Cool Variety ads circa 1982-83

Okay, I'm a big movie geek (surprise!) and love seeing old ads from back in the day. Recently I got my hands on some early 80s issues of Variety and couldn't believe the treasures found inside. Naturally, I'll have to share with my fellow Mobians. Here is what I snapped so far before my camera's battery died.

CONAN THE BARBARIAN was a huge hit in 1982, so naturally the ripoffs flew into production:





Notice how big Fulci's name is:



A Cannon gallery (or how to bring a tear to Marty McKee's eye).

The Bronson artwork looks like it was ripped off the artist's desk half done:







THE GRADUATES OF MALIBU HIGH (nice art!) eventually became YOUNG WARRIORS


And some more films that got retitled:

TRICK OR TREAT became ROCKTOBER BLOOD



SLAY RIDE turned into SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT



WINNER BEST ADVANCE ARTWORK EVER!!!

And now for something extremely rare - the 1983 issue had a 6 page spread for Laurel Entertainment, Inc. Among the usual suspects like an adaptation of Stephen King's THE STAND and DAY OF THE DEAD (same artwork as the poster) is an add for a mysterious Romero movie co-presented by Marvel Comics. It is shrouded in mystery and promises "the creation of the hero of the century." Anyone know what this was supposed to be?



And now to get super geeky on you! Also in this section is an advertisement for George A. Romero's FRANKENSTEIN! Now I am a Romero nerd and keep track of the stuff he was attached to but never made and this is the first time I have ever heard of this. So Romero tried to give the ol' Frankenstein story a crack like Argento did in the 70s. Pretty amazing, eh?



EDIT: Further digging online shows that the first image was for Romero's COPPERHEAD project that never got off the ground. More info here:

http://www.boblayton.com/Archive/October%2...t05.artfind.htm

This post has been edited by William S. Wilson on Nov 30 2008, 02:25 PM

That is great stuff. I used to have some 1989-90 issues of Variety that I thoughtlessly left in a box in my parents' basement and my mother ended up tossing them years after I moved out.

I remember the issues I had showcasing a lot of filmed and unfilmed projects from Vestron Pictures and (mostly) from Menahem Golan's short-lived post-Cannon outfit 21st Century Film Corporation: stuff like Albert Pyun's CAPTAIN AMERICA, Luigi Cozzi's THE BLACK CAT, Fred Williamson's THREE DAYS TO A KILL (only that wasn't the title in the Variety ad), the Michael Caine-Roger Moore BULLSEYE!, the never-filmed (or at least never-completed) TERROR IN MANHATTAN, a follow-up to the Robert Englund PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, and many others that escape me. Seriously, Variety from 1989-90 seemed like little more than a Menahem Golan/Harry Alan Towers press kit.

I had all of those but, sadly, threw most away during a bout with stupidity.

However, I did save the announcement for the NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD remake. Note the ad at the bottom announcing "1990 - The year of SPIDER-MAN" on there (when 21rst Century had Albert Pyun as the director).

Oh man, these are great. I seem to remember a full page SPIDER-MAN, as well as a SHE-HULK from a Cannes issue that featured the photo below.

I sorta remember that SHE-HULK ad. Wasn't that Bridgette Nielsen in that?

Another thing I am a sucker for are movies that got announced but never got made. Here are a couple.

21st Century teased us with this promise in 1991:



Ovidio Assonitis did the same with this; looks like he was gonna direct too:

Do any of these Varietys happen to tell us who is going to play Sammy in CHIEF ZABU?

Speaking of Romero, I remember an ad in one of the trades for a Romero horror project called "APARTMENT LIVING" which was about an apartment that's alive, duh! That was later 80s, though.

I also remember Variety ads for Romero's SHOO-BE-DOO-BE-MOON back in the late '70s/early '80s.

HA! A man after my own heart as I've often wondered what the hell this ad meant. I think it is some kind of CIA code.

Didn't TERROR IN MANHATTAN with Robert Englund eventually morph into DANSE MACABRE, once 21st Century got a sweetheart deal on filming in Russia?

Yeah. Greydon Clark was the announced director of TERROR IN MANHATTAN, and ended up doing DANSE MACABRE.

It was made even more infamous after being referenced on MST3K.

http://www.allmovie.com/cg/avg.dll?p=avg&sql=1:119444

http://www.film.com/movies/chief-zabu/14692709

Besides Zack Norman as "Sammy," also starring Allen Garfield, Allan Arbus, Manu Tupou, Lucianne Buchanan, Ed Lauter, Marianna Hill, Shirley Stoller, Joseph Warren, Ferdinand Mayne

Directed by "B.L. STRYKER" and "MANN & MACHINE" creator Neil Cohen.

Reportedly released by IFM in 1989

And don't forget that before this, Zack Norman was "Terrance Hackley" in MOONBEAM!

I've been looking for a copy of SHE for YEARS. Is it as bad as everyone has said?

Here is another "never made it to film" ad for you. Lately it seems all Ruggero Deodato can do is try to get a new cannibal flick off the ground. Well, he's been trying for 25 years! Here is the ad announcing the production of CANNIBAL FURY. It never got made and he ended up giving us RAIDERS OF ATLANTIS in 1983 (God bless him!). Perhaps this morphed into CUT AND RUN, which shot in 84 and came out in 85 but featured minimal cannibals?

"Some extra-terrestrials aren't friendly."

And some are a bit too friendly.

That XTRO ad is really jaw dropping in its bizarre audacity - did they really think this would sell tix? Maybe it would've but sheesh...

I wonder how they presented the concept to the illustrator? I mean, I bet he (I doubt the person who did the artwork for this was a woman) didn't get many dates while drawing this or maybe he just threw a shroud over it when bringing dates home...or, if married - how'd he explain it to his wife?

Going the Italian exploitation route tonight.

2020 TEXAS GLADIATORS with a bit more emphasis on the Texas portion:



Fernando Di Leo's THE VIOLENT BREED, which promises an "international cast" which ended up basically being Henry Silva:



THE FINAL EXECUTOR, again with Filman promising an "international cast" which ended up being Woody Strode; notice Anthony Dawson (Antonio Margheriti) was also announced as director while Romolo Guerrieri actually directed it.



Finally, some racy artwork for Bruno Mattei's SCALPS. I'll just post a link as I don't want to get anyone in trouble. Definitely NSFW!

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v638/uda...nt=100_0927.jpg

The "international cast" of THE VIOLENT BREED "basically ended up being Henry Silva"? You forget Woody Strode? I thought we knew you.

Man, that's great stuff. THE FINAL EXECUTOR ended up being called THE FINAL EXECUTIONER. I wonder what Margheriti would've brought to that. Probably commandos.

I wonder who top-billed "David Green" is in 2020: TEXAS GLADIATORS. We know "Kevin Mancuso" is actually both Joe D'Amato and George Eastman. Along with Harrison Muller, the Texas Gladiators ended up being Al Cliver, Peter Hooten, the great Al Yamanouchi, and the instantly-forgotten Daniel Stephen.