The Ultimate Guide To VHS Box Art That Scared You In The '80s
Photo Analogy: Jaclyn Kessel
Video may very well accept killed the radio star, merely streaming definitely killed the video shop. There is a certain nostalgic sheen that those pre-Blockbuster days have taken on, those days when families migrated to the local mom and pop video store on a Friday nighttime and wandered the aisles in search of something to watch, but the truth of the matter was that the process was very frustrating. The advantages that the streaming revolution has over those VHS days are myriad—no more than waiting in line, no more frustration that the moving picture you wanted to watch wasn't in stock, no more than leaving the house, even!—merely there is one thing that we find ourselves missing from time-to-fourth dimension: the captivating VHS artwork that you lot'd see when browsing the aisles.
Now that nosotros're in the midst of Stream & Scream month, we've been experiencing some flashbacks of the VHS covers that haunted u.s.a. in our youth. Specifically, the titles in the horror section that left psychic scars nosotros tin can nonetheless feel to this mean solar day. Films like Faces Of Death, Hellraiser and I Spit On Your Grave had cover art so audacious that we would never even DREAM of request our parents to rent them. Movies that spooked us so much that even when we came of age, we dared not scout them.
Here'due south a smattering of retro box art for horror films on VHS that you are DEFINITELY going to desire to flip through with the lights on.
April Fool'due south Day (1986)
Speaking of birthday parties... I honey parties. Parties are fun! But ever since I saw the VHS cover for this film, I take always gone to parties with a slight sense of mistrust nigh the host. Specifically, what they might exist hiding backside their dorsum. A sharp pocketknife? A ponytail noose? This cover is pretty much why I stopped socializing. (Oh, and I never connected the dots until at present, but doesn't that booty look a LOT like Pippa Middleton's? Lookout out, Wills!)
[Stream it on Amazon Video]
Photo Credit: Serial Killer Calendar
I Spit On Your Grave (1978)
Spitting is cool. Graves are cool. Spitting on graves, though? Non cool! As I recall, this movie was rated X. Non XXX, but simply plain X. When you lot're a pre-teen, that X rating scares the crap out of you.
[Rent it on Amazon Video]
Photo Credit: VHS Collector
Hellraiser (1987)
At some bespeak in the early '90s, Pinhead was on the Mountain Rushmore of horror moving picture fiends (aslope Freddy, Jason, and Michael Myers). Information technology was at this point that I finally got effectually to seeing Clive Barker'southward twisted psychosexual tale. That was a mistake, because the film that I saw was a million times more disturbing than this already EXTREMELY agonizing cover.
[Stream it on Netflix]
Photo Credit: Clive Barker Cast
Evil Expressionless 2: Dead By Dawn (1987)
2 things I was scared of in my formative years were things that were evil and things that were dead. I finally worked upward the backbone to see this movie in the late '90s and, you know what? It's a masterpiece. (Withal, that didn't mean that the cover didn't scare me shitless growing up.)
[Stream it on Amazon Video]
Photo Credit: EvilDeadNews.com
It'south Live (1974)
I can only imagine this film was conceived in the wake of the international success of Rosemary's Baby, but all I knew when I was roaming the aisles in my local video store growing up was that I did Not desire to run across the face of any was in that crib. And now, some twenty+ years later, I still don't. (h/t to Tom Hall, aka @BRM, for reminding me about this 1!)
[Rent it on Amazon Video]
Photo Credit: Horrorpedia
Monkey Shines (1988)
Everybody loves monkeys, correct? NOT After Yous Come across THIS Yous WON'T. It's not a motion picture about a clapping monkey toy come to life (a la Chucky), only instead it's the psycho cousin of Project Ten.
[Stream it on Prime number Video]
Photo Credit: VHS Collector
C.H.U.D. (1984)
I don't know what was in the water in 1984, but a hell of a lot of these crazy covered movies came out that year. Do you lot know what C.H.U.D. stands for? Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers. As soon every bit I saw this craziness, that pretty much cured me of my desire to explore the sewer system.
[Rent it on Amazon Video]
Slugs (1988)
You know all those times you sprinkled salt on the slugs that showed upwards in your garden or backyard? That was a bad idea. A VERY BAD Thought!
[Rent it on Amazon Video]
Photo Credit: io9
Pumpkinhead (1988)
This movie was the directorial debut of monster movie visual effects artist Stan Winston. Unfortunately, not a single person ever watched it because THAT COVER WAS Just Also DAMN SCARY.
[Hire it on Amazon Video]
Photograph Credit: Horrorpedia
Brain Damage (1988)
Remember that scene in The Wrath Of Khan where those leeches crawled into people'south ears? This movie takes that to the next level, except the leeches have a face and they devour people's brains. Not for the faint of heart!
[Stream it on Fandor]
Photo Credit: Monster Brains
Driller Killer (1979)
This was, by far, the goriest embrace in my local video store. I lost many nights of sleep due to this insanity.
[This movie is, thankfully, not bachelor to stream]
Photo Credit: ShockTillYouDrop.com
The Incredible Melting Man (1977)
I vividly call back watching this movie during an afternoon creature feature, hosted by Sir Graves Ghastly, on Detroit Television set (Channel twenty, if retentivity serves). The plot involves an astronaut who goes into space and, well, melts when he returns to Earth! Pretty certain this moving-picture show had a lot to do with the eventual defunding of NASA.
[This movie is not bachelor to stream]
Photo Credit: Horror.mdv.se
Xtro (1983)
Every activity has an equal and opposite reaction. Xtro was the reaction to E.T.. Phone home to tell your parents that you're Dead!
[This movie is not available to stream]
Photo Credit: VHS Collector
Faces Of Death (1978)
The cover of this VHS cassette tape isn't particularly scary in and of itself, but the legend of this film was -- Especially in the pre-Internet era. The rumors of the horrors that were independent inside were plenty to scare me forever.
[This movie is not available to stream]
Slumber Party Massacre (1982)
If I were to choose a favorite VHS cover of all-time, it would be this one. Equal parts titillating and terrifying. A bravura display of art direction. I'thou sure the moving picture itself was garbage, but there'south probably never been a better piece of encompass fine art.
[This movie is not available to stream]
Photo Credit: LunchMeatVHS.com
What did we miss? Let us know in the comments!
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