If you picked up the latest issue of Rue Morgue (#103), then hopefully you checked out editor Dave Alexander’s Note From Underground column which effectively laments the lost art of the horror movie poster.  The modern trend of “floating head” style horror posters does indeed fly in the face of the superior painted ones of days gone by.  Agreeing with him wholeheartedly, I thought it might be appropriate to showcase a few of the old Bigfoot-related movie posters and examine a few newer posters which have – you guessed it – the dreaded floating heads!

Admittedly, within the small confines of the cryptozoo horror sub-genre there haven’t been too many great classics in the way of posters.  But if you like such mythic monsters, then there are a few old ones that have some cool artwork.

We’ll start off with the very first movie that featured Bigfoot by name.  (There were movies prior to this featuring his snow-haired cousin, the Yeti, but this is the first to utilize the name “Bigfoot.”)  Simply titled Bigfoot, the movie was far more horrible than the thought of meeting an 8-foot man-ape in the woods.  But the movie poster managed to whip up an exciting image reminiscent of the biker and beast films of the early ‘70s.

As far as creepiness, the poster for The Legend of Boggy Creek (1972) does come much closer.  It’s a simple, but effective approach, not promising more than the movie could actually deliver.  These can still be found on eBay quite frequently.

1976 brought a new entry into the Sasquatch genre called The Creature From Black Lake.  It was an obvious attempt to cash in on the hair-raising success of The Legend of Boggy Creek, and the poster reflects that.  But regardless it’s a nicely painted horror poster that could add some pizazz to any home décor if you are lucky enough to find one.

The two wretched sequels that followed The Legend of Boggy Creek years later were nowhere near as cool as the original, but still they offered painted posters.

Bigfoot took considerable time off from his acting career throughout much of the 1980’s and 1990’s with only a few entries.  But by 2000, he was back on track with a slew of beastly features.  Like the movies themselves, the posters dropped a few notches as they abandoned the classic painted sort for the modern digital sort.  A few of these began to use the floating head style.  In one case, Bigfoot’s head is the only thing floating on the poster!

The floating head motif will seemingly continue as shown by the poster art for the upcoming Boggy Creek (to be released later this year) featuring the upper bodies of some rather buff cast members.

However, much to their credit they do offer an alternate version which does not have a single floating head.  In this one, ironically, the human is blurry and the ‘squatch is in focus.  Perhaps some trends are starting to change!

HAVE A CRYPTO DAY!