Saturday Matinee

Set in New England but actually made in old England by an independent company, this 1960 movie provided an early non-Hammer horror vehicle for Christopher Lee and also a role for Valentine Dyall whose 'Man in Black' macabre storytelling series for BBC Radio had made him a star over here. In Britain the film went by the title City of the Dead. I've not seen a UK poster but this one from the USA is just great - way ahead of its time with the modern zombie-like portrayal of the undead (in the movie they're just vampires indistinguishable from living people) and for its joky strapline. The composition and the graphics are superb and I love the detail of the skeletal hand dangling the room key. You almost don't notice it's not in colour. The film is quite good in an unpretentious sort of way (bar some rotten dialogue) but not nearly as good as this striking poster would imply.