Ghana is a country of innovators, so when the VCR arrived on its shores in the 80’s, those who could afford them and who were business-minded set up what were known as “video clubs,” where they would screen movies for the paying customers in their neighborhood. The video clubs had names like “Rolls Royce,” “Ziggy,” “Pal Mal,” “Princess OSU,” “Sly Fox” and “Wall Street,” and the proprietors would take care to advertise their films with the most flashy, attention-grabbing artwork they could. They would commission posters from local artists, usually painted on empty flour sacks, and with a vision of the movie from the artist’s own imagination. The results are amazing – completely unique interpretations of movies we all know and love, and some I’ve never heard of. Movie posters that are iconic in the west as sleek, Hollywood-styled images are re-imagined as cartoonish b-movie posters, and none are better than the horror movie posters – gory and erotic in a way that Hollywood would never represent itself on paper. Check out a huge gallery of Ghanaian horror movie posters below, courtesy of Aeron Alfrey and Monster Brains!
