Video Violence

I worked as a video clerk when I was a high school junior and, being the horror junkie that I am, I had access to a ton of movies. Every Saturday night I'd pick up a few obscure titles to bring home for the weekend and gorge myself on popcorn. Video Violence was one such film, and I loved it. Pleasingly cheesy and ultra-low budget, filmed in my homestate, and so horribly acted, it was perfect!! Husband and wife move to small town to run video store, where the locals only rent horror movies and the occasional porno. Someone unseen starts slipping homemade snuff films into the store and the husband investigates. Borrowing some from RACE WITH THE DEVIL aside, I really enjoyed this movie, as well as the sequel. Howard & Eli are over the top and the whole feel of the movie is such camp it's classic. I would say if you haven't seen it check it out.

Here is another one of those low budget horror films from the golden age of slashers. The plot consists of a video store that has someone send them a video of local people being tortured. The video store owner goes on his own private investegation. The only gore and blood of the film is when they review the tapes that are sent to them (which is pretty nice stuff to watch). Besides that, the rest of the movie is just a guy going around town doing detective work. Slightly above average for a low budget 80's slasher, but a decent watch for a story.

Yes, this movie is _very_ low budget, and probably was filmed with a regular video camera, the movie was great. Very bloody and senseless killing was the plot, but the characters with no personality made you laugh when you saw them act. Seems like someone wanted to make a movie and used their friends and relatives.

I was the manager of a video store at the time when a traveling distributor asked to me buy this movie. He described the plot and since I have had so many different tapes accidentally switched when they dropped them off, I thought it would be a great reality check. I bought it for the store, it rented maybe 10 times, and then I pulled it and kept it for myself. Truly a cult classic. Could it happen in your store?? Keep an eye on that nightdrop!!

Alright....so the story was kind of goofy.....so the movie was filmed with a home video camera....so the actors were wooden...WHO CARES??? Did you not see the video box?? I didn't expect much when I rented this...and that is what i got. If you have 90 minutes to spare, than rent this piece of crap. It's really kind of funny. The '80's styles are funny enough...but what really got me was the fact that the main characters were SHOCKED that everyone in town actually OWNED a VCR! The times they are a'changing....

Video Violence (1987)

** (out of 4)

Shot on video film has a couple from NYC arriving in a small town where they open a video store. They are shocked to see that everyone is renting horror movies but one day a returned video turns out not to be theirs. They decide to take a look at the returned video and it appears to be a snuff film. The local police don't seem to interesting as more and more people go missing and turning up on these videos. I must say that I was floored at how good this film was. No, it's not an Oscar-worthy film but for its low budget it's still mighty impressive. I've seen countless shot on video or direct to video movies and most of them just try to cash in on the genre by offering up some nudity and gore. We get that here but we also get a very interesting story that makes for a rather entertaining film. The biggest flaws are the rather slow pacing and the 97-minute running time but for the most part I was entertained. What also helps this film is a nostalgia thing because we get to revisit those Mom and Pop stores where all sorts of horror films, like this one, would turn up week after week. Many of these haven't made it to DVD and probably never will but they will always have a place in the hearts of those who rented such movies back then. It's nice seeing all the old horror posters on the wall as well as seeing the actual video cases to several films including a nice joke about the "chainsaw movie" Pieces. The film is very smart at who is going to be watching a movie like this and even makes a few jabs at itself about the low budget and being shot on video. The whole idea of a town loving horror films and deciding to make their own is a great idea and I'm really shocked no one has tried remaking this. The film really does have the feeling of a Herschell Gordon Lewis movie and that's a good thing as long as you know what to expect.