Vintage Horror Movie Posters: Easy and Inexpensive Halloween Decorating

I should probably note for the record here that I do not enjoy horror movies.

But I do enjoy their posters, at least their posters from old times. Actually, I could probably watch these particular movies, even, without being haunted for decades. Like after I made the mistake of watching Scream twenty years ago. I’m so fragile.

We have a very specific Halloween theme going on in our dining room, which you’ll see next week, but I was feeling a bit themed out by the time I got to the foyer. So I did vintage horror movie posters instead.

I got it in my head that I wanted some kind of vintage-y Halloween poster or posters in the foyer, but I wasn’t happy with anything I was coming up with searching “vintage halloween.” This year. Some year it might be exactly what I want (there are a lot of black cats). Then it finally occurred to me to check out that old standby of free printables, Free Vintage Posters, and do a search for “horror.”

Bingo.

vintage horror movie printables

I haven’t seen any of these no doubt wonderful films (or “stage shows”) (no, not even Dracula. Maybe I should watch that one?), but I love their promotional materials.

I thought about trying to order one of these as a big, poster sized affair, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to commit to spending that much on seasonal decor….and then I kind of ran out of time to decide. And anyway, it’s easier to pick four posters to display than just one. How could I leave any of these out?! Could you look at the Invasion of the Saucer-Men poster and NOT hang it on your wall?

When I print such things out for display, I use photo paper and the highest quality settings on my printer. It takes forever to print that way and uses a ton of ink, but the results are generally really nice.

I had the hardest time figuring out how to display these. I thought surely I could find four extra Ribba frames lying around somewhere…but no. Then I went to Target and picked up four 8×10 frames. Then I realized that I had printed out the posters as 8 1/2 x 11. Oops. So then I decided that I would just tape them onto black cardstock and hang them on the wall with no frames. But the scale was just totally wrong.

Finally, I went to Michaels and picked up the four cheapo frames you see in the picture up there (and I left the posters on their black cardstock when I put them in the frames). Frames were 50% off (as frames so often are at Michaels) so they started at $5 each. Then I had a coupon for an extra 20% off, so I got the four frames for $17…which is about my limit for Halloween only frames. But I’m thinking I’ll probably put something in them for Christmas after this.

The whole foyer display:

Halloween display with vintage horror movie posters

Incidentally, I was this close to painting over the squirrels before I set this up. I’m really, really ready to say goodbye not only to the squirrels but to the blue in the front of our house and go all white here. The blue and squirrels have served us well, but I’m ready for a change. But I didn’t have time for said change before I hung these up. I have way more ideas than time these days.

free printable dracula poster and halloween decorations

I didn’t put a ton on the dresser, since the posters themselves are already so exciting. Those two pumpkin cookie jars things are (not full of cookies, sadly, and) from Target clearance last year. And the “31” is also Target, this year. Both Dave and Ari, separately, walked by and said, “isn’t it supposed to be 13? What’s scary about 31?” Duh. But I guess you could do either 13 or 31. So…bonus!

Raven and horror movie poster halloween display

And on this side we have the obligatory stack of books, plus a brass owl and a brass leaf, and the raven figurine my friend Kristi gave me a few years ago (originally from Ross).

So that’s the start of our Halloween decor this year. You’ll see the rest next week. And, as I mentioned awhile ago, I’m teaming up with a bunch of other bloggers to bring you SO MUCH fabulous Halloween goodness….I’m hosting my very first ever blog hop. I’m posting my full tour on Thursday, but the fun starts on Tuesday (Decor and the Dog is the first one on the list). I made a pretty picture to tell you all about it:

Dec-o-ween blog hop

The kids got very into this whole thing, by the way, and two of them spent a long time designing their very own graphics for the blog hop. Which I will maybe show you next week if they haven’t lost them already.

Quirky vintage (and cheap!) Halloween decorating with these free printable vintage horror movie posters

Linking with:

Tatertots and Jello’s Link-Party-Palooza

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Comments

Vintage Horror Movie Posters: Easy and Inexpensive Halloween Decorating — 12 Comments

  1. Ha! Like you, I just thought “Halloween is on the 31st!” I never thought of 13. I love it, it looks so good! I remember getting you a raven, but I had no recollection that it looked like that.

    I will miss the squirrels.

    • Well, who knows how long before I actually get around to painting over them? Anyway, there will always be pictures on the blog to help you remember 😉

  2. The posters are great (and yes, you should see the Bela Lugosi Dracula) and I’m happy to see the raven, but what makes my heart sing is the gold spider on the one. Spiders are number one! I am out of gold fabric paint, which is tragic and must be fixed. I must find something appropriate to paint a gold spider on really soon!

    • ooh, I hadn’t even thought that far ahead; I bet there are some vintage Christmas movie ones, too. I might have to go check right this second 🙂

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