Trashy to Classy: B Movies Get a Makeover

Inspired by the Criterion Collection, the revered distributor of cinema's most "important classic and contemporary films," RJ White invites designers to create highbrow DVD packaging for lowbrow movies, publishing the endlessly funny submissions on the Fake Criterions tumblr. He coordinated a contest in celebration of the blog's first birthday, and here we present some of the standout submissions, winners saved for last:

Molly Eichel, Jake Fogelnest, Paul Scheer, Chris Sims, and yours truly judged the contest, and it was no easy task. I agonized over dozens of excellent submissions and decided to weigh the quality of the design inversely with the quality of the movie. I love the contrast of restrained design (Matthew McClure's American Ninja 2 nails it) with ridiculously high sequel numbers (Colin Foster's Friday the 13th, Part VIII!). Some entries are just outright hilarious -- Doug Goodwin's Batman and Robin, complete with the "director approved" sticker, for example. Andrew Ihla went above and beyond, designing a sleeve and case (inside and out) for Back to the Future II that snagged first place. The prizes, of course, were gift certificates to the real Criterion Collection.

For more Fake Criterions, check out the tumblr.