'VOLUPTUOUS TERRORS' REVIEWED

VOLUPTUOUS TERRORS: 120 Horror And SF Film Posters From Italy
Editor: Gareth Hugh Janus
Series: Art Of Cinema
Paperback: 128 pages
Publisher: Deicide Press
Publication Date: November 15, 2017
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1840686901
ISBN-13: 978-1840686906
Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 0.5 x 11 inches

Yes, you can find seemingly countless images of these Italian film posters on the 'net, but this book is worth having for two reasons: 1) The image quality is about as good as it can get and is superior to any monitor image, and, 2) Many of the artists who originally painted the posters are identified.

Voluptuous Terrors is aptly named, and it is a beautiful book that showcases some of the most iconic imagery from Italian exploitation cinema. There are 120 poster reproductions collected here; everything from original Italian horror and Giallo productions to Italian versions of US and UK films. Each poster is accompanied by the movie's Italian release title, the original title, English title translations, the film distributor and the artist's name (when known). The colors are vibrant, and the subject matter makes many of them even lurid, but it is this makes them even more striking.

The book is edited by Gareth Hugh Janus, who is listed on Amazon as "the former lead singer and lyricist of the underground rock group Captain Coffin. He lives in Wales, UK, and is a lifelong collector of classic film posters." I didn't see it mentioned anywhere in the book, so one wonders if these are all from his collection.

One caveat, though. If you buy the book thinking that you'll get some history of these posters and their context in Italian Giallo and horror cinema history, you'll be disappointed. It's a bare bones presentation, and being the first volume in "The Art of Cinema" series, the publisher uses the phrase literally. Nevertheless, I am hoping that this indicates an ambitious project and other books in the series are waiting in the queue.

It would be nice to have at least an introductory essay on this bold and exploitative cinema art tradition, but alas, there is nary a page of text, let alone an introduction. However, once you get lost in the incredible work found on each page, you might realize that it easily takes just as much time as reading any book full of print.

Voluptuous Terrors back cover.