The cult video/DVD nostalgia thread!

[Glebe]

Been indulging in a lot of cult movies and trailers online lately, including 1986's sci-fi horror comedy Terrorvision, the trailer of which scared the heck out of me as a kid. Either myself or one of my siblings rented it, possibly on a night when my parents were out. I recalled it being rather crude and silly, watching it now it looks even cornier, but its reasonably entertaining if not exactly hilarious. The monster is an amusingly gruesome Beastie too.

Another VHS chestnut (which I hadn't seen before) in the same mold is 1981's The Creature Wasn't Nice (AKA Naked Space or Starship). The presence of Leslie Nielsen definitely screams Airplane!, and while it's a big baggy and slipshod it's actually extremely funny in places. It also stars Patrick Macnee, Terrorvision's Gerrit Graham, the extremely cute Cindy Williams (of Laverne & Shirley fame) and Bruce Kimmel, who also wrote and directed it.

Okay, I've got the ball rolling... let suggestions and discussion commence!

[Famous Mortimer]

If you ignore the tedious bit about defining terms, there's a bit of discussion in this thread.

How I pity the people who never got into film thanks to their local corner shop's rack of VHS tapes for rent.

[Johnny Townmouse]

I've said this before, but much of my early film viewing (aged 10-14) was informed by my local video rental shop which was run by one of the small people from Time Bandits. Not only would he rent out 18-cert horror films to the pre-pubescent me, but he would actually recommend them.

My love for shlocky, badly-made horror comes from three summers of intensive film watching whilst ignoring my Mum telling me to go out into the sun and play.

Yeah Mum, that would work out if you weren't bringing me up on a notoriously violent, feral council estate, cheers.

[Van Dammage]

This is the DVD that got me into movies. I saw Byung Hun Lee looking all cool on the cover and had to buy it. I didn't really watch much movies before that but became obsessed after seeing this. That was only about 3 years ago so i don't really feel nostalgia, but its still one of my favourites.


http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0456912/

[Glebe]

I've said this before, but much of my early film viewing (aged 10-14) was informed by my local video rental shop which was run by one of the small people from Time Bandits. Not only would he rent out 18-cert horror films to the pre-pubescent me, but he would actually recommend them.

I have to get to the bottom of this. I think we can safely rule out David Rappaport, Kenny Baker, Jack Purvis and Mike Edmonds, so it's either Malcolm Dixon or Tiny Ross. I shall be informing the relevent authorities.

[Johnny Townmouse]

I have to get to the bottom of this. I think we can safely rule out David Rappaport, Kenny Baker, Jack Purvis and Mike Edmonds, so it's either Malcolm Dixon or Tiny Ross. I shall be informing the relevent authorities.

Mike Edmonds :-)

[VegaLA]

I've said this before, but much of my early film viewing (aged 10-14) was informed by my local video rental shop which was run by one of the small people from Time Bandits. Not only would he rent out 18-cert horror films to the pre-pubescent me, but he would actually recommend them.

Terrific days! My parents told the video store owner we can rent any of the horror movies, but absolutely NONE of the blue ones. Here's a blast from my past:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kb0vqhj7FZM

The logo jingle alone would signal me to brace myself for whats next....

[Phil_A]

Ah excellent, I love old VHS-related ephemera. I just found this excellent promo from an eighties Castle Vision tape.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVG3YeGsO4M

I'm absolutely sure I would've found that bizarrely discordant ident terrifying as a child. It's mildly disconcerting even now.

DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN BWOOOOOOOOW DAAAH DANG!

[phantom_power]

I used to love the strange trailers that you would get on video releases like Evil Dead 2. The Near Dark trailer was wonderfully atmospheric I remember, and stuff like Slamdance, Blood Simple and After Hours looked so strange and exotic in that format.

[Famous Mortimer]

We had a competition at one point to find the worst film ever, but we could only use one method. Rent a film, then pick the film that looked the worst from all the trailers, then rent that, pick the worst film from that film's trailers, and so on. I think I ended up with "Vampire Cop" - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100856/ - but I appear to have blocked all recollection of it from my mind.

[Van Dammage]

I managed to pick up an awful film a while ago called revenge the drunken master. It introduced me to the legend that is, Godfrey Ho.
One funny thing i saw on imdb, apparently godfrey Ho teaches film in some Hong Kong university. I really wonder if the people that hired him ever saw any of his films.

[Glebe]

Mike Edmonds :-)

I knew it. In my heart, I just knew it. You can't trust that surname.

http://youtu.be/AjPau5QYtYs

Ah excellent, I love old VHS-related ephemera. I just found this excellent promo from an eighties Castle Vision tape.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVG3YeGsO4M

I'm absolutely sure I would've found that bizarrely discordant ident terrifying as a child. It's mildly disconcerting even now.

DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN BWOOOOOOOOW DAAAH DANG!

Also, going from Tumbledown Farm to Hitler is quiet disconcerting. Nevertheless, a "superb range" indeed.

[the psyche intangible]

I've said this before, but much of my early film viewing (aged 10-14) was informed by my local video rental shop...

Same here, mam and dad rented for us at first then sanctioned permission for us to rent alone, usually one film a week. I'm sure this is still a load of old tut as it was back then, but it stands out for some reason. I liked the cover and recall the outing of tits, maybe that's why. Think I watched The Entity the week after.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9QoUpskHa4

[phantom_power]

Going back to Terrorvision, I watched it on Netflix recently and I think it stands up really well. It is a silly satire on hipsters and a fairly effective horror film as well. Gerritt Graham is always fun and I remember getting funny feelings about Mary Woronov in that tight dress and the woman they bring back to swing with. In all it is good, silly, colourful fun

[leighhart]

that Leslie Nielsen film was fucking awful

[Glebe]

I remember getting funny feelings about Mary Woronov in that tight dress

Yeah, phwoar, naughty! Disturbingly, she's actually 70 now according to Wiki. She was part of Warhol's set back in the 1960s. Apparently she got into punk after appearing in the video for Suicidal Tendencies' 'Institutionalized', in which she plays a very attractive mom to Eraserhead star Jack Nance's dad!

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LoF_a0-7xVQ

that Leslie Nielsen film was fucking awful

Well its very deliberately bad if you ask me. Parts of it are indeed a bit dull but I found some of drily hilarious.

[Van Dammage]

Anything with Leslie Nielson is worth a watch.

[checkoutgirl]

Been indulging in a lot of cult movies and trailers online lately, including 1986's sci-fi horror comedy Terrorvision

Me and my mate Noel rented that one out in 1989 or something. We'd go down to the chemist and rent a video and then watch it. They were usually pretty terrible films. I mean genuinely awful most of the time. But as a kid it's harder to discern rubbish from quality because you're naive and have less frames of reference. I remember when the band Terrorvision came out it confused my tiny mind for a while. How can there be two things called Terrorvision? Crazy stuff.

We'd rent any old shite. Films where a dance sequence or song could break out at any time for no reason other than the director couldn't think of anything to put in the film. Films like

Too Much (1987) - an obvious rip off of the far more popular Short Circuit (1986). Too Much ended with a big parade style sequence with a load of kids singing about the cheeky robot.



Mac and Me (1988) - This one has since become famous for Paul Rudd going on Letterman saying what a load of shite it is and isn't it really funny in an ironic The Room type way. We just watched it for what it was, a cheap E.T knock off with a dance off in a McDonalds. I suppose McDonalds were diversifying their promotional base at the time. It's not actually a bad film for kids.



White Fire (1976) - This is a fucking abysmal pile of old toot. I don't know what the makers of this were thinking. Filmed in France or somewhere for no money and with no discernible plan or point. It didn't even make sense to me as a kid and would probably make even less sense now. A proper B Movie heap of bobbins. The theme tune is incredibly cheesy 1970s euro pap rock nonsense "White fire, white fiyaa". It's so bad it's actually worth checking out. I think Robert Ginty of Exterminator "fame" is in it but that would have meant nothing to me in 1989. The guy on the video cover wielding a chainsaw says it all really. "Extermination is the reward for the world's richest prize". What the fuck does that mean? It's almost genius in its galactic crappitude.

[checkoutgirl]

that Leslie Nielsen film was fucking awful

No it is not. It's the bomb.

[Van Dammage]

^ Is that actually real? Looks like a classic alright.

[checkoutgirl]

I've spoken about this before but if you want a cracking documentary about videos and video shops and the whole culture behind it then watch Rewind This (2013). It's fucking ace. Until I watched this I never knew that they often came up with the video cover before they came up with the film. They'd do a load of covers and put them up on a big board. Then someone would come in and say "That one, that one and that one" and they'd go off and make the video based on the covers that were picked out. Brilliant.

[checkoutgirl]

^ Is that actually real? Looks like a classic alright.

Yeah. It's featured in Rewind This (2013). I've never seen it but it's supposed to be pretty good. It's like you said, anything with Leslie Nielsen in it can't be that bad. He's a kind of genius.

[DJ Solid Snail]

There's some really fantastic examples of this sort of thing featured in RedLetterMedia's Best of the Worst YouTube vids. Check 'em out, they're hysterical.

[Blumf]

Until I watched this I never knew that they often came up with the video cover before they came up with the film. They'd do a load of covers and put them up on a big board. Then someone would come in and say "That one, that one and that one" and they'd go off and make the video based on the covers that were picked out. Brilliant.

Wasn't there an Alexei Sayle[nb]I think it was from Stuff, but it may be another comedian entirely[/nb] sketch along those lines, possibly made without realising how close to the truth they'd hit.

[Famous Mortimer]

Mac and Me (1988) - This one has since become famous for Paul Rudd going on Letterman saying what a load of shite it is and isn't it really funny in an ironic The Room type way.

You probably know the real story? I'm sorry if you do, I'm still half asleep. Paul Rudd has been going on Conan's show for 15 years, and every time he plays a clip from whatever film he's promoting at the time, it's the clip of some wheeled device flying off a cliff from "Mac and Me". He basically never references the clip, either.

Other people have got in on the fun, too. Here's paralympian Alana Nichols: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hngHluQe2o

[Phil_A]

There's some really fantastic examples of this sort of thing featured in RedLetterMedia's Best of the Worst YouTube vids. Check 'em out, they're hysterical.

I second that, I think it's my favourite of all the RLM segments. I like the fact that they always try to see the best in every movie they watch, even in the case of something with as a little redeeming qualities as "Crazy Fat Ethel 2"

[Brundle-Fly]

Spookies (1986) Typical 1980s silly monster movie, chock full of pre CGI creepies. Usual superb Graham (The Evil Dead) Humphries artwork.



TRAILER
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EtfOdRRxTc

[Glebe]

How about Hollywood DVD? Their back catalog includes the (relatively) successful Cyborg Cop and a range of obscure movies featuring various future stars (and some who had clearly fallen on hard times). Here's a couple of covers that amused/intrigued me (the logo's not on the cover, but I think they did distribute Demonicus!):

[Harpo Speaks]

^ Is that actually real? Looks like a classic alright.

I think there are two videos, as I recall, I definitely picked one of them up in a Charity Shop at one point, though I don't think I ever got round to watching it.

Here you go Van Dammage:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7y3E1NaB5n0

[Famous Mortimer]

How about Hollywood DVD?

http://www.cookdandbombd.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=40212.0 has a brief discussion of their magnificence, which reminds me I've still not seen all the Godfrey Ho films from that haul. "Demonicus" looks amazing too.