Shout Factory Streams VHS-Quality Horror Movies for Halloween
It's low-fi all the way.
Looking for a throwback movie treat before Halloween? Classic home video purveyors Shout Factory have you covered. Its streaming service, Shout Factory TV, is running a promotion called The VHS Vault, which brings some of its spookiest (and cheesiest) titles to you to stream for free in glorious VHS-quality standard definition.
Don’t expect a bunch of new titles to stream here, and to hell with high-def. VHS Vault is offering up five not-so-classics in low-fi fullscreen for you to discover or rediscover from the days of plastic cassettes. The old VHS box art accompanying each movie brings home the ‘80s nostalgia.
The best of the bunch is the 1983 summer camp slasher movie Sleepaway Camp. Besides inspiring the look of movies like Wet Hot American Summer, it also has the best twist ending this side of The Sixth Sense. Be sure to follow that up with George Romero’s Day of the Dead, the third entry in his “Dead” series of iconic zombie movies.
Other titles include the Italian Mad Max ripoff, Exterminators of the Year 3000, supernatural horror movie Night of the Demons, and the cheese-tastic teenage action flick Class of 1984 (featuring a pre-Back to the Future Michael J. Fox).
As a cherry on top, you can also stream Adjust Your Tracking, the 2013 documentary about the new trend of VHS collecting.
The whole thing is a throwback treat to the days when you’d drive to the video store on a Friday night to peruse rows and rows of video tapes before grabbing a few to bring home to pop in the VCR. The best part is that you don’t need a VCR and you don’t have to worry about any late fees and LOL Blockbuster used to be a thing.
