Worst DVD Covers...ever! (Part 4K)

[colinr0380]

what the hell bfi

"La Daughter...l'Eternity...le nouveau parfum de Joanna 'ogg"

Makes sense since she has a lot of beaches in her films.

[A Tempted Christ]

[kekid]

Is this going to include the longer version of the film?

[therewillbeblus]

There should be a way to get the disc out without taking off that slipcover - I never want to see that case image again (which is ironically the polarized Trash to Bergman's own stapled Art of overlapping faces)

[swo17]

Looks a lot like

Is this going to include the longer version of the film?

See here

[domino harvey]

That’s exactly the same cover I thought of when I saw it!

[Blip Martindale]

[Big Ben]

It looks like a cover someone would have made for a shitpost. Jesus.

[soundchaser]

It looks like a cover someone would have made for a shitpost. Jesus.

My first instinct was “an overly literal interpretation of the title? that’s an r/criterion cover if ever I’ve seen one.”

[TechnicolorAcid]

This genuinely looks a poster for a 1970s comedy about Elliot Gould as a big game hunter who gets wrongfully accused of a bank robbery and has to go on the run while doing pursued by a police captain and his band of kooky officers. Not a 1970s Best Picture winner about Vietnam War survivors with PTSD.

[TechnicolorAcid]

It looks like a cover someone would have made for a shitpost. Jesus.

My first instinct was “an overly literal interpretation of the title? that’s an r/criterion cover if ever I’ve seen one.”

This I feel like is the biggest problems with DVD cover art like this one specifically, I really like this comment I found because it so aptly explains why this cover doesn't work.

I like the aesthetic on a lot of those but Criterion generally makes a point of matching the cover aesthetic with the tone of the movie and that’s not really the case in a good number of these.

Sure you could make the argument that at least it's not horribly color graded, it peeks your interest in the worst way possible, and you can sort of feel there is at least some intent with this. But, it doesn't feel like it understands what this film is about, like the designer just heard about the key details, refused to actually see the film and go from there. There's an old DVD cover that also includes a deer and while it's not that well done (this is like the early days so very few were), the striking silhouette not only draws you in but subtly gives you an understanding of the tone, like a memory that encircles the characters. It's actually pretty good and I just wished this one would've try a bit harder. I get the intent but like it's just goofy. Designer properly had fun though so good on them I guess.

[brundlefly]

Proven marketing technique. Buy a steelbook, save a life.

[TechnicolorAcid]

Ah yes this all makes more sense now. I guess they really did get me heh.

[colinr0380]

Oh deer.

The main thing that comes to mind is that deer vs hunter fight from Gary Larson's Tales From the Far Side series (Someone really needs to get that back out on disc!)

[Blip Martindale]

So much modern movie art suffers from, as said above, a knuckleheaded literalness, add to that the need to reduce every image to simple silhouettes and flat colors that pop on mobile devices, and the result is a perfect storm of utter aesthetic failure, images that invite no interpretation, no involvement, no poetry, not even the most basic aspect of art: sensuality.

There is a way to use the words of a title to prompt a creative, compelling illustration. Many paperback artists (especially in the mystery and crime genres) from the 40s - 70s did so all the time.

Examples:















And so on

[domino harvey]

[TechnicolorAcid]

It would have been so much funnier if it was splashes of white instead of whatever is going on with the paint splashes here, kinda looks like shit stains. However to the rest of the cover’s defense, without those splashes it is actually quite good.

[TechnicolorAcid]

Oh wait I just realized, it is shit because it’s based off the doodie scene with the life rafts. So I guess I you could say that it’s a shit stained cover.

[Monterey Jack]

Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale...

[Matt]

I keep forgetting that there are remakes of this movie.

[domino harvey]

Jessica Lange is gorgeous in it, but every poster/cover has that dumb ape on it

[TechnicolorAcid]

Looks more like a poster for a Queen Kong style film than a King Kong style film.

[The Curious Sofa]

I guess they cropped the original poster to conceal the World Trade Center. The wacky font suggests a comedy, which it is, both intentionally and not.

[JSC]

I don't know... personally I would've preferred something different considering all the interesting
artwork that has been prepped for this film over the years.




This would've been preferable.

[domino harvey]

Imagine releasing a film directed by Saul Bass and thinking you should create new artwork