Do you remember when new movies on VHS videotape cost about $80 or more? In case you don't, I can assure you it's true; when video stores were just beginning, very few people bought VHS movies for home use, they rented them. Thus, the store owner ponied up the expensive price and then made his money renting the tapes out.
During that time in the early 80's I was pals with a guy that worked at one such store and he got me all kinds of promotional materials when they were done with them, or if they never used them. Here is a scan of the promo slick for the new release "Jason Lives." It's my favorite of all of the Fri the 13th sequels, and all this week I'm watching the movies in order leading up to the new remake release on the 13th.
Of particular interest to me are the tips and suggestions to help promote the movie. You wouldn't see that type of thing done very much in stores nowadays. If a family walked into a video store now with the kids, and saw the employees dressed like Jason's victims with fake machetes and bloody clothes, they'd scream and run out, covering the kid's eyes on the way.
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6 comments:
Awesome! I do remember back when VHS tapes were expensive! Heck, I remember when VCRs were huge, as well.
Thanks for sharing this!
Wings,
Thanks for commenting! yeah, I remember when video first came out, I was in high school in 1976, and the media class had a videtape recorder. The tape was on an open reel! I taped an episode of Star Trek off of tv (the tape was B&W) and we watched it repeatedly during lunch break.
My Mom, God love her, spent something like a hundred bucks to get me a VHS copy of "The Empire Strikes Back" when I was ... 9 or 10, I guess? And in consideration of how many times I watched it, I think she got her money's worth.
Jay,
You were lucky to have a Mom that was that good to you! A friend of mine had parents that bought him a Super8 projector, and he would save up to send off for 200 ft. movies. I envied him so much, whereas I had to sneak and buy my own monster/sci-fi mags and hide them to keep them from being trashed.
People with loving parents don't always realise how good they had it.
Well, Frederick, I had one loving parent and one who beat me up, so I feel like I kind of lived on both sides of that particular fence. Of the two of them, I definitely prefer my Mom.
Yes. Yes I DO remember the absurd cost of videos back then.
Our local video store had one copy of "Scream Greats Volume 1: Tom Savini" (one of Fangoria Magazine's first excursions into video production).
I rented that thing almost weekly and watched it over and over and over again. After months of renting it, I asked the store owner how much it would cost to buy a new copy. Answer: $89.99.
Which at that time, at that age, may as well have been 6 million dollars.
She then said she'd sell me the used copy that I had been renting for only $30.
I was the only kid who rented that tape, and she figured she'd recouped her costs sevenfold.
I still have the video even though I don't even have a VHS player in my house.
How can you part with a tape that cost you 7 kerbillion dollars?
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