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KPBS Comic-Con News

The Romantic Allure of the VHS Tape

You might have tracked down a VHS copy of Jodorowsky's hard to find film at Comic-Con. (Producciones Panicas)

Back in the '90s one of my favorite things to do at the San Diego Comic-Con was to get my hands on plenty of fantastic genre movies. Right before the rise of DVD and after the death of Laser Discs, the Con was that unique place to get your rare, obscure movie fix. I remember getting El Topo and The Holy Mountain VHS tapes at $25 apiece, a bargain considering the hard-to-find collector's items these legendary Alejandro Jodorowsky finds were. That's when Comic-Con was about even more than comics or about huge studios presentations. Independent distributors were part of the act too with crazy and fun oddities such as The Star Wars Holiday Special or Roger Corman's lost classic The Fantastic 4: The Movie . You can't go wrong with titles like that!

Beth Accomando from San Diego
July 17, 2008 at 06:00 AM
I'm still in search of a perfect collection of Max Headroom Shows (with Matt Frewer in a dual role), which never came out officially on DVD. I have found a fan produced DVD at the Con but the person wanted $70 and it looked like my VHS tapes transferred to DVD. But I have purchased a number of bumper stickers and patches from dealers at the Con promoting Network XXIII and The Edison Carter Show. God that show was great! Thanks Aaron for reminding me of the pleasures of seeking out hard to find cult favs. Another great show I'm searching for is Jonathan Ross' The Incredibly Strange Film Show -- after watching each episode I felt inspired to go out and make a movie.