Every child of the 80s will remember going to the video store and trying to find a movie to rent. Back before the days of Blu-ray and On Demand, selecting a movie usually meant finding the flick with the coolest box art. Like modern posters, classic VHS art has been lost but thanks to the Internet there are countless reminders of these cool creations. This column will be dedicated to bringing you reminders of a bygone era and a look at how cool some of these movies looked on store shelves.
CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST
A cult classic that is often cited as the inspiration for the found footage sub-genre, CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST is a disturbingly gory film that is so realistic that many couldn't tell it was fiction. As you can see from the box art, boobies were a big part of the native setting and also a major selling point for the flick. Click here to purchase on Blu-ray/DVD.
CHOPPING MALL
A movie that involves a hellish mall, I am not sure if I am a fan of the domestic punny title or the international version that makes it sound like a sequel to REAL STEEL. Either way, you can see from the two versions of the box art that a shopping bag full of body parts is all that you need to describe this movie. Click here to purchase on Blu-ray/DVD.
GHOULIES
Visiting our local video store as kids, my little sister used to always call this movie "Monsters in the Potty" and for obvious reasons. While the top art makes the movie seem a lot more demonic (and even compares it to Joe Dante's GREMLINS), the second cover is the one we are used to seeing and would create toilet nightmares for an entire generation. Click here to purchase on Blu-ray/DVD.
FLASH GORDON
FLASH GORDON is a schlocky B-movie with a big budget that was the JOHN CARTER of it's day. The painted cover images harken back to the bygone serials of the 1950s while still making sure we know that Max Von Sydow has a kick-ass goatee going on. Click here to purchase on Blu-ray/DVD.
CODE OF SILENCE
You cannot think of VHS without thinking of Chuck Norris. So many Norris movies came out in the 1980s, they should just rename them Norris-Tapes. These two covers both use the same cover image of Norris with a big gun, but on the back, one elects to target the literate fans of Chuck while the other uses bright colors and pretty pictures. Click here to purchase on Blu-ray/DVD.
HALLOWEEN III
Neither of these covers use the original poster for HALLOWEEN III which is the common image on the DVD and Blu-ray editions, but both of these boxes make sure to draw attention to the hellish masks that are central to the plot of the Michael Myers-less third entry in John Carpenter's franchise. Click here to purchase on Blu-ray/DVD.
Feel free to pop us your favorite VHS box art and come back for each future column. You can send your finds or photos of your own VHS tapes to alexmaidy@joblo.com
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