VHS covers of gold.

 

Can you remember walking through the dusty shelves of your local video rental shop? All the wonderful covers staring at you, begging you to take them home. Collecting old VHS tapes and covers has a pretty solid undeground (as much as anything can be "underground") hobby for the last several years.
I walk along the fence of VHS collecting. I love old VHS cover art, it feels like home. But, it would take a lot of space and some of the more beautiful tapes are hella expensive.
VHSCollector.com just published their Top 16 Most Valuable U.S. Horror VHS'. Here is PART 1 and here is PART 2.

A lot of the choices fall into the so-bad-they're-good category for me. The reasons for each tapes value is different. An uncut edition of the film; wonderful or horrible artwork; extremely limited print run; an absolutely, must be seen to be believed, horrible film. In nearly all cases supply and demand dictate the collectibility of the tape. Extreme graphic violence on the cover also plays a strong part. VHSCollector.com writes, "The rule of thumb is if it shocked renters at the video store, its prices are sure to shock on eBay."
A really fun and informative pair of articles.

Daily poster: The Dunwich Horror.

 

The Dunwich Horror.
The film is not without its charms; mostly unintentional humor and dated colloquialisms. It bears very little resemblance to the H.P. Lovecraft story that shares its name.
You really only need to watch the trailer to "get" the film. I also really like this poster. The tagline is fantastic and the Medusa/Dean Stockwell overtaking Sandra Dee image is exploitation and horror at their best.
The Lovecraft story is my most favoritest by him. I have a couple original pulps and the Weird Tales issue with The Dunwich Horror is my prized posssession, amongst them. I only wish Lovecraft would have made the cover of more than two pulps in his lifetime. A crime. Imagine a Dunwich Horror, Weird Tales cover.

 

Above is the actual cover of Weird Tales, April 1929 issue (I found the image HERE. Haven't read the article yet) What a poor excuse for a cover. What a terrible choice.
I actually have a collecetion of all the editions of the story that I can find. There are some great ones.

Poster courtesy of Wrong Side of the Art.