The Great VHS Haul of 2011: Part Deux

Since the success of last weeks discovery, I have been going through my collection and ripping out any of the mainstream titles. The sort of titles that you can pick up in any charity shop for around 5-10p each. Boxing them up and placing them into safe storage. While performing this thankless task it had me wondering if I had managed to somehow miss a few obscurities from the shop. After all, I only had time to briefly scan over the many thousands of tapes in attendance, and it was getting late.

So armed with the knowledge of ‘if it looks awful it’s probably awesome’, I made plans to go back. But this time I was taking my Brother-in-law and 80’s guru Simon along with me for extra eye help. On the drive up I gave him a lesson in health and safety VHS hunting. I couldn’t allow him to go through the various pitfalls and tape traps that I had to pass through last week. By the way my cut from last week is steadily turning into a scar, I just hope it’s V shaped. That would make one hell of a story.

The Great VHS Haul of 2011: Part II


We figured it would be best to scan each room at a time, paying close attention to every title and making sure we don’t miss a single gem. Simon quickly got to work on one side and I did the same on the other.
After running our eyes over a few shelves and finding no less than 13 tapes, it quickly became apparent that I had definitely missed some potential classics on first visit. I grabbed an empty crate and we began to fill it with all sorts of trashy 80’s movies. The way I see it is, how many times do you see these sort of movies on tape anymore? And how long will this store keep them before deciding it may be best to bin them and free up extra space in their shop?
We had one rule and stuck by it through the entire inspection process. We’d pick out a tape if the title sounded right or if the label was a good one, quickly run our eyes over the cover art and tagline, and then decide if it looked good enough to make the crate.
Below are the movies that fitted the bill perfectly.

Simon also decided to donate the rest of his VHS collection that he had been holding back (I already have the others), to the tomb of tapes that is my movie room collection. I always knew he had a few titles that I was after so I was over the moon when he brought the mystery box along for the ride.

Some of them I already own but only in the small case release, so these will be replacements for those few. Others like The Wizard of Speed and Time, i’ve been trying to get my hands on for quite some time now, along with both Eddie and the Cruisers movies.

Most serious collectors may find very little from my recent hauls but it’s not about the value for me. I will at some point or another screen every single tape in my collection, and from the last two weeks i’ve found films that I didn’t even know existed. I will always try and preserve the good name of VHS, even if it means keeping a few copies of films like Pretty Woman in my collection.
I shall now return to the task in hand, removing the common and mainstream titles from my room and replacing them with trashy 80’s movies. Until the day I move house and they can all be united once again in one huge library. VHS rules!

8 thoughts on “The Great VHS Haul of 2011: Part Deux

  1. Oliver Carter

    Sakura Killers, Dead Trouble, Mike Norris, Resort to Kill, Ninja 3: The Domination…just amazing. Some great examples of VHS cover art. Have you completely mined the place now or will their be a threequel?It makes you wonder just what tapes are still out there in shops such as these.

    Reply
  2. Viva VHS

    There really are some amazing coves among the two hauls. I think i’ve pretty much cleaned the place up of any real obscurities but it wouldn’t surprise me at all if i’d managed to miss something.The guy said that they’re due another 300 tapes from someone later on this week. I have a feeling it’s going to be pure 90’s crap and Friends boxsets but you never know. One more trip out wouldn’t hurt.After this it has completely restored my faith in the possibility that there are more out there like this. Fingers crossed it’s me who discovers them and not some ebay seller.

    Reply
  3. Viva VHS

    Really? I agree, Apex usually always release dogshit movies so for this one to be good surprises me. I’ll definitely check it out now based on your info.Thanks.

    Reply
  4. Kristdan Fisher

    You have some serious movies there. I myself am after some rare ones. Nightmare on Alcatraz, Street Trash(big box or cardboard cover) as well as Italian apocalypse movies from 70’s 80’s. I’m always on the hunt at car boots and jumble sales and I’m lucky once in a while but you have some serious luck.

    Reply
    1. Viva VHS Post author

      Hey man. I have a STREET TRASH carton if you’re interested. I also have NIGHTMARE ON ALCATRAZ but it’s not for sale. Feel free to shoot me a wanted list to [email protected] and I can see what I have available, or even find for you.

      Reply
  5. Benjamin Patterson

    So happy to find I’m not alone in the U.K for loving VHS. I’ve seen Americans do videos on YouTube but didn’t realize you held events in Birmingham.
    Would you be able to tell me where I can find VHS in West Midlands, I live in Shrewsbury and only found a few in charity shops. Perhaps car boot sales? At the moment I’m just ordering through Amazon.
    Thanks

    Reply
    1. Viva VHS Post author

      Boot sales are my speciality, like your neck of the woods, charity shops just don’t stock them this way anymore. And that’s partly down to lack of sales on existing stock which of course coincides with the rapid decline of VHS in general. I mean, why would they stock Friends tapes? But they can’t stock pre-certs anyway as the films they sell need to state classification, so I guess they simply throw all of those donations away, or the ‘hipsters’ working in there take them away.

      Sadly, unless you are in the collector circles (forums etc) ebay, Amazon, Gumtree are the only avenues. So sad.

      Reply
  6. Simon Ashton

    Dude, that’s ace! I have the imp too! It’s been rereleased on DVD as sorority house massacre or something… I’m gonna go through my vhs collection this week or next and upload pics to instagram! I’ll hashtag it #vivavhs so you can check it out if you’re
    on there!

    Reply

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