Posterized April 2025: April, The Unattractive Stepsister, Emerging City & More

      April showcases a month filled with “operatives” (including Freaky Tales on April 4, The Amateur on April 11, Warfare on April 11, and The Accountant 2 on April 25), each accompanied by effective yet familiar promotional campaigns. The same can be said for the month’s video game adaptations (Minecraft on April 4 and Until Dawn on April 25). They are glossy, plastic, and somewhat muddied.

      Once more, Hollywood opts for safety, ensuring the job gets done without alienating viewers or truly inspiring them. However, it’s refreshing to see a few smaller titles purely driven by creativity as a striking contrast. Whether they are fun, visually appealing, or bold, the nine one-sheets highlighted below have the potential to capture attention. They steer clear of generic clichés and are built from within to evoke intrigue beyond simple functionality.

      **Framed**

      Is the poster for The Legend of Ochi (April 25) by BLT Communications, LLC a posed portrait? Highly improbable. In contrast to the typical Photoshop-heavy collages, this poster maintains a sense of reality with a vibe reminiscent of a middle school bleacher class photo.

      It offers everything expected from standard designs. Its construction revolves around a central y-axis and maintains symmetry by center-aligning all elements: both words and characters (except for one child beside Willem Dafoe’s enormous spear). Its strength lies in its design, from the choice of font to the yellow-hued connection between the text and the thin border. Additionally, it exudes attitude through the eleven stoic faces poised for battle while their little Mac and Me companion observes in surprise.

      While it may lack the cleanliness of other posters that emphasize world-building through stunning vistas and mysterious caves (I do appreciate the compact title treatment on these), the assembly of characters effectively conveys the notion of a series of theater standees in a unified presentation. If examined separately, they would be lackluster, but when grouped, they guide one towards understanding the narrative’s direction.

      The poster for A Nice Indian Boy (limited, April 4) quite literally embraces its frame by presenting a wall of family photographs. It’s a convincingly crafted set piece filled with typical mantelpiece decorations—old photos, new pictures, wedding snapshots, and culturally significant heirlooms. One wouldn’t suspect anything amiss until gazing at the focal point, where Karan Soni and Jonathan Groff display starkly contrasting expressions.

      Suddenly, the title prompts contemplation as we initially think it refers to someone entering the family. One might think, “Oh, he found a nice Indian boy!” So, why is the anomaly a white man? Does the phrase come from Groff’s perspective—suggesting he’s been searching for a nice Indian boy to become part of an Indian family? Is it ironic, considering the parents always wanted their son to marry a nice Indian boy, only for him to fall for Groff instead (prompting Sunita Mani's expression of “I’m the favorite sibling” pleasure)?

      Soni’s fearful expression, coupled with the tagline’s “chaos,” becomes poignant because he ultimately finds himself trapped between his and Groff’s aspirations and those of his parents. The combination of visual, thematic, and humorous juxtapositions is delightful.

      My favorite design of the month is the hand-drawn pattern surrounding the page of Danni Riddertoft’s The Ugly Stepsister (limited, April 18). While it could have simply featured a decorative doily matte to reflect a historical aesthetic, this design incorporates cleavers, scissors, and snake-like forms that I can only describe as “intestinal.” The elegance of lace, ribbon, and riveted metal takes a dark turn.

      Mark McGillivray’s version adopts a more direct approach, bringing the cleaver to life alongside a bloodied shoe. What was merely hinted at now comes to fruition—with links to the Grimm fairy tale that inspired the title.

      Both designs carry an element of danger while maintaining a playful tone to convey that the film is a horror comedy rather than straightforward horror. Their sardonic nature also immerses us in the film's tonal atmosphere, leaving us questioning whether the choices are meant to be taken literally or inverted.

      **Title stretch**

      Unless it’s a late-career Jean-Luc Godard film (like Le Cercle Noir’s Film Socialisme), it’s unusual to find a poster comprised solely of text. Hence, the German poster for Henry Fonda for President (limited, April 4) feels particularly distinct.

      Certainly, having a lengthy title helps cover the page, but expert typography is essential as well. The designers creatively balance the actor’s name over two lines by splitting the job title in two (without a hyphen, keeping it neat while respecting the syllable break). The “For” is sized smaller between them, with the credit block filling in the space. The red, white, and blue color scheme adds an American flair,