HELLO AND WELCOME TO VHS WASTELAND, YOUR HOME FOR HIGH RESOLUTION SCANS OF RARE, STRANGE, AND FORGOTTEN VHS COVERS. EACH OF THESE BIZARRE GEMS IS SCANNED AT 200 DPI. SIMPLY CLICK ON THE THUMBNAIL OF ANY VHS COVER TO DOWNLOAD THE FULL HIGH RES FORMAT. WE WILL BE ADDING A NEW COVER DAILY, SO BOOKMARK THIS SITE AND CHECK BACK OFTEN. WE'D ALSO LOVE SUBMISSIONS FROM YOU. IF YOU HAVE A VHS THAT IS WEIRD OR RARE, JUST EMAIL US AT MADHATTERDESIGN@GMAIL.COM. REMEMBER TO SCAN THE FRONT, BACK AND SIDES OF THE VHS AT 300 DPI. WE WON'T ACCEPT LOW RESOLUTION FILES. WHILE YOU'RE HERE, GRABBING OUR AWESOME FREE VHS COVERS, FEEL FREE TO CLICK THE "DONATE" BUTTON ON THE LEFT. IF ENOUGH PEOPLE SEND US SOME CASH, WE MIGHT BE TEMPTED TO KEEP BRINGING YOU THE COOLEST, HIGH RES VHS COVERS ON THE NET. BUT IF YOU GREEDY, COVER GRABBING... I MEAN... YOU WONDERFUL VISITORS TO OUR SITE, DON'T COUGH UP A DONATION, MAYBE WE'LL JUST FIND SOMETHING BETTER TO DO WITH OUR TIME. LIKE GO MAKE NACHOS. MMMMM... NACHOS. SO HELP A BROTHA OUT AND DONATE A LITTLE DOUGH TO THE CAUSE.

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During the early 80's, when home video was in it's infancy, an influx of video companies were created to keep up with demand in the burgeoning VHS rental market. Bear in mind that this was before owning videos was financially feasible, as the cost for a single VHS copy of a film could run well over $100. Renting videos was really the only way to watch most of these films at home, as TV gave up their 4:30 Movies, Million Dollar Movies and Late Late Shows to make way for syndicated talk shows, reruns of TV series and infomercials. A lot of business-savvy companies jumped on the VHS bandwagon and created labels to release films to a demanding public.  A lot of them were fly-by-night affairs, who released one or two films on VHS before they realized that it takes money to make money, but some companies stayed around for years. It's these companies that I am going to pay their much-overdue props to. These companies released so many films that occupied our nights and weekends during the 80's. They turned out splashy covers, outrageous plot synopsis and hours and hours of visual enjoyment to the renting market. A lot of obscure films were released during this time, turning a lot of horror newbies into lifelong fans. These long-gone companies had a major influence on a lot of people, turning them into film directors, writers and other film professionals, yet their impact seems to be taken for granted. There's not a lot of information on these companies to be found anywhere on the Internet or in print, except to list the films that they released. Since I am a collector, I feel obligated to show my readers the pleasures of the VHS video sleeve. When they are done right, it's just like staring at a fine piece of art at a gallery. Those day are long gone now and we must preserve the experience of walking into a video store and looking at the shelves stocked with titles unfamiliar to us and the feeling we got taking that chance of picking up an unknown film, bringing it home and being blown away watching the TV screen ( although a lot of times the reverse was true). Without the success of these companies, I doubt that there would be a DVD market today. As the 80's came to a close, and it was getting affordable to own pre-recorded films on VHS, many of these companies went out of business, thanks to companies like Star Classics, Interglobal, Goodtimes, Video Treasures and Starmaker licensing films and releasing them in inferior LP or EP recorded versions, often making them available in supermarkets as impulse buys at the checkout line. Who could pass-up the chance of picking up THE TOOLBOX MURDERS for less than ten bucks? The urge was simply too great to pass up (yes, I was a major offender) and most of the video companies gave up on releasing new product and grew fat licensing their libraries to supermarket chain labels or simply sold off their titles and closed up shop. Now that VHS is no longer considered a viable medium for releasing new films (as well as old ones) and DVD has taken over (and rightly so, thanks to the higher definition picture and better quality sound, not to mention the supplements), I now believe it is time to look back at the companies who released the films that we look back on with reverence. The picture and sound quality may have left a lot to be desired, but it was the only way to view these films at the time and maybe forever as some of these films may never see the light of day on DVD due to licensing and music rights. I believe, in the near future, that the value of VHS tapes will only increase (both monetarily and emotionally), becoming an obsession, just like someone who collects posters or stamps. It is now time to pay our proper respects. This is my tribute. (Special thanks to the following people for sharing their scans of lost treasures with all of us: Tranzor, Kim Gibbs, Mario Dominick, Michael Felsher, Chris Poggiali, Lorne Marshall, Cameron Archer, Andrew Copp, Joe Narde, Mike Malloy and Robert Richardson.)

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THE MAJOR PLAYERS ACADEMY ENTERTAINMENT - This independent distributor opened it's doors in 1985, first releasing a bunch of  70's horror and action titles (some retitled for video), such as: THE ZODIAK KILLER, THE LOSERS, ESCAPE FROM PLANET EARTH (aka: THE DOOMSDAY MACHINE), BLOOD EVIL (aka: DEMONS OF THE MIND), BLOOD FEAST (aka: NIGHT OF A THOUSAND CATS), SLASHED DREAMS (with probably the most deceptive packaging of the 80's),TERROR AT RED WOLF INN (aka: THE FOLKS AT RED WOLF INN),  SATAN'S SUPPER (aka: THE NIGHTMARE NEVER ENDS) and many others. Academy quickly progressed into releasing a bunch of DTV films, including: FLESH EATING MOTHERS, DANGEROUS GAME, BLOODY NEW YEAR, PLAY DEAD, ROCK 'N' ROLL NIGHTMARE, DOOM ASYLUM and the awful WITCHCRAFT series (Academy handled parts 1 thru 6). As with all video companies approaching the 90's, Academy got involved in producing and releasing a load of DTV "Erotic Thrillers", such as: ANIMAL INSTINCTS, BODY OF INFLUENCE, SINS OF THE NIGHT and many, many others until they closed-up shop in 1995. I also think that there's a small conspiracy to keep Academy Entertainment VHS covers off the Internet. The VHS covers for this company are nearly non-existant anywhere on the web. If you don't believe me, try Googling Academy and see what you come up with. Plenty of info on the films that they released, but hardly any artwork. I believe my site has the most Academy covers collected in one spot.

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ACTION INTERNATIONAL PICTURES (A.I.P.) - This is a TRUE independent distributor. A.I.P was founded in 1986 by low-budget director/producers David A. Prior (SLEDGEHAMMER - 1983), David Winters (THE LAST HORROR FILM - 1982) and Peter Yuval (KILLER WORKOUT - 1986) as a way to distribute their poverty-row productions. A.I.P. (which, probably uncoincidentally, shares the same initials as the biggest independent of the 50's, 60's and 70's: American International Pictures), began by right off the bat distributing home-made productions like MISSION....KILL and NIGHT WARS, mixed in with international pickups such as MIAMI HORROR and STRIKER. While their action and horror productions, like ALIEN SEED, SPACE MUTINY, THE SATAN KILLER and the horrendous ELVES, were strictly low-rent (and unintentionally hilarious), A.I.P. did manage to release a few notable films, including the sadistic ROAD-KILL, Richard Haines' technicolor gore comedy ALIEN SPACE AVENGER, the immortal soldiers thriller THE LOST PLATOON, Lucio Fulci's DANGEROUS OBSESSION and Jose Larraz's slasher flick SAVAGE LUST. Many of A.I.P.'s in-house productions starred David Prior's brother Ted, a capable and muscular action star who, unfortunately, never went on to bigger and better things and a lot of their films contained appearances by B-movie actors, such as David Carradine, Robert Ginty (remember him?) Cameron Mitchell and Erik Estrada. Action International closed up shop in 1994, partly due to the Richard Pepin/Joseph Merhi company (PM Enterprises) turning out superior action and horror flicks (they would eventually cease to exist in 2000) and partly due to major video store chains no longer looking to stock their shelves with low-budget DTV films (up yours Blockbuster!).

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CONTINENTAL VIDEO - The king of the big box videos. Continental Video (and it's sister label, Comet Video) unleased a slew of exploitation titles to the video public from 1981 to 1987. People who remember walking through the aisles of video stores during the early 80's couldn't help but notice Continental's big boxes on the shelves. Titles like SUICIDE CULT, CLASS REUNION MASSACRE, NIGHTMARE and ALIEN PREY lined the shelves and attracted renters due to the garish artwork and lurid tag lines. Continental went one further by releasing double features on tape, pairing down two features to 75 minutes each and releasing them on VHS. Double features like SLAYER/SCALPS, FROZEN SCREAM/EXECUTIONER II, SWEET SUGAR/ESCAPE FROM WOMEN'S PRISON and STUDENT BODY/JAILBAIT BABYSITTER were very popular with the public because you got two movies for one rental. Most Continental and Comet (who released the H.G. Lewis BLOOD trio for the first time on video in America) titles go for big bucks nowadays, especially in good condition, since most video stores cut the boxes up to fit them into plastic clamshell cases (stupid idiots!). Continental began distributing their later films in normal cardboard slipcases, as they were probably sick, too, that their product was getting cut up. Some of their later titles included DEADTIME STORIES, the bloody awful SOV fiasco MIAMI VENDETTA, BLOOD DEBTS, MARY, MARY, BLOODY MARY and ZOMBIE HIGH. Other Continental titles of note include John Water's FEMALE TROUBLE and DESPERATE LIVING, THE EMERALD JUNGLE, TERROR ON TAPE and BLOOD TIDE.

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EMBASSY HOME ENTERTAINMENT - One of my favorite 80's video labels. Although short-lived (1981-1986 ), Embassy Home entertainment distributed a wildly-varied mix of genre films to the viewing public. Many people got their first taste of Italian horror (THE TEMPTER; BLOOD LINK), David Cronenberg weirdness (SCANNERS), 70's camp (THE AROUSERS; EMPIRE OF THE ANTS; PSYCHIC KILLER), cult classics (INVASION OF THE BEE GIRLS; PHANTASM; GALAXY OF TERROR) and early 80's slashers (FINAL EXAM; SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE), thanks to Embassy. Their generous sked of films kept viewers busy, as they also released Filippino horror (NIGHT OF THE COBRA WOMAN), English space gore (HORROR PLANET), Ulli Lommel crap (THE DEVONSVILLE TERROR; BRAINWAVES) and plenty of other films, some that were seen on the big screen (BLADE RUNNER; CHILDREN OF THE CORN; THE NAME OF THE ROSE; THE STEPFATHER). Embassy also had a sublabel, called Charter Entertainment, which released several dozen films, many of them horror-related. In 1986, Embassy Home Entertainment was sold to Nelson Entertainment, where they dropped the Charter Entertainment line and re-released Embassy's library before they, too, went out of business. Some of Embassy's bigger-budgeted titles are now owned by MGM and most of  the library is owned by Canal +, who licensed the library to Anchor Bay Entertainment. I have a question for Anchor Bay: Instead of re-releasing the same old films over and over on DVD, why don't you release some of Embassy's obscurities on DVD. I'm sure that there is an audience for an uncut DVD of RITUALS. Where is the special edition of HUMONGOUS or HUNTER'S BLOOD?  I'm sure that there are plenty of people that would buy those.

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GORGON VIDEO/MPI VIDEO - Another distributor known for their big colorful clamshell releases. Gorgon Video (a subsidiary of MPI Video, which is still around today) released a bunch of great horror films during the early and mid-80's that still hold a fond place in the heart of collectors today. Gorgon's most famous release was probably the pseudo-documentary FACES OF DEATH (which spawned three sequels and a couple of "best of's"), a disgusting mix of real and faked death scenes that every boy needed to see and is still used today to gauge whether a girl is worthy to be their girlfriend (I still have a best friend that shows this to all his dates. If they become ill or tell him to turn it off, there will be no second date!). Of course, this was not Gorgon's only popular release. Their library contained the uncut version of Mario Bava's BAY OF BLOOD, the weird and wonderful DEATHDREAM, the horror/comedy HORROR HOSPITAL, the Mexican wrestling/gore film NIGHT OF THE BLOODY APES, the 70's TV perennial KISS OF THE TARANTULA and many, many others. Gorgon's clamshells were always full of colorful garish artwork that makes them collector's items today. As the 80's came to a close, Gorgon began releasing their films in regular cardboard sleeves and disappeared from distribution in 1989, right after releasing the highly-desirable horror video magazine GORGON VIDEO MAGAZINE VOLUME 1 (Volume 2 was produced but never legally released). MPI does maintain a Gorgon website (www.gorgon-video.com), although it looks like it was never finished. MPI Video became famous and profitable by distributing the entire DARK SHADOWS soap opera on VHS and DVD, as well as many other Dan Curtis TV productions, mondo documentaries, British Sherlock Holmes films starring Jeremy Brett and their biggest film for readers of this site: HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER. I have many great memories of walking into a video store in the 80's and seeing Gorgon Video releases on the shelves. I got my first taste of many Italian horror films (including the awful FRANKENSTEIN '80 and the cut version of SLAUGHTER HOTEL) and other obscure films (MASSACRE AT CENTRAL HIGH, DIE SISTER DIE).

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IMPERIAL ENTERTAINMENT CORP. - Imperial followed the same path as Academy Entertainment, releasing a bunch of independent horror films, before going into production and making their own films (which would also, like Academy, lead to their downfall in the mid-90's). In the early days (1986 - 1989), Imperial released such films as DEMONS 2, STAGE FRIGHT, SPECTERS, BLACK ROSES (with it's unique 3-D cover), the insanely-bad R.O.T.O.R., GHOSTHOUSE and THE DEAD PIT. During this period, they also released an ungodly amount of Godfrey Ho-directed cut-and-paste martial arts films, usually with "Ninja" in the title and starring Richard Harrison. As the 90's approached they began producing films for the theatrical market and groomed a French martial artist named Olivier Gruner, who would appear in their first production ANGEL TOWN as well as Albert Pyun's NEMESIS, also an Imperial theatrical release. Gruner would then go on to star in many DTV action flicks and prove to be a capable (and quite likable) performer, up to this day. Imperial also made films with Cynthia Rothrock (the CHINA O'BRIEN series; ANGEL OF FURY; LADY DRAGON 2), Don "The Dragon" Wilson (RING OF FIRE; RED SUN RISING) and even Jean Claude Van Damme (BLACK EAGLE). During the early 90's they made straight-to-video Horror (THE DARK; THE CLUB), Action (SHOWDOWN; KING OF THE KICKBOXERS), Erotic Thrillers (SECRET GAMES; THE PAMELA PRINCIPLE) and Comedy films (BUFORD'S BEACH BUNNIES; THE GREAT BIKINI OFF-ROAD ADVENTURE) before disappearing from video store shelves in 1996.

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KEY VIDEO- This sublabel of parent company CBS/Fox Video existed from 1982 to 1990. In those years, Key Video released a lot of good stuff. Their distinctive packaging (multicolored stripes that ran through the center of the video box) and choice of films (anything from 40's actioners like AIR FORCE to 80's horror films like KILLER PARTY) distinguished them from many of the independent labels that didn't have a big company and built-in library of films to supply them with product. Key Video released 70's exploitation films like THE DOBERMAN GANG, DAMNATION ALLEY and KILLER FISH, horror films such as Dario Argento's INFERNO, NIGHT SCHOOL, VAMPIRE AT MIDNIGHT and THE ATTIC, cult films like BETTER OFF DEAD, STRANGER THAN PARADISE, LITTLE MURDERS and HUSH HUSH SWEET CHARLOTTE and, of course, major Fox titles such as PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE, ACROSS 110TH STREET, ZARDOZ, THE BOSTON STRANGLER, WHERE'S POPPA? and many, many others for the first time on home video. Key Video also released some long sought-after TV films like  the original HELTER SKELTER and DARK NIGHT OF THE SCARECROW, which command big bucks on the collectors market today. Key Video has something for everyone during the 80's.

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LIGHTNING VIDEO - This bastard stepchild of Vestron Video released a lot of genre product d uring the video heyday of 1985 - 1990. Releasing mainly unknown films such as DARK AUGUST, NIGHTMARE WEEKEND, A BLADE IN THE DARK, MASSACRE IN DINOSAUR VALLEY and many others (their most well-known title is STREET TRASH), Lightning Video exposed a lot of renters to the pleasures (and pitfalls) of 80's horror cinema. Titles like NEON MANIACS, FROZEN TERROR, NECROPOLIS, CHOPPING MALL and NAKED VENGEANCE made their debuts on the Lightning label. They also released films from the 70's such as THE CLONES, WHEN THE SCREAMING STOPS, PANTHER SQUAD, TERROR IN THE WAX MUSEUM and THE CLONUS HORROR. I remember many nights putting a cassette into my VCR and seeing the Lightning logo come on my TV screen. A red background with two thunderbolts would appear and someone with a Hi-Fi VCR could hear the stereo separation as the right thunderbolt would come blaring out of the right speaker and the left one out of the left speaker as the Lightning logo would appear in blue. While the films may have left a lot to be desired (GIRL SCHOOL SCREAMERS anyone?), you could at least look forward to some previews to appear after the film was finished. While Lightning Video was not a major driving force in the video pantheon, they did supply a lot of horror-hungry fans with some lesser-known titles. For that we can be thankful.