Retro or throwback packaging has been trending for a few years now. Not only are all of the major products getting in on it—Pepsi, Doritos, Miller Lite—but Hollywood has been riding this wave as well. Many recently released horror films, like It Follows, have a retro-styled poster. Even Disney and Lucasfilm released ‘70s-style trading card designs for the upcoming The Force Awakens. With Photoshop at most any geek’s disposal, plenty of fans have also resorted to creating their own retro-styled VHS packaging for recent Hollywood hits and television shows such as The Wolf Of Wall Street and Game Of Thrones.
Internet user and designer James Stewart hosts a Tumblr, Blog, and Facebook page that contain his horror-centric design work, and any fan of trashy cinema and television from the late ‘70s and early ‘80s should get a kick out of his art. Stewart began his Beyond Horror Design Tumblr site in 2006 to showcase his own retro style takes on horror classics such as The Beyond, Friday The 13th, A Nightmare On Elm Street and Carrie. The posters are wonderful but the most fun part of his site are his designs for Marvel-style horror comic book tags, Topps-style trading cards, and stickers, as well as poster designs for films that never happened—except maybe in a Fangoria subscriber’s dreams—like Sam Raimi’s take on Freddy Vs. Jason.