Time to get your top-loading Goodmans video player out of the attic – Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead II is getting a VHS reissue…
Proving that nostalgia always wins out over picture quality, Sam Raimi’s 1987 horror sequel Evil Dead II is getting a re-release – on good old VHS tape.
The reissue is the first in a planned series from Vice Press Home Video, a newly-minted arm of movie poster specialists, Vice Press. Sold under licence from StudioCanal, the original film’s rights holder, the VHS Evil Dead II will come in one of those clamshell cases, in which you’ll find a double-sided cover and six postcards featuring old and new bits of poster art.
The package’s new art is by Matt Ferguson and Florey, but traditionalists will be pleased to note that James Bouseman’s artwork, which graced Evil Dead II’s original release, also figures on one side of the cover and the postcards.
There are also two editions to choose from – a Collector’s Edition, which features everything mentioned above, and the Blood Splatter Variant, which comes in a special cardboard cover and includes a version of the VHS tape covered in (fake) claret. Numbers are limited, though: the Collector’s Edition (£24.99) will have a run of 500, while the Blood Splatter Variant (also £24.99) will have a run of just 250.
There’s quite a collector’s market for VHS tapes these days, of course, with some specific releases being highly sought-after and worth hundreds if not thousands of pounds. Horror movies are particularly popular among collectors, particularly pre-certification films that caught up in the whole ‘video nasty’ flap in the early 1980s. Certain editions of such films as Zombie Flesh Eaters, Cannibal Holocaust and, yes, Sam Raimi’s original Evil Dead often change hands for three-figure sums in online auctions.
Both versions of the Evil Dead II tape will be available to order from on Vice Press’s website from Thursday 16th November at 6pm UK time.
