Friday One Sheet: SAINT MAUD

With its ultra high-grain photography aesthetic, black background, and minimalism, aspects of the new key art for this tense little British horror-psychodrama resembles the paperback boom of the 1960s and 1970s, the surge of horror and supernatural themes that brought the world Rosemary's Baby, The Omen, The Exorcist, and Jaws.

And yet, the bold, crisp Helvetica-esque font screams 'modern movie poster.' I like the hybrid nature. It even, if only slightly, evokes Akiko Stehrenberger's magnificent key art for Portrait of A Lady On Fire from last year, minus the 'magic eye' silhouette effect. Here, Morfrydd Clark's fiery hair reaches towards god, which is fitting for the title and the tagline. I very much like the contrast between ecstasy and horror that read on her covered face in the blackness that threatens to envelop her, even as her glowing locks reach towards the heavens.

Fittingly, the credit block is muted to the point of barely existing at the bottom, not spoiling the 'book cover' effect that is working so effectively.  If you were to push onwards into the 1980s paperback publishing, this could be the prequel to VC Andrews' Flowers in the Attic.