4.4.2007

A (Not So) Complete History of Cinematic Tattoos

Hi, I'm a Star Wars backpiece
The typical film nerd is snobby, intellectual and really pale from hours upon hours of staring at glowing screens in darkened rooms. Which, it turns out, makes the skin perfectly ripe for tons of colorful tattoos. Join us as we proudly present this astounding assortment of skin flicks.

Whether old school or new, nothing says “I’m a total fucking badass” like a Disney tattoo. But good luck out-Disneying this dork.

“The Wizard of Oz” was nominated for several Academy Awards in 1939, though it lost the Best Picture nod to the equally great but far less-tattooed film, “Gone with the Wind.” But we’d much rather have a tattoo of the lovable Dorothy than that bitchy Scarlet O’ Hara.

Stars like James Dean, Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley set the box office ablaze in the 1950s and ’60s. Johnny Depp didn’t do that until a few decades later, but he’s at home here sandwiched between the kings and queens of cinema cool.

The 1970s brought us one of cinema’s greatest franchises, and perhaps the most popular cinematic tattoo of all-time. “Star Wars” characters could easily warrant an entire (Not So) Complete History of their own. Question: Do tattoos (tough!) of “Star Wars” characters (geeky!) cancel each other out?

Stanley Kubrick began making films in the 1950s, but its his movies from the 1970s and ’80s that make the coolest tattoos. in “Dr. Strangelove” would also be sweet, though sadly we weren’t able to track down any tats of the HAL 9000.

Not so strangely, the ghoulish imagery of horror flicks jives perfectly with the ghoulish imagery of modern tattoo culture. Here we see a couple of Frankensteins and a couple of his Brides.

But other horror icons have been inked on skin as well. Carrie White sits beside Jason Vorhees, Michael Myers and Dr. Herbert West from “Re-Animator.”

All of these tattoos are pretty scary.

As are these suckers from “Evil Dead,” “Hellraiser,” “Jaws” and “The Silence of the Lambs.”

And who could forget the scariest film ever?

“Sleepy Hollow” is the closest director Tim Burton has come to making a horror flick, but from Pee Wee to Edward Scissorhands, he has certainly put some memorable characters on the screen.

Troma has been making low-budget horror films for over three decades now, and these tats of “The Toxic Avenger” and “Sgt. Kabukiman, NYPD” are sported by a couple of Tro-maniacs.

Just because the cast of the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy got tattooed while they were making the films doesn’t mean you should have done so as well.

Brando, Pacino, DeNiro, Indy and… Frank N. Furter?

Yes, that is in fact a Jason Mewes tattoo. And yes, that is a zombie Christopher Walken.

Got a movie tattoo of your own? .

Related posts: A (Not So) Complete History of Band Tattoos | Worst. Tattoos. Ever

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