cover me

usually, in this recurring feature, we take a look at some of the best and worst things happening on dvd covers these days. in keeping with the halloween festivities, i thought this time around we would take a look at one of the most glorious collisions of best and worst to ever grace retail shelves - the vhs horror covers of the 1980s.

it was the best of times, it was the worst of times. mom and pop video stores were opening in every little hamlet and to fill their shelves a number of them would just blindly order product without regard to quality. dozens of production companies sprang up to provide direct-to-video merchandise to these folks and a hurricane made of clamshell cases, nipples and wings hauser flattened all the good taste in its path. a favorite ploy to sell titles in the horror genre was the ol' "banned in x number of countries" gambit. and for you kids that weren't around then, these price stickers you see on a couple of these are not a trick of the light - vhs tapes routinely had a suggested retail price of $89.95. those of you who have seen your fair share of vestron, vidmark and transworld logos know the deal. enjoy.

it's a wonder any of us survived.