Worst DVD Covers...ever! (Part 4K)

Discuss North American DVDs and Blu-rays or other DVD and Blu-ray-related topics.
Post Reply
Message
Author
User avatar
Brian C
I hate to be That Pedantic Guy but...
Joined: Wed Sep 16, 2009 11:58 am
Location: Chicago, IL

Re: Worst DVD Covers...ever! (Part 4K)

#1601 Post by Brian C » Thu Nov 07, 2019 6:45 pm

Mfunk does post his share of non-horrible covers, there’s no question about that. But that GOLDFINCH cover is kind of hilarious, if only for the tiny little bird in all that white space that doesn’t have anything to do with the movie and, shown in flight, is rather oppositional to the bird in the titular painting. Presumably it’s flying away as, like, an inspirational symbol of hope, or something.

User avatar
bdsweeney
Joined: Mon Apr 07, 2008 7:09 pm

Re: Worst DVD Covers...ever! (Part 4K)

#1602 Post by bdsweeney » Thu Nov 07, 2019 9:06 pm

He just looks really pissed off at it. What's the poor bird done to him?

User avatar
mfunk9786
Under Chris' Protection
Joined: Fri May 16, 2008 4:43 pm
Location: Philadelphia, PA

Re: Worst DVD Covers...ever! (Part 4K)

#1603 Post by mfunk9786 » Thu Nov 07, 2019 9:08 pm

It's the same look Ezra Miller gives whenever he's about to murder something in We Need to Talk About Kevin

User avatar
Dylan
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 9:28 pm

Re: Worst DVD Covers...ever! (Part 4K)

#1604 Post by Dylan » Wed Nov 20, 2019 8:51 pm

Image

User avatar
mfunk9786
Under Chris' Protection
Joined: Fri May 16, 2008 4:43 pm
Location: Philadelphia, PA

Re: Worst DVD Covers...ever! (Part 4K)

#1605 Post by mfunk9786 » Thu Nov 21, 2019 5:53 pm

Image

User avatar
Brian C
I hate to be That Pedantic Guy but...
Joined: Wed Sep 16, 2009 11:58 am
Location: Chicago, IL

Re: Worst DVD Covers...ever! (Part 4K)

#1606 Post by Brian C » Thu Nov 21, 2019 6:43 pm

It's funny, I'm not a sucker for nostalgia at all, but that cover actually does fondly remind me of my VHS collecting days in high school and college, before a moving company lost them all and I started over with DVD. I thought I had quite the library at the time, although my collection was only probably 30 tapes or so at its peak.

User avatar
mfunk9786
Under Chris' Protection
Joined: Fri May 16, 2008 4:43 pm
Location: Philadelphia, PA

Re: Worst DVD Covers...ever! (Part 4K)

#1607 Post by mfunk9786 » Thu Nov 21, 2019 6:53 pm

It's impressively done, if that's what you're looking for... but the cover itself with all the text is hideous, and is Hudson Hawk somehow synonymous with VHS in some way?

User avatar
swo17
Bloodthirsty Butcher
Joined: Tue Apr 15, 2008 10:25 am
Location: SLC, UT

Re: Worst DVD Covers...ever! (Part 4K)

#1608 Post by swo17 » Thu Nov 21, 2019 6:58 pm


User avatar
Brian C
I hate to be That Pedantic Guy but...
Joined: Wed Sep 16, 2009 11:58 am
Location: Chicago, IL

Re: Worst DVD Covers...ever! (Part 4K)

#1609 Post by Brian C » Thu Nov 21, 2019 7:03 pm

mfunk9786 wrote:is Hudson Hawk somehow synonymous with VHS in some way?
I just figured it was going for 80s nostalgia, which presumably is the only reason anyone would want to watch HUDSON HAWK to begin with.

User avatar
The Fanciful Norwegian
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 2:24 pm
Location: Teegeeack

Re: Worst DVD Covers...ever! (Part 4K)

#1610 Post by The Fanciful Norwegian » Thu Nov 21, 2019 7:20 pm

Mill Creek has been doing this for awhile with their older (i.e. pre-2000s) Sony licenses. Unfortunately I can find no evidence that Double Team was ever actually released as a green cassette.

Image
Image
Image

User avatar
swo17
Bloodthirsty Butcher
Joined: Tue Apr 15, 2008 10:25 am
Location: SLC, UT

Re: Worst DVD Covers...ever! (Part 4K)

#1611 Post by swo17 » Thu Nov 21, 2019 7:26 pm

Sorry, but I'm only nostalgic for my VHS tapes opening at the bottom

User avatar
mfunk9786
Under Chris' Protection
Joined: Fri May 16, 2008 4:43 pm
Location: Philadelphia, PA

Re: Worst DVD Covers...ever! (Part 4K)

#1612 Post by mfunk9786 » Thu Nov 21, 2019 7:27 pm

This is nightmare packaging

User avatar
cdnchris
Site Admin
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 2:45 pm
Location: Washington
Contact:

Re: Worst DVD Covers...ever! (Part 4K)

#1613 Post by cdnchris » Thu Nov 21, 2019 8:43 pm

They're just slips, too, nothing extravagant

User avatar
knives
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2008 6:49 pm

Re: Worst DVD Covers...ever! (Part 4K)

#1614 Post by knives » Thu Nov 21, 2019 8:44 pm

I like the idea and it seems like the easiest way to use VHS artwork.

User avatar
swo17
Bloodthirsty Butcher
Joined: Tue Apr 15, 2008 10:25 am
Location: SLC, UT

Re: Worst DVD Covers...ever! (Part 4K)

#1615 Post by swo17 » Thu Nov 21, 2019 8:51 pm

Oh wait, I just got that the tape coming out at the right is actually part of the artwork, not some 3D rendering of how it looks when you slide out the case holder (a la Criterion's Videodrome). Hard pass

User avatar
Feego
Joined: Thu Aug 16, 2007 7:30 pm
Location: Texas

Re: Worst DVD Covers...ever! (Part 4K)

#1616 Post by Feego » Thu Nov 21, 2019 9:07 pm

I'm surprised some here weren't aware of these. This has been a trend for a while, and from bigger companies than Mill Creek. Several exclusive slipcovers were created for Walmart last year from Lionsgate, Fox, WB, MGM, Sony, and Paramount, as you can see in this video. They even produced some for movies that didn't exist in the VHS era, like John Wick and Kong: Skull Island.

User avatar
mfunk9786
Under Chris' Protection
Joined: Fri May 16, 2008 4:43 pm
Location: Philadelphia, PA

Re: Worst DVD Covers...ever! (Part 4K)

#1617 Post by mfunk9786 » Thu Nov 21, 2019 9:35 pm

I wish I could go back to being unaware of them!

User avatar
Monterey Jack
Joined: Fri Jan 12, 2018 1:27 am

Re: Worst DVD Covers...ever! (Part 4K)

#1618 Post by Monterey Jack » Thu Nov 21, 2019 11:08 pm

I think the VHS slips are neat.

User avatar
The Fanciful Norwegian
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 2:24 pm
Location: Teegeeack

Re: Worst DVD Covers...ever! (Part 4K)

#1619 Post by The Fanciful Norwegian » Fri Nov 22, 2019 1:05 pm

cdnchris wrote:
Thu Nov 21, 2019 8:43 pm
They're just slips, too, nothing extravagant
Yep, and the inserts in the actual cases are just conventional cover art without the VHS theme:

Image

User avatar
mfunk9786
Under Chris' Protection
Joined: Fri May 16, 2008 4:43 pm
Location: Philadelphia, PA

Re: Worst DVD Covers...ever! (Part 4K)

#1620 Post by mfunk9786 » Fri Nov 22, 2019 1:09 pm

From that angle they bother me even more. They just make my skin crawl and I can't really articulate too well beyond that. As swo mentioned, VHS sleeves didn't open from that side, and there's something about one solid piece being a visual representation of two different things meant to slide into each other that's just... icky.

User avatar
colinr0380
Joined: Mon Nov 08, 2004 4:30 pm
Location: Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire, UK

Re: Worst DVD Covers...ever! (Part 4K)

#1621 Post by colinr0380 » Sat Nov 23, 2019 8:08 am

Does the top of the slipcover flip up to show a full picture of the faux-VHS tape image behind it? That might make it a little better.

User avatar
The Pachyderminator
Joined: Tue Oct 03, 2017 9:24 pm

Re: Worst DVD Covers...ever! (Part 4K)

#1622 Post by The Pachyderminator » Sat Nov 23, 2019 1:20 pm

Blank VHS tapes sometimes slid out the side of the box. I'm not sure if actual movies ever did.

User avatar
swo17
Bloodthirsty Butcher
Joined: Tue Apr 15, 2008 10:25 am
Location: SLC, UT

Re: Worst DVD Covers...ever! (Part 4K)

#1623 Post by swo17 » Sat Nov 23, 2019 1:46 pm

My memory is that all blank VHS tapes slid out that way, which made the commercial tapes and their bottom openings special. Granted, maybe that was just the brand my mom used to buy. But it strikes me this might be a good question to ask if you ever want to test whether someone 40+ is an extraterrestrial

User avatar
DRW.mov
Joined: Thu Sep 15, 2016 2:43 pm
Location: Los Angeles, CA

Re: Worst DVD Covers...ever! (Part 4K)

#1624 Post by DRW.mov » Sat Nov 23, 2019 2:33 pm

The old red ringed Columbia tapes opened only from yhe side. This was very common through the 80s and into the early 90s with Columbia releases. If you look at the video store in the Fisher King (a Columbia film) all of the tapes are these red ringed Columbia tapes that open from the side.

User avatar
colinr0380
Joined: Mon Nov 08, 2004 4:30 pm
Location: Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire, UK

Re: Worst DVD Covers...ever! (Part 4K)

#1625 Post by colinr0380 » Sat Nov 23, 2019 9:53 pm

I actually have the three Back To The Future films on commercial VHS which are cardboard with the opening at the bottom, which are probably the oldest tapes in my collection (I got them as a Christmas gift in 1990 when I was 10!), so in no need of faux-retro style VHS packaging for those films at least!

All the blank, recordable VHS tapes I have open at the side (and looking on my shelves I have brands from a number of different companies: Phillips, TDK, EMI, Cambira, Memorex, Maxell, BASF. Even WHSmith own brand blank VHS tapes!). And aside from those Back To The Future tapes from my experience almost all rental tapes and commercially sold VHS tapes would usually come in side opening plastic boxes for extra durability. But maybe it was a bit different in the US?
Last edited by colinr0380 on Thu Nov 09, 2023 4:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Post Reply