Video Sleeves: Then and Now (part two)

It has been a few months since we last looked at the ever-changing face of video artwork, so seeing as it's October, lets do a full horror entry. Some of these are subtle, while some are downright appalling. I guess the art department has to justify their salaries too, but I just wish they could have been a bit more creative in what they do.



First up, a truly shocking piece of photoshop. The original Rawhead Rex VHS is hardly a masterpiece of graphic design, but it was atmospheric and eye-catching enough to make me and my friends constantly want to rent it.

The monster was there, right on the front, and looks fairly terrifying. Sure, we felt jipped when we got home and watched the film, but at least we made it that far. Would you make it to the till with the DVD sleeve? The actual DVD on my shelf is as blurry and pixelated as this image I found on the web.

This next one really bugs me. Here's the original VHS for Silent Night, Deadly Night:

It's a striking image, a great juxtaposition of a familiar image of Santa going down the chimney, only this time with the violence and terror of the added axe in his hand. The film was controversial at the time due to the TV spots they ran which outraged parents across the states, resulting in pickets and protests at cinemas. The film was a big release on DVD for Anchor Bay, who usually do the right thing and get the original art or at least the original poster design for the sleeve. Like many of you, I've had loads of their discs over the years and they usually do just fine on the presentation. So I was disappointed when the DVD finally arrived in the post and I saw this:

The obvious cropping in on the image doesn't bug me too much (though it is cropped too far, leaving the remaining image no room to breathe), what really ticks me off is the FONTS! SO MANY DIFFERENT FONTS! They made a real mess of this one with putting too much giant-sized writing all over it. Did we really need two terrible new tag lines on the front sleeve? Or two attempts to remind us that it's a controversial title, just in case you forgot as you panned your eyes down? they couldn't even leave the title font in tact, they went and added blood dripping from it too. The photoshop guy must have been really eager to impress his boss that day...

Up next, one that just baffles me as to why they went with it. Here's the original VHS for Stuart Gordon's classic From Beyond:

It's the sleeve most of us would have grown up with, and it does a good job of selling what kind of film it is (body horror with science fiction elements, I just love the gloopy images on the back). After years of thinking we were never going to see the unrated directors cut due to the original footage being lost, us horror fans got a treat when they announced that the footage had been discovered, and a special edition was on the way. I was somewhat surprised to see the artwork that followed on the final release:

Now, it's not bad artwork, but it's artwork that was done for the films original soundtrack release. So, why put it on the DVD cover? Even then it has been altered (the blue-ish hue is new) and it looks more like a cyberpunk horror than what the original film was. baffling, really.

This final one is probably the strangest and worst since the Near Dark sleeves I included in Part One. The Gate is a great little film, with a fun soundtrack and good performances from the young leads, that include a teeny Stephen Dorff . The special effects are also excellent, and VHS really does a good job of showing what kind of film it is:

Sure, the film features kids, but it isn't necessarily a kids film, which is why I couldn't figure out what the hell this was supposed to be:

This looks to be cashing on in pretty much any kids adventure film that came out in the last ten years. You would barely even notice the little creatures around the child (who definitely doesn't look like Stephen Dorff) and your little kid might be upset by the time he witnesses one of the lead characters dancing with his dead dog in the middle of the night. Harry Potter, it ain't!

As I said in closing last time, it's about preserving that culture and style from when the film got released. We don't need revisionism of obscure B movies, in the same way we don't want Greedo shooting first in Star Wars. No matter how small a niche these titles may fill in the 'bigger picture' of film history, they still belong there, and are part of that history. They are worth preserving. It would be just as sad for the artwork to disappear into the annals of time as it would for some of these films to be forgotten about completely, and with the costs of getting Blu ray discs onto the market, the likelihood of that happening to many titles that have never even made it to DVD doesn't seem too far fetched.