Sayonara Cinema

As DVD, DVR, and Video On Demand among other technological advances become the normal and popular form of home entertainment viewing, the mighty, clunky and combersome VHS has all but been erased (no pun intended) from existance. Within a few years, VHS will become myth and legend, told by oldertimers who grew up with the ancient recording device.

Unfortunately, as VHS dies out, so does the access to many films that due to copyright, availability, etc have not made it to the next generation of home viewing technology. Chief among them are the hordes of low-budget, independently produced features that found their niche and fans as rentals in a video store. Many of these production companies have since gone out of business, and their labors of love stuck in the limbo of red tape. Sayonara Cinema is committed to making sure that these films at least are remembered, and hopefully sought out by those who may have missed them the first time around. Some fans have gone so far as to transfer them to DVD-R in the hopes that they will be preserved. Tread carefully in this grey market, though it may be the only way they’ll ever been seen again.

In upcoming posts, these films which are ever increasing in rarity, will be highlighted. Even if you don’t seek them out, burn their names into your collective film memory, and they will never be forgotten. The first of these films is…

THE VIDEO DEAD (1987) A cursed television that only plays a zombie movie over and over again is discovered in the attic of a house when a new family moves in. When the television is turned on, the zombies escape into suburbia, and it is up to the children and a crazy Texan to hunt down the zombies and destroy the TV once and for all.

Somehow, this film slips through the cracks of most zombie fans Top 10 films. It is crudly made and badly acted, with horrible make up designs, jokes the fall flat, no gore and no scares. This is one of those movies that was made basically to cash in on the VHS horror renting mania of the 80’s, and probably didn’t even get rented that much. It is good for some unintentional laughs, and ripe for a few friends to sit back, drink some beers, and give it the ol’ MST3K try. It has never been released on DVD, but some mom and pop video stores may have a copy still sitting around.