A History of VHS Companies Part Three

RAEDON HOME VIDEO - Rather than the usual distributor bio, I'm going to give this space over to resident Readon expert Mike Malloy:

 Your head will hurt. Your eyes will sting. Your brain will rot. You will wonder why you ever shoved ALIEN PRIVATE EYE, ROLLERBLADE WARRIORS or any other Raedon Home Video release into your VCR. And more to the point, you will wonder how this Raedon direct-to-video garbage ever got made.

The answer is the 1980s. Or, more specifically, the 1980s video boom. The VCR had created a new, wide-open market -- home video -- for movies. Mom-and-pop video stores, prevalent over chains at the time, were blindly stocking just about anything that was offered up. Cheapjack video labels proliferated -- Vestron, Lightning, Prism, Academy, Transworld, Vidmark, Magnum.

And then there was Raedon Home Video. For those who think they know the definition of amateurish moviemaking, throw out your standards. A typical Raedon release features actors mispronouncing common words, anachronistic period costumes that are 250 years off the mark and love scenes with actors that appear to be entirely unfamiliar with the sex act. This is, of course, in addition to unintelligible dialogue, camera angles and acting. The quality of these movies cannot be understated.

But even if Raedon is guilty of egregious transgressions against the art of cinema, the video label does serve one important function to culture: the story of the '80s video boom can most colorfully be told through the history of this single video distributor.

"In those days, it was kind of like the Wild West," says Bruce G. Hallenbeck, whose 1989 film VAMPYRE was picked up by Raedon. "There were no real fast and hard rules, and everything was kind of being made up as it went along. And you could pretty much release anything."

So this VCR-created boom was good for aspiring '80s filmmakers, maybe not so good for the artistic quality of low-budget cinema.

"It ruined everything," says filmmaker Michael Lang. "It destroyed the B-movie theatrically." Lang worked in several capacities on the 1989 futuristic rockabilly sci-fi Western film DEATH COLLECTOR, a surprisingly tolerable Raedon video release.

Understand, in the 1970s, low-budget exploitation films were experiencing their golden age, playing at drive-ins and grindhouses across the country, giving the world stylish cult faves like The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Vanishing Point, Sweet Sweetback's Badasssss Song and Assault on Precinct 13.

Compare those titles against the disposable, what-the-hell-is-this-shit '80s fare offered in the Raedon catalog: PUNK VACATION, GAME OF SURVIVAL, NUDITY REQUIRED, FEELIN' SCREWY -- films that are even worse than their titles might indicate.

Raedon Home Video got into the VHS game in the late '80s, about ten years into that format's existence. By then, many low-budget filmmakers weren't even gunning for theatrical releases for their movies. They were simply hoping to dump their movies into a video release. And Raedon obliged.

Based in Southern California (Northridge then Chatsworth), Raedon often dealt with movie sales companies like Double Helix and Panorama instead of brokering home video deals with the filmmakers themselves. This meant sometimes a director had little contact with the video label distributing his movie.

"The first day I saw the tape in a video store here I was stunned," says Hallenbeck, "because I hadn't been told it was going to be out that soon. About six months after we completed all the post production it was in the stores. At one of the local video stores here, the owner said, 'Hey, your movie's here.' I looked at it and said, 'I'll be damned. My first feature.'"

But Lang had a little more contact with the video label. He got to see Raedon's headquarters.

"It was just a warehouse," he says. "A warehouse with a few offices in the front. And the owner was this big fat guy that looked like Grizzly Adams. He was dressed in a t-shirt and shorts. I wasn't exactly impressed."

But what should one expect from the distributor of movies that are arguably the worst ever made? Even Raedon filmmakers concede that the label's releases are rubbish.

Says Lang, "Raedon was for the filmmakers who were basically inept fools who made inept product which they couldn't sell to anyone else, so they ended up at Raedon. Or Troma. I mean, Troma is the other Raedon of the business. Troma is just smarter, because they made their own movies, and they made trashy movies."

Clearly, the centerpiece of ineptitude in Raedon's catalog is a 1987 film entitled ALIEN PRIVATE EYE. The film may not yet have a Plan 9-type status as a Holy Grail of Bad Cinema, but those who have seen it know the score. A video copy on Half.com recently had the asking price of $69.75.

"It's a piece of shit," says actor Robert Axelrod, who played the villainous Scunge in the film ("I was 'Scunge.' That's a stupid name.").

"I was astonished at the ineptitude," says Michael Jonascu, who worked on the film's sound but didn't want his company's name to appear in the closing credits.

ALIEN PRIVATE EYE is deserving of this derision and more. It stars former Chippendales dancer Nikki Hill (aka Nikki Fastinetti) as Lemro, the eponymous extra-terrestrial gumshoe. The plastic Spock ears let us know he's an alien. The clichéd fedora lets us know he's a private eye. Other than that, Hill just tries to play Lemro as an '80s tough guy ("Yo!") in a performance that makes the viewer sad to be a human being.

"I did [later] see it in a video bin," says Jonascu of ALIEN PRIVATE EYE. "It was like a buck ninety-nine. And I thought, 'You know, I should probably pick this up. It's part of my filmography, for better or worse.' And I didn't. I think that kind of says a lot of it. It was two bucks and I didn't want to shell out the cash for it."

Surprisingly, there is actually a "name" filmmaker who has an early credit in the movie: writer-director Scott Spiegel, who is well known in horror circles for his involvement in the Evil Dead and From Dusk Till Dawn series. Spiegel feels no embarrassment for his minor participation in this sub-sub-competent flick.

"You have to understand," he says. "When I came out here from Detroit, that was still kind of fun. That was cool. Someone was making movies. Let's do it."

In fact, Raedon releases occasionally catch a star on the way up or down. A pre-fame Campbell Scott (Singles, Roger Dodger) appears in AIN'T NO WAY BACK, a bizarre mishmash of Deliverance and Witness. And washed-up stars of yesteryear like Julie Newmar, Troy Donahue and Rory Calhoun each slummed in a Raedon film.

Fortunately, all things -- even the indescribably horrid -- must end. The '80s video boom became the video glut of 1990.

"It was the last time with all those crappy movies being sold, when people were actually buying that stuff," says Lang. "The '80s were an incredible time for that, with the ravenous need for video product. But it got so glutted that by 1990 it just completely collapsed. The floor was like a trap door."

"Buyers were looking for better product, higher quality product," continues Lang. "I think that killed Raedon too. The video store owners had had enough of all this crap. I mean, it worked for a few years, but I think there was just too much of it."

So what lessons were learned? Maybe few. Lang, Hallenbeck and Jonascu say they see a present-day parallel to home video's legitimization of 16mm hack filmmaking  of the late '80s.

"A lot of people dove in at that point," says Jonascu. "And I think the thing that is most like that now is that DV has gotten so good that you're starting to see a lot of the same thing happening again."

As for final thoughts on the phenomenon of the '80s video boom, Lang says it most succinctly: "Raedon caught the wave. And then the wave left them. It left everybody."

But Spiegel has the best understanding of the route the era's low-budget filmmaking should have taken.

"Some of that product is so bad, it should have gone direct to audio."

Malloy's article originally appeared in FLAUNT magazine Issue 66 and is re-printed here by arrangement with the author. Malloy is a widely published film journalist and cinema book author, whose work has appeared on Slate.com, FILMFAX, CULT MOVIES, ENTERTAINMENT TODAY, SHOCK CINEMA, STAR TREK COMMUNICATOR and VIDEO WATCHDOG. He wrote LEE VAN CLEEF, the biography of Spaghetti Western star Lee Van Cleef, for McFarland & Company as a 19-year old, and he is currently engaged in writing MOVIE TOUGH GUYS OF THE 1970s: AN ENCYCLOPEDIA.

REGAL VIDEO, INC. - Not much is known about this New York City-based label (Rumor has it that is was started by two furniture business owners), but they are notorious for many reasons, including the legality of their releases, the crappy transfer quality of the films and the garish artwork on their clamshell cases during their short run in the mid-80's. They are most famous for unleashing THE REVENGE OF DOCTOR X, a film that no one can really agree about except that it stars James Craig and bears the credits for THE MAD DOCTOR OF BLOOD ISLAND. Some sources state that it is actually a 1970 film titled THE DOUBLE GARDEN (a.k.a. THE VENUS FLYTRAP) directed by Kenneth G. Crane and written by Ed Wood Jr., while other sources list it as a 1966 production titled BODY OF THE PREY, directed and written by Norman Thompson (as "Earl Norman"). Until a proper print of this film is found bearing the true credits, we just have to revel in its awfulness sans knowing the truth. Regal Video also unleased BLOOD FREAK for the first time on VHS, as well as THREE ON A MEATHOOK, THE DEVIL MASTER (a.k.a. THE DEMON LOVER), NIGHTMARE CIRCUS (a.k.a. BARN OF THE NAKED DEAD), DEATH WISH CLUB and various other horror and martial arts titles before going out of business and selling their library to budget label Video Treasures. One thing was for sure: Whoever did the artwork on their video boxes was obsessed with blonde-haired women and used them unsparingly on the covers, whether they had anything to do with the film or not. One of the true standouts on video shelves during the 80's, but not always for good reasons.

REPUBLIC PICTURES HOME VIDEO - First, a little history lesson. Republic Pictures was founded in 1935 by Herbert J. Yates and, during it's early years, produced numerous small B-Westerns (making stars out of John Wayne, Gene Autry and Roy Rogers in the process) and serials (i.e. THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN MARVEL - 1941). Eventually, Republic Pictures would make A-list films like THE SANDS OF IWO JIMA (1949) and THE QUIET MAN (1952), but Yates always kept his hands in the B-movie field, churning out small films in every genre (they were also the first studio to offer their film library to TV in 1951). As the 50's were coming to a close and the demand for small films was waning (thanks to TV), Republic Pictures closed up shop in 1959. In 1962, Republic sold it's film library to National Telefilms Associates (NTA) and, in the early 80's, NTA began releasing Republic Pictures' films on VHS. NTA would eventually buy the right to the Republic Pictures name and logo in 1986 and release films under the Republic Picture Home Video banner. A mixture of old films  (INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS - 1956; MONSTER OF PIEDRAS BLANCAS - 1959; CASTLE OF EVIL - 1966) and new productions (SCARED STIFF - 1987; DEAD MAN WALKING - 1987; NIGHT OF THE DEMONS - 1988; PLAYROOM - 1989: CTHULHU MANSION - 1990), Republic Pictures Home Video would release hundreds of genre titles, many of them Canadian tax shelter films like the SCANNERS and AMITYVILLE series, independent horror films like THE BOOGENS (1981), SOCIETY (1989) MAD AT THE MOON (1992) and NIGHT OF THE SCARECROW (1995), actioners like MISSION OF JUSTICE (1992) and DIGITAL MAN (1994), and just plain weird films like NIGHTMARE AT NOON (1987) and INVISIBLE MANIAC (1990), until closing up shop in 1995, shortly after being bought by late TV producer Aaron Spelling. Lionsgate Entertainment (who else?) now owns the majority of the Republic Pictures theatrical film library.

SIMITAR ENTERTAINMENT - This is what I want you to do immediately after reading this paragraph: Go to the Simitar Entertainment page and memorize all the covers you see there. After you have done so, never, EVER purchase any of them, even if you can get them for free. They are the worst of the worst. No, not the films. Some of them are pretty good. I'm talking about the transfers. Most of them were recorded in the EP speed and have the worst tracking problems in VCR history. Most of Simitar's tapes are unwatchable and seem to have been mass-produced to make the buyer extremely angry. I should know. I own a good chunk of them. Simitar was in existence from 1984 to 2000. While the majority of their releases were sports, children's and outdoor documentaries, they did release some films aimed at the horror film lover. Unfortunately, once you brought the tape home you usually ended up cursing at your VCR, screaming "Why are you doing this to me?" at the top of your lungs, thinking that your VCR was the offending party. Well, we know better now. I was the recipient a few years ago of aquiring the majority of a small video store's inventory and about 50 of the tapes were from Simitar. After playing them all in four different VCRs, only one of them played correctly throughout. That film was Jeff Hathcock's VICTIMS, and since it was the only Simitar tape recorded in the SP mode, I'm not surprised. The only trouble was the print they used looked like a third generation dupe and was nearly unwatchable anyway. So, heed my advice and stay away from these releases. A lot of people try to pawn them off on eBay for outrageous prices. Ask questions and demand to see the cover before you buy. Here's another little tidbit about Simitar: In 1999, the World Wrestling Federation sued Simitar for trademark infringement for selling a CD of music titled WWF-THE MUSIC, VOL. 3 and won. This led to Simitar's downfall in 2000 when they declared bankrupcy. The owners then went to Brentwood Communications, Inc. (BCI) and started a DVD division. Everyone knows the troubles that ensued with the quality of the early BCI releases. Some of them would skip in various players and I have one that died during the final 30 minutes of MESSIAH OF EVIL. Simitar was also the first independent distributor to release their films to DVD (in 1997), but they were just as hinky as their VHS releases.

THORN EMI/THORN EMI HBO/HBO CANNON/HBO VIDEO - Thorn EMI has the distinction of being the second oldest video company in the United States (Magnetic Video, which would eventually evolve into CBS/Fox Video, is the first), beginning operations in 1977 and, after going through several name changes, still surviving today. The Thorn EMI name lasted from 1977 to 1983, when it joined forces with cable giant HBO to form (what else?) Thorn EMI HBO Video. That name lasted until 1985, when Cannon Films bought the Thorn EMI film library and joined forces with HBO to form HBO Cannon Video. As Cannon was having financial trouble, it's partnership with HBO lasted two years and in 1987 the label was changed to HBO Video, which is still thriving today.  In the beginning Thorn EMI released a lot of 70's and early 80's horror films, including THE PREY, GIRLS NITE OUT, ZOLTAN, HOUND OF DRACULA, Earl Owensby's WOLFMAN and A DAY OF JUDGMENT, DAWN OF THE MUMMY, THE DEADLY INTRUDER and the video premieres of Sam Raimi's THE EVIL DEAD  and James Cameron's THE TERMINATOR. Under the other various names the company took, they released  the excellent NIGHT WARNING, XTRO, SPASMS, WARRIOR OF THE LOST WORLD, ENCOUNTER AT RAVEN'S GATE,  ACT OF VENGEANCE (aka RAPE SQUAD), THE BURNING (the edited R-rated cut) and many others. Today, HBO Video releases include many of the cable giant's successful series and cable films, including THE SOPRANOS, DEADWOOD, SEX IN THE CITY, THE WIRE and others too numerous to mention.

THRILLERVIDEO - When I made people aware that I was doing a visual tour of video companies of the 80's, I heard "Are you going to do ThrillerVideo?" more times than I care to remember.  ThrillerVideo was a sub-label of Family Home Entertainment (which also ran the Monterey Home Video and U.S.A. Home Video labels) and was active for a short period, from 1983 - 1986. ThrillerVideo released most of their product in big colorful boxes and the majority of them were hosted by Elvira, who would do her schtick at the beginning of the film, interrupt it during the middle and the show up at the end of the flick to show trailers of coming ThrillerVideo attractions. Most of Elvira's hosting duties were on episodes of British TV's 1980 series HAMMER HOUSE OF HORROR and ran less than 60 minutes each. Elvira didn't host ThrillerVideo's episodes of Britian's 70's series of 90 minute mystery films called THRILLER (shown on ABC's WIDE WORLD OF ENTERTAINMENT and WIDE WORLD OF MYSTERY at 11:30 PM during the mid to late 70's in the U.S.). Elvira also hosted the odd horror film, such as Fredric Hobb's strangely facinating ALABAMA'S GHOST (which really needs a DVD release), the ultimate badfilm NATAS: THE REFLECTION and Dan Curtis' TV adaption of THE STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE. But, even Elvira had her standards. She refused to host five of ThrillerVideo's more extreme horror films, citing that hosting them would damage her credibility (!). Those films were: MAKE THEM DIE SLOWLY, NIGHTSTALKER (aka: DON'T GO NEAR THE PARK), BURIED ALIVE, DOCTOR BUTCHER M.D. and THE 7 DOORS OF DEATH. These five films in their big boxes command the most money on the collector's market of all the ThrillerVideo releases, mainly because they were uncut and they weren't interrupted by Elvira's sometimes cringe-inducing jokes and gags.