What is erotic art?

What makes art erotic?
It’s far too tempting to give you the standard answer for all things art:
“I can’t explain it, but I sure can tell it when I see it!”

A clever tagline can sometimes be enough to do the trick, it certainly works for this poster for The Company of Wolves (which, btw, became The Time of the Wolves in German):
“More than a fairy tale.
Wilder than a dream.
The end of your innocence.”
That line gives the look on her face a completely different meaning.

As the poster artwork for Women’s Prison/Camp movies goes, this one has to be called downright tasteful in its execution. I’d have to be a liar to say that I don’t like it. It’s well drawn, eventhough the artist was no Olivia De Berardinis that’s for sure, if somewhat too much in your face to still count as erotic in my book.
And as taglines go, the one used for this borders on being comedic genius:
“Here the theatre becomes a torture chamber”
I can feel you, I saw No save haven with Wings Hauser, and before the end I was willing to confess anything just to make it stop.

A suggestive pose, if there’s anything that embodies the nature of erotic art than it has to be this. And speaking of embodiment, who better to illustrate it than Brigitte Bardot, Europe’s collective dream girl. There’s an unspoken promise to the way she’s posed on the poster to En cas de malheur, and it certainly brings us closest to the answer of our opening question.
What makes erotic art, what is it about?
It’s not about what is shown, but what we believe to be shown.




We see, erotic tension is created by association.
Or would you say that Martin Sheen ever looked remotely as sexy as the virtual Angelina Jolie does on this Beowulf advance?

Erotic art?

I didn't expect to find myself talking about Irreversible, but finding the poster in a Top 100 Erotic Movie Posters list worried me. Now, one could put this down to the author of that list having had only a limited overview of posters, but circumstances indicate differently. Another possibility would be a personal preference for Monica Belluci, but the low ranking of Malèna seems to dispel that idea, too.

Maybe it's just my inability to see the art for Irreversible detached from the movie it belongs to, and its story, that clouds my judgment; maybe, this is not meant to illustrate human vulnerability; maybe it belongs in erotic art … but my gut feeling begs to differ.
Personally, I very much prefer Malèna, a poster that is deserving its spot in a Erotic Movie Posters list.

Legend of Hell-House

I love this movie, it counts for me among the better haunted house tales.
Not as great a movie or story as The Haunting of Hill House, but pretty decent und scary to young ol’ me. And if it wasn’t for that silly ectoplasm scene I would like it just that bit more.
Ah well, but the actors deliver fine performances and make even some of the more cheesy lines sound solid, it is a all-round serious horror movie.

That brings us to the poster.
I’ll be darned if I knew what exactly the illustrator was aiming at with that, maybe he saw a different version of the movie, not sure. My first thought was that might have been shooting for something akin to The House on Skull Mountain which is the younger of the two, so … the question remains unanswered. I mean I like that poster, that’s not in question, it just looks a bit like a spoof to me, it’s the olive as eye I’d say. Could it be that he tries to say in a very subtle manner that "this movie will leave you shaken, but not stirred"?

Never saw House on Skull Mountain, btw,
but that poster sure looks great!

Art comparison

"Fahre Memphis!" (German only)

Classic Elegance.

More than just inspired by.
This video poster for "Twilight Mystery" (German title of Made-for-TV Thriller "Fourth Story") came out around the same time as "La Femme Nikita", it resembles the poster for Nikita so closely (right down to the use of primary colours) that I should have put it in a copycat post rather.

Happy New Year?

What could better illustrate the ongoing suffering of women all over the world, than this image of a anonymous young girl, robbed of her identity.

The world won't change anytime soon, so happy new year?
I don't think so...

Contact Year

'tis gonna be the year we make contact.
Woot, woot!

Year's end post

Final post for this year; I tend to believe one should end the year always on a positive note, much as possible, so here there to lift up your spirits:

I couldn't think of a more positive way to end the year than with a smile, like the one this poster gives me. A bonbon coloured, chick-lit style poster, the Bridet Jones's Diaries for Vampire fans one might say, what's not to like about that?

Love it, love it, love it...


Oh, and by the way:

Have a Happy New Year!

Sex sold

I hear constant complaints about how oversexualized our society has become, how, in these days, it is found everywhere, and used to sell everything ... 'cept for movies, they don't make posters for those the way they used to anymore.

Still Christmas

...even though you couldn't tell by simply looking outside.
Where's all that snow gone?

Ah, well, think of the somebody you love and show some respect to the others during the festive season.








And remember, no matter how cute they look, live animals do make bad presents!

Deck the halls with boughs of gory

Oh the weather outside is frightful...

It's Christmas and that means we have to give the requisite acknowledging nod to Silent Night, Deadly Night, although I remember that movie as being remarkable only for two things:
It proves that there's nothing to boost a movie's renown like a angry mob.
It stars Linnea Quigley.

There might have been more to it, but I'll be damned if I could remember ... I really should use the festive days to revisit it.
I do like the poster art, which with its plain, somewhat cheesy looking, cardboard feel actually manages to nicely sum up a further quality of the movie: it was shot on a budget.
Back in the 80's that meant no stupid CG effects, oh how I wish we could go back...

Silent Night, Deadly Night has also become such a many used tagline that it long since stopped to be funny, and yet we still find it in as late as 2006 on the German poster for the remake of Black Christmas; I guess we can't really expect much originality from a remake, though, and it beats the silliness of the original tag:
If this picture doesn't make your skin crawl...it's on TOO TIGHT.
Oh my...



















Nostalgic Christmas wishes from the Corner.