This excellent vintage poster is for the Italian nunsploitation flick Interno di un covento, which was known in English as, alternately, Within a Cloister, Within the Convent, and Behind Covent Walls. So, what exactly goes on behind convent walls? Well, they have lots of sex. With each other and with whatever men happen to be around. And they exercise naked a lot. Well, almost naked. They never take off those cornettes, no matter what, but everything else is on display, including some really lovely bushes. All of this depravity is the work of Polish director Walerian Borowczyk, working from a novel—a novel!—by the French writer Stendhal, aka Marie-Henri Beyle. But we’re giving Borowczyk most of the credit, er, blame here, because we don’t think Stendhal had a scene in his book where a nun devirginized herself with a Jesus-faced dildo. What’s the plot here? It isn’t important. The question is, what’s the point? Well, we’re talking about a movie made in Italy, so the point seems to have been to annoy the very powerful Catholic Church. Mission wholly accomplished, we suspect. We gotta say though, we have never gotten this fascination with nuns. But if that’s your thing, then this is your movie. It premiered in Italy today in 1978. We have a few screen shots below, and if you just can’t get enough nunnage, check out this amusing post. 

Polish-born actress Ingrid Pitt as a child survived a Nazi concentration camp to star as an adult in a score of films, including several horror movies produced during the early 1970s by Hammer Studios. Some of those titles are The House that Dripped Blood, The Wicker Man, Countess Dracula and The Vampire Lovers, and her portrayals made her a favorite among fans of macabre cinema. Pitt died this morning in a London hospital aged 73. 

Above, Poland-born Israel-raised actress Gila Golan, aka Zusia Sobetzcki, aka Miriam Goldberg, seen here in a promo still from the James Coburn spy flick Our Man Flint, 1966. None of her three names are her birth name. If she ever had one, it was lost to the winds of war. In 1940 during the Nazi occupation of Poland she was found, abandoned in infancy, in a Krakow train station. Raised in a monastery and sent after World War II to be educated in Israel, she won the 1960 title of Miss Israel, and came in second at Miss World, which led to her breaking into American cinema and relocating to the U.S. You can see more Golan here (don't mind the gore).

Above is a worldwide assortment of the creepiest posters we could find in honor of Halloween. Interestingly, Halloween is getting more popular internationally all the time. Where we live it was virtually ignored as recently as ten years ago, but nowadays it’s not a rarity to see both kids and adults dressed in costumes for the occasion. Trick-or-treating hasn’t quite taken hold, just because the layout of the communities don’t really allow for it, but adopting new personas or playing characters is something everyone seems to love, no matter where they live. Everyone likes a good scare, too, and these films do the job nicely. They are Halloween, Halloween again, Rosemary’s Baby, Zombie Holocaust, The Girl Who Knew Too Much, Squirm, Return of the Living Dead 2, The Shuttered Room, Evil Dead 2, Hellraiser, Suspiria, The Incredible Shrinking Man, Vampire Women, The Omen, The Thing, The Shining, Backwoods, Fright Night, and Seuseung-ui eunhye. Happy trick-or-treating. 

Various movie posters from Russia, Poland, Hungary, Turkey, and the former West Germany, circa ’50s, ’60s and ’70s.     

Amazing Star 80 promo poster from Poland, circa 1984. At a time when American movie posters had devolved into nothing more than glorified high school yearbook photos, the Polish designers were in their heyday of rethinking and improving the original art to produce something exciting to potential moviegoers. More fine examples here, here and, from earlier this week, here.

Here’s a movie we’ve seen a bunch—The Enforcer, with Humphrey Bogart and Zero Mostel. The film’s Israeli promo art is fantastic, and is another example of Bogie’s impeccable fashion sense. He proves here that it’s possible to pull off the very tricky fedora/bowtie/pistol look, and as a bonus, he even rocks a pocket square and sports a couple of rings. It’s not for amateurs, but if you think you’ve got the moxie, try this multiple accessory look and see if you don’t get laid. In the meantime we have more great Enforcer posters below from Germany, Poland, Italy, and Spain.

Just because today seemed like a good day for it, we dug into the vault and posted two Polish posters for Steven Spielberg’s 1981 pulp blockbuster Raiders of the Lost Ark. Vintage Polish cinema art is hot right now, and the appeal stems mainly from the fact that their designers always rethought the material entirely. These are two of the best examples you'll find.

Here we go again with Vertigo. This time we have a brilliant Polish one sheet to add to the amazing French and Italian ones we posted a while back. Again, we can’t choose a favorite. The three are distinct, and awesome.