Above is a poster for Isao Hayashi’s 1978 roman porno Inzetsu ama: Uzuku, which if you run across in English will be called… well, we don’t really know. Most websites that use English call it “Lewdness Woman Diver,” which doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue. It isn’t a direct translation either, because we know that the big red characters staring you in the face say “tingling.” We also know that an ama is a female diver who traditionally foraged in the water for delicacies like sea urchins and lobsters, but these days is more famous for pearl diving.

Above is a colorful Japanese poster for the monster epic Mosura tai Gojira, aka Mothra vs. Godzilla. It was originally released in 1964, but we’re guessing from the big “93” at the bottom of the art that this piece was made for a nineties re-release, though we can’t find any info on that. For many Godzilla fans this is their favorite entry in the series. We tend to agree. But is it even appropriate to talk about best when referring to Godzilla movies? No matter what, it’s still just a guy in a rubber suit. Like satire, you either enjoy it or you don’t. It isn’t a matter of intelligence, but of temperament (which in this case can definitely be made more amenable to rubber suit chaos by psychoactive compounds, if you’re inclined). Anyway, maybe give this one a try. 

Update: We recived an email from Dekk, who informs us that this is a poster for a competely separate Godzilla/Mothra movie that was made in the 1990s, which helps clear up our confusion about the 93 on the art. It was actually entitled Gojira vs. Mosura, aka Godzilla and Mothra: The Battle for Earth. Thanks Dekk for straightening us out on that.

Every time we see a cover of the Japanese celeb/cinema magazine Movie Information/Movie Pictorial we find ourselves thinking how cool they look. It’s a publication that goes all the way back to the early 1950s, and it had a few different periods, graphically speaking, but for some reason we always preferred these clean, colorful late-1960s early-1970s covers. So we thought we’d upload a few fronts and backs we’ve found over the years and see if you agree. As far as the name goes, we usually see the magazine referred to in English as Movie Pictorial, and in fact the back cover does say that, obviously. But the front cover writing definitely says “Movie Information.” So there you go. But we’ve actually turned screwing up these translations into a fine art, so we won’t be heartbroken if we’re wrong. Anyway, see below. And FYI, the girl in the scuba tank is Barbara Bouchet, so she’s on three covers. The scuba image is a promo shot from Voyage To the Bottom of the Sea. You can see two more front covers here and here.

It’s Halloween in the U.S., so we thought we’d feature something macabre today by doing another post on the sexiest vampire ever created—Sukia Dragomic. In the comic, she’s born in Transylviania, dies in the 13th century, is accidentally revived in 1724, moves to America, dies again in 1801, and finally ends up residing in the Big Apple. The keen-eyed may notice she is modeled after Italian actress Ornella Muti (check here for comparison). If you’re interested in Sukia, you can download issue one, in English, at comixland.blogspot.com. 

We mentioned a while back that we had found a stack of Japanese x-rated movie posters, so here’s another one today, a poster for Lasse Braun’s 1976 romp Sensations, starring Brigitte Maier. The art is by William Stok, and if the central figure’s meandering tongue isn’t enough to tell you this is a porn movie, the white substance on her breast and shoulder gives it away. That ain't supposed to be Béchamel sauce, folks. Sensations was made in Germany in 1975, had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival that May, and played in mainstream movie houses in the U.S. throughout the autumn and into the next year. Basically, it’s about an uptight American girl who travels to Amsterdam and gets her groove on. She’s reluctant at first, but as the movie churns along she begins to show more enthusiasm. This kind of sexual awakening plot was a staple of adult film back then, but the exotic setting was something new for American filmgoers, and they made the movie a major hit. Sensations premiered in Japan today in 1976, and you can see more Japanese x-rated posters here and here.

And speaking of amazing posters, check out this masterwork for the neo-pinku actioner Sukeban hantâzu: Sôkatsu nagurikomi sakusen. It was released internationally as Yakuza Busting Girls: Final Death Ride Battle, is known in the U.S. as Yakuza Hunters Final Death Ride Battle, and was released on DVD as Yakuza Hunters 1: The Ultimate Battle Royale. That last title implies more films are to come, and in fact we understand there’s already a sequel, but we haven’t seen the first one yet. However, the poster, painted by the genius Japanese graphic artist who calls himself Rockin’ Jellybean, has convinced us to seek the movie out. We’ll get back to you.

It’s amazing how fertile France is for vintage pulp. It’s by far the best hunting ground after the U.S., and that’s true even in smaller cities like Bayonne. For example, Bayonne is a town that we made time to go to for one reason—because we knew of a restaurant that specialized in duck hearts. Afterward, feeling strong like a duck, we strolled the cobbled side streets and stumbled into two vintage bookshops straightaway. Actually, one was a bookshop. The other was an African handicrafts store with two big shelves of printed matter. See what we mean? Even a handicrafts store might have something great. Qui? Police has a vintage feel, but this issue actually dates from 1979, so that makes it modern pulp, the way we categorize things. So what do we know about this mag? Not much. We saw an issue published in February 1947 that was numbered 33, so on a weekly schedule that gives an inception year of 1946, with the first issue hitting newsstands in June. And that’s pretty much the extent of our knowledge. But we’ll find out more. In the meantime check out the inside of this thing. It’s a black, white, and red amalgam of true crime reportage, grainy photography, excellent courtroom art, cartoon humor, and cheesecake. Paging through it conjures all our favorite French words—crime, vengeance, rage, menace, lurid, voyeur. Did you know those were all French words? Well, there you go. You’re well on way to having the tools you need to survive a trip to France. Eighteen scans below.

Something completely different today, this is a South Korean poster for the 1983 Brian De Palma thriller Scarface, which didn’t open there until December 1984. We have no idea what all that info packed on the poster says. Maybe something about how this is the most violence to hit Korean shores since the end of the war. The image, by the way, is not a nice clean scan, but rather a digital photo shot through a store window. It looks pretty good, though, no? Anyway, we have others and maybe we’ll share those later.