Bitter Cinema

Bitter Cinema on Tumblr

A sister site, if you will… a bit easier to update and post for the time being. This particular site is not dead by a long shot, but longer form thrills and chills may not be on hand for the foreseeable future, and even then, the subject matter and main thrust of the site may be something completely different than what’s been here for more than eight years. We shall see, won’t we?

But, if you’ve liked the grab-bag aesthetic of pics, movie posters, odd juxtapositions, check out http://bittercinema.tumblr.com. Maybe you’ll even like some of it…

Ad Mats!

A lost art form (if I may be permitted the stretch the definition of “art form”), the trashy newspaper ad mat found in the backpages of your local fishwrap probably figured in more last minute movie decisions than marquees or four-color posters, at least in the smaller towns and rural areas especially serviced by drive-ins. Excellent examples of these can be found at the ad mat collection of the The Deuce. More vintage newspaper movie ads (albeit not so trashy) can be found at Emulsion Compulsion (including one for Birth of a Nation.

Of course, ad mats are not a strictly American phenomenon. AV Maniacs has a series of Argentine exploitation ads from the mid 80s.

Newspaper Movie Ad Archive

Ah, those halcyon days when drive-ins ruled the earth! Wanna see some sleazy halftone movie admats from the ’60s and ’70s? Check out the Newspaper Movie Ad Archive, compiled from newspaper ads from the Albany, NY, and Raleigh, NC, areas. Lots of retro fun stuff, like this (Ingmar Bergman at the drive-in!), this (“Absolutely No Children Admitted…”), and this (“In Person: Dracula!”)!