VHS Revival

A mix of Old & New VHS Releases

I didn’t see it coming, for that I feel stupid. I pride myself on seeing trends before the general public takes notice. I had been collecting VHS since I was a teen; I had amassed a collection of hundreds of tapes. Out of those hundreds about sixty of them would be considered rare and hard to find.

I knew that they were on their way out, video rental stores were discounting their VHS stock and selling titles for pennies on the dollar to make room for the “superior” DVD format. 

I gave away all my gray market VHS tapes, and sold my entire collection of retail VHS for $300 on ebay as a huge lot. This included all of my rare titles as well. Now, I thought I was being smart. Before I sold anything I made back-up copies to DVD-R of everything that wasn’t yet released on DVD. After all it was about the content of the tape, and not the tape itself, right?

Nope, I was wrong. 

The VHS tape has made a huge comeback, finding itself in a collector’s specialty niche like vinyl. Collectors are paying huge prices for titles not yet released on DVD or Blu-Ray and editions that have wonderful cover art that is diferent than the digital equivalent. 

There is such popularity in this resurgence that limited edition VHS copies are being released alongside DVD and Blu-Ray copies. Ti West 80’s throw back “House of the Devil” is recognized as the first film given this retro treatment.

Others include the 1983 S.O.V. crapfest “Sledgehammer” released in very limited quantities by Mondo, and more recently Justin Russell’s love letter to the 80’s slasher cycle “The Sleeper”, released in a limited run of DVD and VHS combo pack.

This movement shows no sign of slowing down as more companies are posting press releases announcing their newest film to be released on VHS. Magazines and Zines are running regular features on VHS collecting, and there are websites  that show nothing more than VHS cover scans.

I’m a collector; I collect a lot of different things. VHS is now back on my list of stuff I actively collect. It hurts a little every time I shell out cash for a tape I used to own, but price I pay for not seeing this coming.

VHS on the Big Screen

V/H/S

A new anthology horror film that looks promising, my friend just caught it SXSW and said it was killer. Preview below.

Rewind This

A documentary currently in production about the rise and fall of the VHS age, as well as its unforeseen comeback. Preview below.

Books on VHS

Portable Grindhouse: The Lost Art of the VHS Box

Publisher: Fantagraphics Books  

Author Jacques Boyreau presents a great collection of VHS box art from Exploitation films. The book itself is shaped like a VHS tape complete with slip cover. The box art presented is a great selection of horror, sleaze, and exploitation.

My only complaint is that the box art looks like it was cleaned up in Photoshop and then re-distressed in the same program, giving the art a somewhat un-genuine feel.  Other than that a great collection of art that can be used as a guide for titles to hunt down.

The Art of the Nasty

Hardcover: 160 pages

Publisher: FAB Press; 2nd edition

The story of VHS wouldn’t be compete without mentioning the” Video Nasty” scare in 1980’s UK. Just like in the U.S. VHS Players dropped dramatically in price in the UK, bringing the home video experience to thousands of families. During that early wild time in England the cover art of exploitation and horror movies just got more and more sensationally lurid.

This eventually led to the UK government banning a lot of videos some based off the cover art alone. The Art of Nasty collects and displays these wild covers from the “Pre Cert” days when video box art was wild.

Lunchmeat Magazine

An Irregularly published magazine with reviews of Horror and exploitation films found on VHS. It’s a cool little publication that can also be used as a resource for finding titles of VHS to hunt down.

Visit their website here.

Is It Uncut?

An awesome UK magazine that ask the question, “Is it Uncut?”, not only VHS but DVDs are also covered. Printed on glossy art stock and a mix of color and black and white images fill each information packed issue. It’s a great resource for people looking for information on some of the hardest to find PAL Dutch and Greek VHS. Visit their website here.

Horrorhound Magazine

Starting in issue #13 Horrorhound Magazine started to run a regular column called “Video Invasion.” It’s a great article featuring the history of different video distributers and check list of horror titles released by the companies, worth checking out.

Web Resources

http://www.scandyfactory.com

This guy was into VHS before it was cool. Featuring hundreds of VHS cover scans, previews, and the occasional review it’s a great place to visit.

http://www.vhsps.com/

The VHS Preservation Society is a cool little mail order operation that rips original VHS tapes long out of print to DVD. They also include a custom DVD cover scanned from the original VHS slip cover.

If you read this far lucky you, you get a heads up on a Retro VHS contest the will be hosted on twiter. We'll be giving away 3 New school VHS tapes brand new, never watched. Details to come.