rewind THE TF TEAM REFLECT ON A FORMAT…
“My older sister hired Friday the 13th Part II and The Boogeyman and sat me down to watch them with her when I was eight. I had to sleep in with my parents for the next six months but it started my lifelong fascination with the horror genre.”
Jamie Graham, Editor-at-Large
“I still have a VHS player purely because I like to play the occasional old tapes – especially ones that still have my departed Grandpa’s handwriting on and live in those classy leather-bound cases. Feels like a bit of time travel to me.”
Jane Crowther, Editor-in-Chief
“I still remember how mum lined our TV room’s top shelf with every single Elvis Presley film ever taped off a summer-long telly marathon, placed with the status of hallowed trophies in specially acquired premium cases, which probably cost almost as much as it would have to just buy the films.”
Erlingur Einarsson, Production Editor
“I first saw my favourite film – Aliens – after recording it on Sky when it aired as part of the ‘Lil-Lets Leading Ladies’ season in the ’90s. Repeat viewings prompted my curious young mind to quiz my parents about the feminine hygiene products being advertised. Mercifully, my brain has suppressed the resulting awkwardness.”
Jordan Farley, News Editor
“I remember in the early ’90s finding a tape in the video cupboard (!) my dad had simply labelled ‘Star Wars’. When I watched it, it turned out to be The Empire Strikes Back, in widescreen. I fell for it HARD and had no idea there were other films in the series – nor what widescreen even was. The same thing happened with T2!”
Josh Winning, Contributing Editor
“I remember making audio recordings of my favourite film songs by putting my stereo next to the TV. I wore out my copy of the rap from the Turtles movie, and I had most of The Naked Gun dialogue across both sides of a cassette. I also thought Cliffhanger was called ‘Hang On’, because that’s what it said on the front of the box in my video shop.”
Paul Bradshaw, Contributor
“As an enterprising young child with a burgeoning VHS collection, I set up a ‘video shop’ from the cupboard under my bed to encourage my brothers to pay to borrow my tapes. Not sure I had a single customer. And my most harrowing memory of taping from the telly was when my Ghostbusters recording cut off just as Stay Puft’s ominous footsteps started…”
Matt Maytum, Deputy Editor
“Dirty Dancing – I was totally obsessed with the film and the music, and wore out the VHS copy I had as an East London teen! The other was Who’s That Girl, as I was obsessed with Madonna. And, embarrassingly, I had Neighbours – The Scott & Charlene Love Story on VHS, and also had a load of stickers and vinyl of Kylie and Jason…”
Ashanti Omkar, Contributor
“When I was a teenager I lived in a small village in Sussex, which was quite remote… so we didn’t have a video store. We had a van come round once a week, where the inside was packed with VHS tapes. You could rent titles and keep them for a week. No question, the highlight of my week!”
James Mottram, Contributing Editor
“Can remember my parents being nervous of me watching Rambo: First Blood Part II at a tender age, but then the picture quality being so muddy that my Dad had to provide audio description: ‘Seems like he’s slitting that man’s throat. You know, with that giant serrated knife. Be a helluva mess…’”
Matthew Leyland, Reviews Editor
“I bought a VHS of Good Morning, Vietnam during my first visit to the US and was gutted to discover it wouldn’t play in a UK machine. I’m sure I still have it somewhere. I also still have (and can’t bear to part with) my massive VHS boxset of all the James Bond films. (Well, up to TWINE anyway.)”
Neil Smith, Contributing Editor
“My local video shop had all the horror on a high shelf. I was quite a sensitive child so I would try my hardest not to look at them when I went in but would inevitably get a glimpse and get extremely freaked out! The most terrifying ones for me were definitely Hellraiser, Monkey Shines, Creepshow, Night Of The Demons, The Howling and The Dentist.”
Leila Latif, Contributor