Selling off all my VHS tapes back in the early 2000s wasn't an easy thing to do, but necessary since DVDs were quickly becoming the new format. Sadly, I was incredibly naive in thinking that everything I had on tape was surely going to surface on those new shiny discs.
I had enough sense to hold onto around 70 or so tapes with the intention of having them transferred to DVD-R. Sadly, I didn't have enough sense to prod the "friend" that offered to transfer them all for me to do so. Eventually he, his mother, and his two kids moved away and I never saw my tapes again. I did at least get three transferred out of the lot, though.

I had never seen YOG, MONSTER FROM SPACE (1970) before, so upon spying this tape on one of those old swivel racks, I just had to have it. Sadly, the movie was a major letdown. The English dubbing being massively out of sync for about 15 minutes of the film didn't help, either. The tape seen at the top of the page is the YOG videocassette. Notice the wider spindles. Also, Trans-Atlantic Video could never be bothered to put the titles of the movies on their labels.

Having bought TORTURE DUNGEON as a used tape and seeing the RAT/WEREWOLF nonsense on television, you'd think I'd of learned my lesson; but for whatever reason, I was willing to pay for some CARNAGE (1983). What a waste of money this pathetic haunted house-ghost-revenge movie was. Still, it was under $10, but $10 to a kid is a lot of money.

This was one of many budget tapes I owned bearing the 'Video Treasures' logo. They were my favorite label back in the day (late 80s-early 90s). I threw away so much money on their tapes and they had an incredibly varied selection of titles. My main interest at that time was horror and kung fu and Video Treasures had those in abundance.


SPECTACULAR DISASTERS was an early tape for me, and since I was a big fan of the original STAR TREK series (still am), having Sulu himself, George Takei, hosting a 45 minute documentary on the title cataclysms was a no-brainer. And this Congress Video Group tape definitely delivers on its promise.

Directed by Domonic Paris, this compact party tape has Steve Buscemi and Mark Boone Jr. heading out to a local movie marathon where they enjoy numerous clips of trashy movies, short films (early Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell shorts including one about a killer lawnmower!) and intermission spots. The ending is a humorous tip o' the hat to CARNIVAL OF SOULS (1962).

Hopefully, I'll be able to transfer FILMHOUSE FEVER to DVD as I haven't seen it in over two decades.

After seeing this, I couldn't grasp what was so great about 'Mud Boggin'' -- driving a truck with outsized wheels through a mud-pit.
That Sgt. Slaughter was part of this tape meant nothing to me as I had very little interest in WWF; which was the home of wrestling clowns and circus acts unlike the NWA where the wrestlers were more interested in collecting on other wrestlers "insurance policies". Damn, do I wish I still had those wrestling tapes, too!


Back then, some of these tapes -- like the Trans-Atlantic tapes -- were as cheap as some of the budget DVDs you get in the Wal Mart bins of today. Cheapies like INDESTRUCTIBLE MAN could be had for around $5.

I first read about it in Fangoria both before and after it hit videotape on these shores, so I was pretty hyped for it, especially after the disappointment that was HOUSE OF THE LONG SHADOWS (1983), a Pete Walker film with a cast nightmares are made of -- Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Vincent Price and John Carradine.

Several years later, Video Treasures would morph into Anchor Bay where they would unleash a slew of European horror movies on videocassette, often with misleading statements about films being uncut when they weren't; or being uncut and subbed in English when the only audio on the tape was an English dubbed track.
For me, collecting VHS tapes are little more than fond memories now. A great many continue to collect used tapes today, and often pay exorbitant prices for them. It's not quite the same experience now as, like our childhood, the swivel racks and video shelves of chain stores are all gone as is the excitement of uncovering some obscure monster flick that scared the hell out of you on Shock Theater the weekend before.