SHAM009 - Night Train Murders

[Almar@Cult Labs]

But Vince we designed it just for you!

As this site builds (so rally people along) if we get a huge swathe of people saying they don't like a sleeve (and we need to do this earlier for it to work) then we'll look at changing it.

We're trying to get away from building covers out of screen grabs as the quality can be very poor and results perhaps rather ropey looking like for instance Torso! So we're putting more time, effort and moolah into sourcing original artwork to use and modify.

The artwork there is mainly made up of the French theatrical poster which we decided was our favourite in design terms. The old 'Whore Aboard!' well it's been a while since we offended anyone after the rather tame Black Cat...

What is interesting is that sales for the rather nastier sleeves are considerably better but we're trying to be cleverer and more reverential by sourcing more original artwork. That said some films like Frightened Woman suffer from often odd artwork none of which really works.

There will be a reverse sleeve which will be the Italian theatrical release artwork. We liked that a lot but aren't too sure that a big picture of an ape-like compressed hunchback old grandad with a rifle would lead to many sales...

[Sarah@Cult Labs]

I have to admit that I haven't seen Night Train Murders so I can't comment on the cover art in terms of how it relates to the film itself. I quite like the artwork itself. I like the fact that it looks like a pulp novel - but that's just me. I'm not a huge fan of the tagline but it'll definitely shock people into buying the DVD, which is what's important really. I'll have to watch the film and then decide whether to use the new or original artwork!

[vincenzo]

I just feel with a film like this that the darker the colour the more atmospheric and creepier the cover will look. Ditto for emphasising the 'riding on the night train' somewhere in the blurb (it even sounds sinister). The girls definitely need to be on there somewhere too IMO.

However I absolutely agree that the cover is a grabber. The idea of reversible sleeves with the original (or similar) artwork is more than enough to satisfy the retro fuddy-duddies like moi.

Incidentally, as promised, the IMDB have updated their info to include mention of the Shameless release - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073836/trivia

[bedorca]

Well I think it looks fantastic! Pure exploitation at its best. Tis what Shameless is all about. Bring on the release!

[Almar@Cult Labs]

Thanks for the update on the IMDB Vince - it's appreciated.

I welcome the mix of opinions and if we can hopefully get to a point where we can work more in advance we might be able to trail more sleeves to get feedback and possibly modify although design by committee could be rather hideous but overwhelming opinions are another.

Dark and disturbing would be nice but there are a lot of dark horror sleeves out there and no shortage for films that few have ever heard of and I just don't want us to blend into the 'must be some STV shit' morass.

I'm delighted though that we're doing the reverse sleeves as I'd be fuddy duddy about some of my favourite films. I'd have to ask myself for instance how would we deal with say a movie like Deep Red? (and no it's not a film we have). Even I would struggle to put a tagline on it like:

"I'm lookin' at the slut in the mirror"

[Sarah@Cult Labs]

If you did that I'd have to hunt you down and kill you with a necklace and an ornate lift.

No hard feelings.

[RobbieD]

Looks great!! I think it'll look even better "in the flesh" too.
I'm also not too sure about the "whore aboard" bit, (they're just two school kids aren't they?! It's been a while since I saw it), and who is that naked woman in the middle?

[Philleh]

I dig it, I like the psychodelic colour scheme - very 70's grindhouse!

[Almar@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by RobbieD

Looks great!! I think it'll look even better "in the flesh" too.
I'm also not too sure about the "whore aboard" bit, (they're just two school kids aren't they?! It's been a while since I saw it), and who is that naked woman in the middle?

Ah the girls are of course innocent victims - as for the madam on board who pushes those two apes into one hideous act after another she warrants a rather nastier description! Anyway it's meant to be a take on the old days of travel when indeed some old codger would be shouting 'All Abooooooard!'

Clever eh?

[The Reaper Man@Cult Labs]

Very good!A big improvement on the bu release's artwork,not sure about the whore aboard bit though........