LET\u2019S say you\u2019re more \u201cHalloween\u201d than Halloween. You love scary movies, but the actual holiday makes you want to punch a drunken Dracula in the plastic fangs. You\u2019d much rather turn off the lights, ignore the trick-or-treaters at the door, dig your nails into the couch and enjoy a good (or bad-good) horror movie at home. But first you must sort through the fright-flick detritus.<\/p>\n
For guidance, I asked the authors of three newly released books about horror movies and poster design to make recommendations for a perfect stay-at-home Halloween film festival. Each author selected a single under-the-radar favorite mentioned in his book. (Forget \u201cPsycho\u201d or \u201cFriday the 13th.\u201d) Additional criteria were that the film have dynamic artwork and be available on DVD. Together, the selections constitute a lowbrow triple feature that\u2019s likely to provoke more giggles than screams.<\/p>\n
KILLER KLOWNS FROM OUTER SPACE (1988)<\/p>\n
From \u2018Alternative Movie Posters: Film Art From the Underground\u2019 (Schiffer)<\/p>\n
By Matthew Chojnacki<\/p>\n
This horror-comedy hybrid about clown-aliens who harvest humans for food is a good choice for fans of \u201cbig hair and bad sweaters,\u201d said Mr. Chojnacki, whose book is a collection of fan-designed posters for their favorite horror, sci-fi and underground films. In the movie, directed by Stephen Chiodo, victims are hunted with balloon animals, shot with popcorn and tapped for blood with Krazy Straws. This poster was created by Joe Simko, a designer of the popular Garbage Pail Kids and Wacky Packages trading cards.<\/p>\n
ATTACK OF THE CRAB MONSTERS (1957)<\/p>\n
From \u2018Crab Monsters, Teenage Cavemen and Candy Stripe Nurses: Roger Corman: King of the B Movie\u2019 (Abrams)<\/p>\n
By Chris Nashawaty<\/p>\n
This atomic age tale, from the renegade B-movie director Roger Corman, is about a crew of scientists (one is played by Russell Johnson, the professor from \u201cGilligan\u2019s Island\u201d) who encounter giant, man-eating crustaceans on an island in the South Pacific. Designed by Albert Kallis, the poster features an attack-by-claw scene that isn\u2019t in the movie.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love the blocky font, the patently phony-looking crab monster and the hint of sex,\u201d said Mr. Nashawaty, whose book is a decades-spanning look at Mr. Corman\u2019s babes-and-behemoths body of work. (He received an honorary Academy Award in 2009.)<\/p>\n
BURIAL GROUND (A K A THE NIGHTS OF TERROR) (1981)<\/p>\n
From \u2018Bleeding Skull! A 1980s Trash-Horror Odyssey\u2019 (Headpress)<\/p>\n
By Joseph A. Ziemba and Dan Budnik<\/p>\n
Andrea Bianchi\u2019s Italian grindhouse film about an invasion of flesh-ripping zombies is perfect \u201cfor throwing a degenerate Halloween party,\u201d said Mr. Ziemba, whose book features low-budget artwork from the seedier years in the golden age of VHS. Mr. Ziemba is offering high praise when he describes the poster design as coming from unknown \u201csicko geniuses\u201d whose work \u201csuggests a subversive fairy tale land where artists couldn\u2019t care less about making things look good.\u201d