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I really love looking at old poster designs, and movie posters offer some of the most unique, creative designs! This Halloween, I’ve compiled 50 excellent retro horror movie poster designs to help inspire you.

Almost all of the movie concepts here made me laugh out loud, but I’m sure that you can appreciate the designs, even if you don’t want to go and see ‘Killer Klowns From Outer Space’! .

I’ve also noticed a few techniques employed in creating these posters, which I’ll list here, but may integrate into an upcoming tutorial!

Strong Lighting/Shadows – This technique is used in almost all retro movie posters, particularly for horror movies. Shadows are very intense, with a very high contrast between the highlights and shadows. The illustrations are often bold and high contrast.

Slanted or Irregular Text – Slanting text often implies something being abnormal, interesting or ‘off’ in some way. This is perfect for capturing the atmosphere of horror films. Similarly irregular text can be used for similar effect.

Busy Compositions – Horror movie posters can sometimes be simple and effective. However, particularly more retro horror movie posters often combine multiple elements, headlines and taglines to create a very ‘full’, complex feeling. This fits with the uneasy nature of the films, and almost overwhelms viewers.