”Texas Chainsaw Massacre” hand-painted VCR

Collecting horror films on the VHS format has become a huge deal in the past five years with several Facebook collector groups popping up, newsworthy lists of tapes that fetch hundreds of dollars on the open-market, and the excellent documentary film Adjust Your Tracking: The Untold Story Of The VHS Collector covering the obsession.

Nostalgic fans are by-and-large now of an age where they have the disposable income to hunt down and pay a premium for the tapes they remember from the shelves of their local mom-and-pop video stores. Horror seems to be the genre of choice for high-rolling VHS collectors.

An artist and collector going by the name Sorce122 has been making waves in the VHS collector community recently by offering up custom-painted VCRs. What is particularly remarkable about his hand-painted VCRs, aside from the high level of craftsmanship, is the fact that he’s (up till now) only been charging $70 for these one-of-a-kinds—and that includes the VCR!

The VCR’s are also guaranteed to work, by the way.

From LunchMeatVHS.com:

Sorce122 is a self-taught artist, with a creative background that mainly consists of graffiti and pen and ink drawing. When asked about the inspiration behind creating the custom VCR casings, he stated, “My inspiration for the VCRs basically [comes from] my love of painted movie poster and video cover box art. Also, a hatred of boring ass silver and black electronics. VCRs are more than that now (and they always were)… they mean more to people than DVD or Blu-ray, IMO. They have, hold, and project character with every burp, glitch, and picture roll. To me, they scream freedom, and things that make us free shouldn’t be solid silver like some kind of 1984 totalitarian robot of death.  It should have character, just like the covers of the movies we love.  So, that’s what I’m doin’… I’m trying to create a 3-Dimensional movie poster that plays movies… The VCRs are 100% functional. I use pencil, spray paint, paint pens, sharpies, and clear coat. No paint gets inside the deck, and they’re fully tested before and after.”

”A Nightmare on Elm Street” custom-painted VCR

More custom-painted VHS horror film VCRs after the jump…

Ash uses a repulser beam on superhero zombies.
 

Slash/Up is a fan-film web-series specializing in unlikely mashup “what if” shorts like Sarah Connor vs. Jason Voorhees.

According to Bloody-Disgusting.com, Slash/Up are “currently hard at work on Ash vs. the DC Dead, which they say ‘is basically a gigantic middle finger to the house of mouse.’”

Ash vs. the DC Dead is a sequel to this short, Marvel Zombies vs. Army of Darkness, which had previously been removed from YouTube.
 

 
Well, for now, it’s back up—so check this out while you can! It’s an extremely well made fan-film, shot for “the cost of a Macbook Pro.”
 

Zombie Iron Man and Zombie Spider-man.
 
Quick, before the angry YouTube gods pull it down again!

 
Via Bloody-Disgusting.com

 
Sam Raimi would have been no more than 19 years old when he directed Clockwork, but you can definitely see the horror-legend’s talents gestating in the bones of this little Super-8 thriller. Scott Spiegel, the writer, director, producer and actor who would eventually write the screenplay for Evil Dead 2, plays a stalker. His victim is Cheryl Guttridge—who did little in the way of acting, but later served as a “Fake Shemp” (a term associated with Sam Raimi) in The Evil Dead. (Ever notice how much influence the Three Stooges had on these films?)
 

 
What plays out is clearly a predecessor to his goofy gore franchise. It’s a great little short. There’s blood and screams and the sort of pop culture imagery that reminds the viewer—you are not safe, not even in the modern world (though the amenities of say, an S-Mart, can really help a guy out of a jam)! The use of alienating, electronic music builds suspense beautifully, while more traditionally orchestrated sounds add to the unease. There are some artfully executed classic horror shots, with some noir zooms thrown in for suspense. Enjoy the early work of this camp-horror auteur!