess Hulk Cakes – From 2008 to promote the Incredible Hulk reboot with Edward Norton.  These were a Scary Cakes promotion for Halloween that featured green frosting and sprinkles on top.  Hostess also added the Hulk to their regular cup cakes, donuts and Twinkies products, but left the actual cakes unchanged. There was also an Incredible Hulk branded Air Heads candy.

Shrek Twinkies – I think Hostess did this for a few of the Shrek movies, but this particular box is for the last Shrek movie, Forever After. Hostess colored the creme filling green.  Gotta love a promotion that makes the product look like it’s gone rancid.

Hi-C Ecto Cooler – I know, I know, I’m really pushing it with this one. Technically, this promotion is for the Real Ghostbusters cartoon. BUT, that cartoon was based on the live-action movie. Regardless, this flavor has become legendary on its own and I felt it had to be included. Matt from X-Entertainment, again, did a great writeup on Ecto Cooler called the Ecto Cooler Bible. Following Matt’s lead I too searched and found the rebranded Ecto Cooler flavor Shoutin’ Orange Tangergreen and then wrote about it in my Ecto Cooler Redux article.  Surprisingly this flavor stuck around until the early 2000s.

Indiana Jones Snickers and M&Ms – In 2008 M&Ms and Snickers had a big promotion for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. M&Ms put Indy all over their packaging and even released a new flavor, Mint Crisp. Snickers released a new flavor also, Snickers Adventure Bar. It featured “coconut and exotic spices”.  It was a little strange, but overall it didn’t taste bad.

Transformers Snickers and M&Ms – For the second Transformers movie M&Ms had the robots all over their packaging.  There were 7 different M&Ms packages with different robots. See Optimus Prime here and Star Scream here. M&Ms even released a brand new flavor called Strawberried Peanut Butter (which is awesome, btw) that featured “The Twins”, M&M versions of Mudflap and Skids. Snickers promoted Transformers 2 with a Nougabot Bar. It was essentially a Snickers bar with yellow colored nougat.

Twilight candy hearts and gum – The candy hearts were a promotion for the first Twilight movie in 2008. There were three boxes, the picture above is box 1. Box 2 had Edward on it and Box 3 had Bella. The Eclipse gum promotion was for last year’s Twilight Eclipse (get it?).  I’ve spoken about Twilight several times on this blog, see my review of the first movie here.  I review New Moon here and I watch Eclipse here.

I love movies. I love video games. So, obviously, I love video games based on movies. Well, I love the idea of video games based on movies. And this type of corporate synergy has been going on for years. Ever since the enormous popularity of the Atari 2600, both video game companies and Hollywood have tried to capitalize on popular movie brands to boost sales. And it makes for awesome pop culture ephemera.

So here are 14 awesomely vintage ads for video games based on popular movie franchises.

ET (Atari 2600 – 1982) - This is it. The game that felled the house of Atari. Yes, I owned this game and hated every second I played it. I know a lot of people now retroactively say they enjoyed it, but I HATED it.  You can only fall into an empty pit so many times before you throw the controller through the TV screen.  Surprisingly, this game was designed by the same guy that did Yars’ Revenge, the highest selling original Atari game (and one of my all time favorites).  Talk about Jekyll and Hyde.  Seanbaby rated ET #1 on his list of 20 worst video games OF ALL TIME.

Raiders of the Lost Ark (Atari 2600 – 1982) – Around the same time ET was released, Atari also released this game based on the first Indiana Jones movie.  And it’s starring YOU!

Total Recall (NES – 1990) – Video game based on the popular Arnold Schwarzenegger movie, Total Recall.  Seanbaby rated this game #15 on his list of 20 worst video games OF ALL TIME.

Bill & Ted’s Excellent Video Game Adventure (NES – 1991) – Bill & Ted.  It is amazing this movie was as popular as it was.  I mean, the movie spawned a sequel, a cereal, a cartoon show and a live action show at Universal Studios.  And Keanu is even talking about making another one.  Most excellent.  I never played this game but I loved the first movie.

Rambo (NES – 1988) – A side scrolling shoot ‘em up adventure game that very closely resembled the Zelda sequel, The Adventures of Link.

(via oldmanwinters)
Star Wars Arcade (Atari – 1983) – The original vector based Star Wars game by Atari was extremely popular with fans.  So, of course Atari was going to port it to their home consoles.  Here’s an ad for the Atari port of the Star Wars arcade game for the 2600 and 5200.

Ghostbusters (Atari 2600 – 1984) – Normally games go from home consoles to the computer. However Activision went backward and actually ported this Atari 2600 game from the Commodore 64 computer.  It received a very big release on the Atari 2600 with lots of ads and a huge marketing push.

Ghostbusters II (NES – 1990) – Activision also created a game for the Ghostbusters sequel but this time on the Nintendo Entertainment System.  It did just about as well as you would expect a Ghostbusters II game would do.  Also in this ad is The Three Stooges game.  I had that game and it quickly became one of my favorites.  It was so much fun to play.  Miles better than the G2 game.

(via oldmanwinters)
Batman (Atari – 1990) – This ad is for the coin-op arcade game based on the first Tim Burton Batman movie.  It was released by Atari in 1990 and featured digitized images from the movie.

Batman Returns (Atari Lynx – 1992) – Here’s the ad for a video game based on the second Tim Burton Batman movie, Batman Returns.  It was also developed by Atari and released for the hand held Atari Lynx in 1992.

Firefox (Atari – 1983) – Promotional ad for Atari’s coin-op game, Firefox, based on the Clint Eastwood movie of the same name. This game was the only laserdisc based video game Atari developed. See screen shots for the game here.

Back to the Future (Data East – 1990) – This is the ad for the Back to the Future pinball game.  It was released by Data East in 1990 to coincide with the third movie.  I don’t know what the hell they were thinking when they cast the two guys in the ad as Marty and Doc.  WTF?!

(via gregg_koenig)
Texas Chainsaw Massacre/Halloween (Atari 2600 – 1983) – Great ad for two very rare Atari 2600 games based on the movies Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Halloween.  Both released in 1983.  Matt actually did a great writeup of the Halloween game as well as the Texas Chainsaw Massacre game over at X-Entertainment.  He discusses the game play and provides lots of screen shots.

(via goggle5)
Die Hard Arcade (Sega Saturn – 1997) – The Die Hard Arcade game was released in America in 1996.  It was actually just a retooling of the popular Japanese game Dynamite Deka.  The Japanese game had little to do with the Bruce Willis movie but a Sega team, in conjunction with a Japanese development team, modified a few aspects of the game play to resemble the movie.  This particular ad is for the 1997  Sega Saturn version of that arcade game.  Interestingly, the Japanese Dynamite Deka sequel bore a striking resemblance to the movie Speed 2, but was released in America as Dynamite Cop.