The Classic Horror Thread

[Almar@Cult Labs]

So what did 'creating your own Vipco' involve? I think we should be told! Were there sleeves? What was this outfit to be called? Spill the beans!

[Philleh]

Okay... don't laugh! I was 16!

Philco! C'mon! Inspired, right?

I was only as far into Italian exploitation as Argento and Fulci, so that was pretty much my whole catalogue. It was to be an online retailer only - talk about ahead of its time!

I whole heartedly stole the skull design from their website at one point. I was Joe D'Amato re-incarnate!

[Almar@Cult Labs]

Philco! That was the name of an electrics company in the UK I think. I remember my parents had Philco bedside lamps and a Christmas tree light set. You didn't then set up in lamps instead?

I used to prat about making sleeves for the videos I'd buy from old rental stores that had long since lost their covers. 'Inter-Video' lasted for one whole release until I realised it already had existed in the past!

[Philleh]

Lol, I used to that when I was younger, when I recorded a film from sky/TV I would draw a cover for it. Ah, the innocent days.

As for Philco, they blatantly stole my name

[Almar@Cult Labs]

You know the other nice thing - no one complained about my Inter-Video sleeve or my sleeves for 'AHE Video'

Innocent days indeed.

[Philleh]

Lol, don't let 'em git ya' down mate!
Brush that dirt off your shoulder, so to speak.

I'm sure more people are loving the covers, as opposed to the few detractors.

[Almar@Cult Labs]

I'm only kidding - you can't be that sensitive and survive in the exploiting-the-public sorry I meant to say exploitation business. I'd be interested to see what people make of the Venus and in particular Black Cat sleeve in the flesh when they get 'em.

[Philleh]

I'm digging on The Venus cover. Haven't browsed Black Cat yet. But in all fairness, it's not had a very pleasing cover history - so i'm sure your on to a winner

[Sarah@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by snipsmovies

Rental stores on the whole have largely been a victim of DVDs and encouraging retail prices. I live on the Wirral (pop: 350,000 ish) - my old Yellow Pages of four years ago shows 60+ indie rental stores. In 2008 we are down to 9. That's a hell of a decline. Luckily for myself, our revenue seems to be steadily increasing, thanks mainly to diversifying into several obscure sub-genres, resulting in fantastic world of mouth around the local area.

Its a shame. I really do worry that the next generation of film lovers are going to be raised conditioned to the big studio movies - oblivious to the talents of Ruggero Deodato and unaware of the sheer foxyness of Edwige Feneche (like they are going to notice her in Hostel II). Hopefully the video store will make a comeback, I think its a vital part of the community.

Hi snipsmovies!

I may have to come over to the Wirral and visit your shop sometime. I live over in Crosby and the last independent rental store near me shut down about two years ago. He used to have the best horror section (all on good old VHS) and now it's gone...

Tell you one thing though, my children (when I get round to having some!) will be made well aware of the cool exploitation days. Anyone tries to bring Hostel II into my house and I'll shove it somewhere the sun doesn't shine!

Noticed you stock the old Universal horrors in your place too. Wicked. Not enough places stock anything that was made before 1995!

[snipsmovies]

Hey Sarah,

Thanks for the appreciation. The demise of the Indie Video Store is indeed a worrying proposition. I only have a fairly meagre store with regard to size, but have managed to cram it with 3000+ titles - and DIVERSIFICATION is the key to success. What I have found with working in Video / DVD Rental for 10 years is (sweeping generalisation alert)...... a lot of the Video Store owners are/were 'older guys' and resisted the temptation to 'grow' their businesses by getting in films they knew little about. Our World Cinema section for example now boasts over 150 titles.

Its funny what you were saying about the Universal horror movies. It's soooooooo hard to push the older Horror titles onto the kids (well...16-18's). They are so resistant to that stuff. They have got to rent something that generally consists of six kids in the middle of nowhere gettting slaughtered by ...(insert villain here)... From my POV, I'm only 30 so they do take a few of my recommendations at least, which is something.

I'm currently building a cool section devoted to British Horror with over 40 Hammer movies (the fab black cube boxset helped !) interspersed with Amicus stuff and the like.

Maybe there should be a commerative board for old Video Shops that have 'passed over' !! I had a great one locally when I was 14/15. Excellent
80s horror movies. He was a Video / Butcher. Videos on one side, meat on the other - I kid ye not.