Here's something I've never seen before: A UK poster for HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS, complete with dreaded X rating. While "X" was the strictest rating that a legitimate film could receive in Britain, it didn't carry with it the pornographic connotations it quickly developed here in the U.S. British censors were always more strict in regards to violence than sexual content, and HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS is a surprisingly violent film.
The image above was shared by WORLD OF FORD on Flickr, who says this about the two posters:
"Another poster rescued from the ABC cinema on Ferensway in Hull prior to demolition. Several of these posters had been used to line the inside of wooden staff lockers, facing inwards, it was only by chance I noticed them."I've never heard of the other MGM film pictured above, 1970's THE TRAVELING EXECUTIONER. A quick perusal of IMDB and Amazon show it's got a terrific cast, even if the film isn't especially memorable.
X-rated "Dark Shadows"? Sounds like some of the awful fan fics I used to read back in the '80s.
ReplyDeleteI folded back the Traveling Executioner and just framed the HODS side of the poster...very vivid colors...folded it is slightly smaller than a standard one sheet.
ReplyDeleteI really love the art on that poster. It screams HAMMER.
ReplyDeleteOriginally in the U.S., the X rating was intended to designate "adults only" content, but not necessarily graphic depictions of sex. However, the MPAA did not copyright the X rating, as it did with its other ratings, so makers of softcore and hardcore sex films were able to appropriate the X rating without submitting their films to the MPAA. This led to double-X and triple-X ratings and eventually, the X rating became synonymous with hardcore pornography.
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