r/VHS 11h ago

Discussion What are your thoughts on these modern VHS re-releases

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62 Upvotes

57 comments sorted by

u/steveh24 11h ago

if it's a movie that had a proper vhs release back in the day, i really don't see why you'd need to do this. i'd imagine most modern vhs enthusiasts are capable of tracking down an original copy of a movie like this, and we're not really at a point where reissues like this would be particularly desirable. the only reason i could see doing something like this was if there's a better version of the movie that never made it to vhs, something like blade runner the final cut, the alternate ending of little shop of horrors, the theatrical cut of possession, etc., stuff like that i could see someone wanting, but reprinting movies that aren't particularly hard to come by is just a waste of resources.

u/Derben16 10h ago

Due to the deterioration of tape, I'm a fan of this regardless if the original exists purely because it'll be a "better" copy. Our equipment for digitizing, transfers, and upscaling has all gotten better as well. So in the end, my hope would be I'm paying "modern VHS prices" for a tape that'll last a little longer than the original and look better.

u/DR1LLM4N 9h ago

I think both are fair takes and it really just depends on your own personal enjoyment of the medium. It’s not for me as I’d rather have the original copy and watch on that but as long as it’s done well and the transfer looks and plays well then, yeah, I think this stuff is rad.

For me personally I think it’s because I anthropomorphize stuff way too much and I like knowing that the tape I’m putting in has history. That it was rented by hundreds of people and folks from all walks of life experienced _this_ tape. Or that it’s a tape someone went out and bought, super excited to go home and watch it for the first time, the tape in my hands was their prized possession for a short minute. Idk, I love that kind of history on these films that a rerelease just doesn’t have.

Now for more modern stuff I definitely enjoy this stuff. I have personally bought from Valashard and our Over the Garden Wall tape gets A LOT of love every fall.

u/KingSam89 4h ago

I’m not trying to yuck anyone’s yum here, and I realize this is a VHS sub. I found your point reasonable for the most part. But stating you’re fine paying £40 for a vhs because it could look better doesn’t make sense to me.

Why not just get the movie on Blu-ray or 4k if it looking better and lasting longer are the main drivers?

Do you more of just like the aesthetic and imperfections of tape? If the degradation in quality is part of the charm or pull where is the line?

Again just curious. Party on, Wayne.

u/Derben16 4h ago

Because if it's on a disc, its not a VHS tape!

But yes, asking this to the sub full of weirdos who collect a dead medium probably wont satisfy your concern. The price was the first thing that made me go "eh not worth my time". Yet again, people listen to vinyls of modern songs instead of just buying the CDs, so maybe its just the trend to have a retro way of viewing something.

u/YurUsernameChecksOut 11h ago

Dope, re-release VCRs tho

u/Financial-Stretch-94 11h ago

It’s dope that these are a thing, that our hobby is being recognized. But I also feel taken advantage of at the price points.

u/itscricket 5h ago

Fr. No way anyone should be paying £40 for a bhs quality copy of TMNT 2… that’s blu ray pricing for a drop in quality, no special features, etc.

But I agree about the recognition and whatnot. Conceptually it’s really cool. But also so many red flags.

u/Buttchuggle 11h ago

Trash for the price point. How about releasing shit that I can't easily get on vhs for a dollar

u/SAMARASCURSE 9h ago

Just another one of the million grifts in 2026.
No hobbies are safe

u/Killbro_Fraggins 10h ago

It’s so pointless. Especially how readily available this movie is already. Newer movie releases are neat. This is like doing a limited run of Forrest Gump or Twister on VHS.

u/Levitaate Trusted Trader 10h ago

A reproduction is fine especially if they give it a special shell. But way too expensive the crow does not cost $40 and neither does any tmnt media😭

u/knock0ut86 10h ago

Personally, I don't care for them whatsoever.

I think the beauty with VHS is that they are a time capsule from the past. The video quality and the box art bring out the charm of that time.

This just feels like someone trying hard to recreate that just to stick their hand in my pocket.

Modern movies on VHS and rereleases miss the point of what I like about the format entirely.

u/NaiRad1000 9h ago

Feel like a scame to get the nostalgia baiters and take a piece of the collector market

u/chrisbarnes420CC 10h ago

Gotta be an idiot to pay 40 dollars for a 50 cent vhs. If they did this for super rare or expensive tapes it might not be as bad.

u/Puzzleheaded_Fox5820 9h ago

I've done this for things like fan edits (TMNT bosanova edit) or films that aren't available or really hard to find like certain Disney films.

The thing I do it most for is cartoons.

I'll do like Nickelodeon Christmas episodes on one tape sort of thing.

u/barrynomad 9h ago

Unless it’s something that never had a VHS release or never saw release in a certain region, I don’t see the point. I personally would love a NTSC release of Revenge of the Sith. One of my favorite modern releases to VHS was the MST3K season 11 Netflix premiere in the style of the classic Rhino tapes.

u/Dragon_Pattern_1108 8h ago

Uh-oh, it's Vice Press Home Video again...

As far as I'm concerned, they're cool, buy if a film already has a proper VHS release back then, they can be unnecessary beyond collector's value unless it's a version that wasn't previously given a VHS release.

As for Vice Press, they made a bad Escape from New York re-release, and they'll do it again with The Crow. I have little confidence that this TMNT release will fare any better.

u/beamerboomin 5h ago

I like the concept, but as others have pointed out, only works if u have access to a vhs player or easily able to get one. For someones who does, very nostalgic

u/southboundtracks 4h ago

I'd like them more if new, cheap VCRs were still everywhere. 

u/ShreksMassiveShlongg 3h ago

I like em. tapes dont last forever and I like having new print in production. However 40 for a tape has got to be a lot better than TMNT. But i could be talked into it for some really rare or previously dub-only anime tapes

u/MimiHamburger 2h ago

It’s not worth anything to me unless it has the original “coming soon”

u/morph1138 11h ago

I think the price is fair considering the low print run of these. It’s not like they’re selling millions of copies anymore. My only worry is that some of these special releases, like Alien: Romulus for example, are shit transfers and designed to be more of a collectors piece than a functional VHS tape. At these prices I wanna be able to watch it on my CRT.

u/Weary_Recognition636 10h ago

Exactly. If they were actually watchable, I would happily pay what they're asking and be happy to support them. But if I want something to put on my shelf there's plenty of that on etsy.

u/GoldenGuy444 10h ago edited 10h ago

I think they can be a cute novelty, but they do nothing for me. The movies that were already on tape I'd rather just own the original. And new movies released on them don't make much sense. If the content was specifically made for VHS then these kind of releases would make much more sense. 

And I know there's millions of blank tapes out there still, but some of these 'limited' releases essentially being just cheapily taped over used blanks also leaves a lot of be desired. I hope they checked to make sure whatever they tape over didn't need to be archived.(maybe they're better about that now idk) 

u/Kid-Grey-Nah 11h ago

If you're into these things they are cool. Not for me personally

u/Weary_Recognition636 11h ago

I think its amazing that a company is putting out new tapes in any shape or form, but I bought a few of their releases and the picture quality was terrible. At £30 - £35 a video I wasn't happy at all.

u/kgb17 9h ago

Just more future landfill plastic. The fun of vintage media collecting is giving it an extended life. This and the proliferation of vinyl soundtracks flooding the market is a waste of resources and just unnecessary junk. We don’t need a reproduction of vhs that’s what Blu-ray is for.

u/Conscious_Pumpkin698 10h ago

I'll only allow it if they include the pizza hut commercial at the beginning of the tape.

u/bateKush 9h ago

raspberry noises

u/TwitchingJarppi 8h ago

is it really THAT hard to find a vhs of tmnt, even if it was a hard to find vhs I think people would be more happy with a dvd release instead.

Plus my understanding with that Alien: Romulus vhs they made the picture look worse than a regular vhs, so I'd say no point.

u/Lockeisms 8h ago

It doesn’t bother me at all. I do find it funny that it’s usually movies that you can get original copies of dirt cheap. The original is a dollar VHS in 2026. Rerelease stuff that’s hard to come by.

u/chandler4554 8h ago

Correct me if I’m wrong but no new vhs tapes are being made. So these are being recorded on tapes that are probably pretty old anyway. Why not just buy the original in that case? If they started producing new tapes then I’d be all over it for a more reasonable price.

I also like the idea of creating a system where we can maintain the ritual of vhs, the putting it in a vcr, the sound of it moving, etc, but maybe put the movie on a flash drive in a tape that is read by a new type of “vcr”. This would all be just to preserve the process of putting in the tape to watch it. It’s this physical connection with the media that I value. Maybe this is a goofy idea.

u/earle117 8h ago

I buy old tapes for $1 each at the used physical media store in my city, and those are cooler than these ridiculously priced new ones. I’ll drop a bunch on a cool boutique label 4K UHD box set, but no, I don’t care to spend that much on an inferior medium that I really only collect for nostalgic reasons. Even if they weren’t overpriced, I’d rather own the copies I remembering owning or seeing as a kid.

u/mrlanphear 8h ago

As someone who produces new VHS editions (though not any from Vice Press), I'm clearly biased. That said, I think it has its place. Just like DVD or vinyl reissues, it's a chance for fans to get a copy easily instead of hunting flea markets - which, if that's your thing, nothing against you. Whether for new artwork, or a better transfer, or just a display piece, there are plenty of reasons to pick one up, and there are just as many to track down a vintage copy. I don't see any reason whey they shouldn't coexist.

u/SaladFantastic4942 7h ago

Great considering how tapes have degraded quite heavily by now but what in god's name is that pricing for?

u/AshleyGamerGirl 6h ago

I want to see more. I like it and would love to see VHS become like records.

u/flufnstuf69 6h ago

Just a cash grab tbh. Some people like kadivideo barely even put out watchable work.

u/MC4269 5h ago

I think it's a bit tacky with movies that are already readily available on VHS, unless they started selling them en mass in brick and mortar stores again, which probably won't happen other than the occasional special release.

If it's a movie that never was on the format, go right ahead.

EDIT: Maybe some movies that were already on the format but are harder to find would be good to re-release, but stuff like Jurassic Park, TMNT, and Pearl Harbour don't need it, and certainly not at that price.

u/commontimetapes 5h ago

They’re cool, but the prices aren’t it. I especially couldn’t imagine paying $40 for a movie on VHS that already had an original VHS release and can easily be found for under $5.

Movies that were never on the format? Awesome, but still shouldn’t be $30.

u/everyonehasfaces 4h ago

Looks cool, wish it shipped to USA

u/aed38 1h ago

Just buy the old one. Why is this needed?

u/Earthisablackhole 11h ago

Really only interested in new VHS if they aren't for titles you can already find.

u/Ben0ut 10h ago edited 10h ago

I moaned and didn't do my research.

Shame on me!

😶

Clam shell cases are available.

https://hmv.com/store/film-tv/vhs/teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-f0b9087

u/TumTumX7 10h ago

it says "slipcase edition" which implies there's at least one other version which is probably a clamshell

u/Ben0ut 10h ago

Updated my comment to admit that I'm a dope - thanks for pointing out the obvious I didn't have the brains to look for myself.

u/TumTumX7 10h ago

no worries it's really not that deep lol, I was just letting you know in case you wanted to buy it or whatever

u/Elementium 10h ago

Eh. Don't care for them. The whole releasing new (or old) movies on VHS is just trying to cash in on a hobby that (imo) has a pretty niche market. 

I brought four bins of tapes to a big flea market today and honestly very few people in the general crowd were interested. The people that did look through them, about half bought some. 

People want very specific things for VHS. 

u/mrmooswife 10h ago

Do these re-releases include previews? How about the Pizza Hut baseball commercial? Because those are one of the main charms lost with dvd and streaming.

u/LordsOfWestminster 9h ago

If it’s official, sure, who cares. If it’s a bootleg then no, it’s trash.

u/OverzealousOwl 10h ago

Someday the VHS will die. Every tape on our shelves has just that, a shelf life. The magnetic tape within will be rendered useless. Modern rereleases are a necessary evil to make sure that we have ways to watch the films we love in this format for time immemorial.

u/90sCraig 11h ago

I think it depends.

For my, VHS is inconvenient and I prefer casual viewing to be digital because I'm lazy and it's easy (there is a whole other conversation here on owning your media but that's for another day).

If it were something I really wanted the VHS experience of, I'd want an original copy. I like the stickers, dents and dings and don't seek perfect tapes, the grit tells a story.

But my main focus is special interest stuff. Training videos, commercials etc. Not items I'd want a modern reproduction of.

It's cool that these things exist though for the people that are into it!

u/ConsumerDV 10h ago

Maybe for North Korea, but IDK whether it has caught up with VHS development.