The horror anthology Tales of Halloween boasts contributions from a small army of well-regarded genre directors, an even larger number of terror veterans in its cast, and opening theme music from Bullitt and Dirty Harry composer Lalo Schifrin. What else do you need to entice you to check out the movie, the brainchild of writer-director Axelle Carolyn, which Epic Pictures is releasing in theaters and on VOD, Oct. 16? How about a film poster by Drew Struzan, the legendary artist whose work played such a seminal role in the marketing campaigns of the Star Wars, Back to the Future, and Indiana Jones movies, to name but a very, very few?
You can see that new Struzan poster above. And, below, you can read a statement from The Descent filmmaker Neil Marshall — who directs one of the 10 interconnected Tales of Halloween segments — in which he explains how Struzan came to produce the image (turns out it doesn’t hurt to cast him in your movie).
To film geeks and movie poster collectors such as myself, Drew Struzan represents something that often seems to have been lost in recent years; the ART of movie poster design. The ability of someone to capture the essence of a movie in a single painted image and create a genuine work of art you’d be proud to hang on your wall. So it’s an unbelievable privilege for our little film to be blessed by one of Drew’s beautiful paintings. It was incredible enough to have Drew play his first ever cameo (along with his son Christian) in my segment of Tales of Halloween. The poster itself came about when Axelle (Carolyn, my wife and also creator, producer and fellow director of the movie) plucked up the courage to ask him over dinner one night. I suspect though, since Drew is such a thoughtful and generous person, that he might have been upset if we hadn’t asked him. Either way, we’re honoured to have Drew’s incredible artwork grace our movie, and I for one will be making space on my wall for this beautiful poster.
Struzan and several of the Tales of Halloween directors and cast members will be signing copies of the poster at Dark Delicacies bookshop in Burbank, California, on Oct. 10 at 6 p.m.
Check out the Tales of Halloween trailer, below.