Alternative Movie Posters: Film Art from the Underground

So many of the posters and ad campaigns for modern film are boring and uninspired, designed by committee and lacking any heart, soul or art. But there is a fascinating response to this bland design in film art, and in his new book Matthew Chojnacki explores this phenomena. Alternative Movie Posters: Film Art from the Underground dives into the limited run screen prints, glycees and digital prints created for revival and festival screenings of movies that have been cropping up over the last decade. There’s been a movement to bring the intimacy and limited edition of band gig posters to the film world where thousands of artists celebrate screenings with interesting conceptual designs. For those of us that don’t want to do battle with the shopping cart at Mondo (trying to land a copy of their popular, insanely fast selling screen prints), or who can’t afford to keep up with all of the amazing artwork with these alternative posters, Chojnacki’s book is a great archive highlighting the work of over a hundred different artists from all over the world. Much like he did with his previous book, Put the Needle on the Record, he really does an amazing job curating this collection of independent artwork. Whether it’s double page spreads highlighting a specific artist or using these opposing pages to compare and contrast between artists, focusing on a particular style, medium, or similar concepts, there was a lot of care put in the arrangement of the designs. There are over 200 posters spanning the gamut of the past 80 years of film, from stark expressionistic takes on M through to unbelievably creative spatial collages for The Dark Knight Rises. For lovers of film and design Chojnacki’s Alternative Movie Posters is a welcome raft in the sea of uninspired corporate design. Not every piece of artwork in the book will win you over, but all of them go a long way to recapturing a time when studios actually seemed to care about producing and commissioning true works of film inspired art. Each work is accompanied by artist commentary including poster specific inspiration, the art, films and other artists that influence their work, as well as what they use to create and their thoughts on film. The book also annotates each piece with biographical info and how to contact the artists to find further work or commission some of your own. Though the book doesn’t focus on any specific genre or era of film, for children of the 80s there is a lot of work focusing on the films we grew up loving. Tron, Robocop, The Dark Crystal, Gremlins, Goonies, Labyrinth, The Burbs, The Lost Boys, Ghostbusters, Beetlejuice, Big and a ton more… I also love that Chojnacki didn’t limit himself to work being released in America, the roster of artists is truly international and an interesting mix of well known and up and coming designers. I was just as excited to spot artwork from folks I recognize like Joe Simko, Tim Doyle and Jason Edmiston, as I was to be introduced to folks like Gary Pullin (contributing outstanding Teen Wolf and Street Trash posters), Laurie Shipley (with a great Revenge of the Cheerleaders piece), Rocco Malatesta (with a great eye for minimalism and spacial conceptualization in his Raging Bull piece) , and Ryan Luckoo (who did a phenomenal job with the Dark Knight Rises.) If you have a film buff, artist, or designer on your Christmas list this year, do yourself a favor and pick up Matthew Chojnacki’s Alternative Movie Posters: Film Art From the Underground (and while you’re at it, pick up a copy of Put the Needle on the Record too.) You won’t be sorry you did!

Awesome illustrations.

Bravo to author Matt Chojnacki who followed up his first book "Put the Needle on the Record" with this wonderful collection of original underground movie poster artwork! There's a great variety of homages to mainstream titles like Die Hard, Ghostbusters, and Alien mixed with some fun titles I've never heard of before that make me want to check them out online. I also love the quality of the book. The page stock is premium and the colors are very vibrant making it a pleasure to take in with each turn of the page. Plus, the back story on each poster gives you just enough to get an idea of what each artist tried to portray. Matt gives these artists a platform to audiences who may not immediately be familiar with this kind of art as well as to those who have enjoyed it for years! This is a great gift for the hard to buy pop-culture fan who loves movies and wants something unique in his/her collection. A wonderful book you'll want to check out!

I got this book for my film buff boyfriend for Christmas and it was PERFECT! He loves all kinds of movies from obscure films, to artsy foreign features, to big blockbusters, and this book has everything! The book also has awesome little information boxes that go with each poster discussing facts and details about the author and the mediums used to create the posters. We use it as a coffee table book and all my friends have opened it at some point and spent time ogling the pictures. A must have for any film lover!!

This is a superb collection to pour over slowly. Great art and inspiration on every page. I like to reference this book as an idea generator. It’s a fantastic collection to keep near your work table

My wife and I love this book. Very interesting takes on some of the best movies of the last half century. Some of the posters are even available online. Hope to have some of these posters in my man cave some day!

I'm in love with the alternative poster hobby. This book is a great compilation of many that are actually in print, and those that were just mere ideas created for fun. Can't wait for the next edition.

I purchased it as a gift for my 20 year old son. He is an art major. After he opened his present he was thrilled to have it and told me that it was really cool!

Es un gran compendio de posters alternativos, lo único malo es que te quedas con ganas de más libros similares. Algo que me gustó bastante son las reseñas de los ilustradores y su formación.

Bought as Christmas gift - looks good. Quick delivery.

Great book already picked up two posters listed in it

Cool coffee table book for any movie poster enthusiast. Great source of inspiration for graphic designers and illustrators.

Product received promptly and as described.