Plague of the Zombies
L'Invasion des Morts-Vivants
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| Poster Origin : | France |
| Poster Size : | French Affiche / 60 x 80cm |
| Poster Year : | 1972 |
| Poster Version : | Re-Release |
| Poster Printer: | Lalande Courbet, FR |
| Film Origin : | United Kingdom |
| Film Director : | John Gilling |
| Film Year : | 1966 |
A satisfying poster favouring simplicity and style over sensationalism. The B-Movie typeface is a tad trite perhaps, but it is well-balanced, applied with tact and eminently suitable. The image too is sufficiently disturbing; we are denied any reassurance in the expressive eyes of the living, and faced with the empty, penetrating stare of the living-dead.
The humble colour transition from top to bottom is what really elevates this design, though I suspect it is probably a happy accident. The mechanical halftone gradient, a ubiquitous and prosaic design component in this pre-digital period, is so ordinary it seems inconsequential, but subliminally it seems to epitomise the inescapable inevitability of the plague - the serene, earthly aqua colour is being consumed gradually and incessantly by the rancid yellow tones of decay and putrefaction, smothering it from above.
That’s my interpretation, and whether it was intentional or not, it really succeeds.