DVD cover art is just that - it's an
art, though going by these 10 instances of Photoshop butchery, you wouldn't know that. There's a real skill to composing a cover that manages to encompass the themes of a film while also having a striking look and veering away from the various cliches that adorn far too many DVD covers these days. In these instances, it's difficult to know what they were thinking; we're pretty sure the studio must've let their intern loose to whip up a cover, and it accidentally got sent to the printers. Though not all of these films are good, even the ones that
are look maddeningly unappealing from the box art below. So reprehensible is their representation of the film that it's enough to make you walk away and probably end up buying a far lesser film just because its cover art doesn't make you want to scoop your eyeballs out with a rusty spoon. Here are 10 hilariously awful DVD covers...
10. The Apartment
Some might not think that this cover art is that bad, but then clearly they've never seen Billy Wilder's dark romantic drama, or they'd realise how woefully inappropriate the cover is. The Apartment is not some wacky screwball comedy like this cover suggests; it is a surprisingly mature drama that confronts some pretty adult themes - namely attempted suicide - even if it does manage to wring out some hearty laughs as well. This cover, however, paints the film as a throwaway 1960s comedy, and Shirley McClaine's carefree pose really doesn't help here. Plus, Fred MacMurray's picture is totally wrong; the guy is a massive slimeball in the film, but it's impossible to glean that from this. I personally still favour the original cover art even if some might view it as a little "dated" now. Still, it's miles ahead of this garish effort.