Not only is Austin the home of the best BBQ in the world, it is also the glorious home to the best cinema in the world - the Alamo Drafthouse. Alongside South Lamar's Alamo Drafthouse is Mondo. (Also, just a hundred or so metres away are some of the best donuts at Gourdoughs. I actually get a little choked up thinking about Austin it's that great). Mondo is the pillar of brilliance when it comes to film posters. They are the elite of the elite. To purchase a Mondo poster - a drop as it's called - you have to be quick, hope that your internet connection doesn't fail, make sure you're logged in, have all of your rabbits feet and four leaf clovers lined up, and just be downright lucky. These things sell super quick - sometimes within thirty seconds (the wooden True Grit poster was blink and gone) - and the runs are exceptionally limited (most runs have about 300 prints available).
The other way to get a Mondo print is to visit the Mondo store in Austin. You don't get a wide selection, but you do have a choice of a few prints. Usually they're a little damaged, or just ones that didn't sell as super quickly.
So, for the first time possible, I'm going to do my top 10 Mondo posters for 2011.
10. House By The Cemetary - Ok, so most Mondo posters sell out instantly. House By The Cemetary took three weeks to sell out. That's random and slow. Especially given the design of this poster. It's beautiful to look at - the lines are just glorious, the stark blood trail is horrifying, the type is fantastic. It's one of Lucio Fulci's better films - it's not Zombi 2 though.
9. The Invisible Man - there were a few series of posters this year that worked perfectly. Guillermo Del Toro's posters are grand. The Lucio Fulci posters were good. However, the Universal Monsters posters were just sublime. The Invisble Man's poster is another poster which shows how fantastic line work can really transform a brilliant poster. This is simple and stunning with its simplicity. You could almost expect to see this in a movie theatre when The Invisible Man was released.
8. The Mist - I'm a huge fan of Frank Darabont's The Mist. It's a chilling little horror film that has one hell of a sucker punch ending. This poster references that so perfectly, which is what makes the poster so beautiful. The snow flakes the litter the sky with the giant monster in the background. It's daunting, yet beautiful in its supreme-ness. This was one of Mondo's secret screening posters.
7. Hellboy 2: The Golden Army - I love Hellboy 2. It's a great little film that is just crying for a sequel. This poster is fantastic. I'd literally kill to have this poster on my wall. Unfortunately this goes for about $500-$1000 on eBay when/if it ever appears.
6. Jurassic Park - I'm a huge Jurassic Park fan. Massive. The first film shook my childhood immensely. I constantly taunt my wife in saying that I am going to get a Jurassic Park tattoo. She keeps telling me she'll leave me if I do. So, nix that idea. This poster takes one of the weaker moments of the film and turns it into a moment of beauty. Another secret film poster, this one goes for big bucks on eBay.
5. Frankenstein - Drew Struzan is a God amongst film geeks. The guy created some of the finest film artwork ever. Even though I'm not a fan of the Indiana Jones films, his work on their posters is great. So, Struzan doing Mondo? Well, it's gold. This is one of those posters that didn't even get to breath the air of the internet before they were snaffled up. The design of this is beautiful.
4. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre - I would absolutely love to have this poster. It's gory. It IS the Texas Chain Saw Massacre. You can feel the heat of Texas coming off this poster. The amount of detail in it is great. The only downside? The obvious typo of the title - one of the major things about the original film is that it's Chain Saw Massacre, not Chainsaw Massacre. It's not a big thing, but it's something which would have made it that touch better.
3. The Iron Giant (Variant) - Another secret film, and another one that goes for major money on eBay - on average, about $500. Mondo routinely do normal and variant varieties of their posters. Variant's are extremely limited (to usually about 50-75 prints) versions of the normal poster. They may have a different colour scheme, or a different touch. The variant version of The Iron Giant is definitely better than the normal version. It's a poster which any child in the 50's would have loved to have on their wall. Simply beautiful.
2. Gremlins - I love Gremlins. It's a film which I grew up with and can easily close my eyes and remember every moment of it. The sinister mayhem of the film is something which is lacking in kids films nowadays. This is also the only poster that I've managed to get at a drop - and it was gone within two minutes, so I do feel lucky, punk. I could have gotten the variant, but this is better. I love that they put Spike on the poster and not the cute Gizmo. Although I do wish that for Gremlins 2 (which is one of the few duds of the year, alongside the Once Upon A Time posters) they had put Rambo Gizmo on it.
1. Close Encounters of the Third Kind - And this is my first (well, one of my first) Mondo posters. For the record, I also got the Scream poster (which is awesome in itself, and I really should have it on this list, but it's not), a Star Wars poster (Greedo), and Werewolves on Wheels (which is just cool). I think I wet myself when I bought Close Encounters. It's a perfect poster which references the original poster nicely. The design is amazingly detailed. The glow in the dark works so brilliantly - it's not tacky in any way. I still pinch myself that I have this framed. The man who framed it as well is exceptionally jealous.
And that's it... my top 10 Mondo posters of 2011. If you're at all interested, the website to see them is here...
http://www.mondoarchive.com/archive/2011/
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