1980s horror movie poster logos and typography.

Lettering and typography from the pre-Trajan era

HE KNOWS YOURE ALONE (1980)

AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON (1981)

THE FURY OF THE SUCCUBUS (1982)

THE HOUSE ON SORORITY ROW (1983)

HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY (1984)

A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET (1984) This is not from a poster; its the on-screen title of the movie. Designed by Dan Perri.

NIGHT TRAIN TO TERROR (1985)

TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, PART 2 (1986)

RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD (1988)

It amazes me how few movies have an identity. While millions of dollars are spent on the marketing campaign of Hollywood movies, their logos or wordmarks are usually much cheaper: $35 (the price of the Trajan movie font. on MyFonts.com).

Logos/wordmarks like you see above are gradually becoming extinct. Theyre being replaced by Trajan, which has become the go-to font for horror movie posters. As a result, very few movie identities stand out from the crowd. Typography is hardly ever used anymore to express the theme or atmosphere of a movie (exceptions being Saw (2004) or House of the devil (2009) ).

If your movie is frightening, disgusting or gory, why not communicate that with moviegoers? Thats what they did during the 1980s. As a result every movie or franchise had its own unique identity. All the poster designers needed was a pen and ink. Thats even cheaper than $35!

Original post:
1980s horror movie poster logos and typography.

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Reviewed and Recommended by Erik Baquero
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