Rewind This! Page #4

and business was thriving.

The video boom

came out of the facility

to watch this material at home,

and no longer have to be

ashamed, theoretically,

to go to a theater.

And I knew that

once this door was open

it would never be closed.

Why don't you

move the teddy bear

and come sit by me.

Nah, I got a better idea,

why don't you come over here.

Pardon me, Teddy.

Any major consumer

electronics medium...

it's success or failure

in the market

will be determined based on

it's relationship with the adult

entertainment business.

And I think VHS is

where we learned that.

I like the way a film looks,

but I think that video

probably makes the end consumer

feel like he's

a part of the experience.

What video did change

about the porn industry

was the idea that since

we're distributing on video,

we can shoot on video.

Changed the economics

of that business.

And made the business

so much bigger

than it had ever been before.

What if we took these big boxes

you know, in their trays

and made them smaller,

and maybe even we

could attempt to sell them

in alternative markets,

like airports or bookstores.

And they were selling

like hot cakes.

And the business took off.

And that's how we created

the sell-through title.

Media had this crazy idea

of releasing tapes

at the, then,

shocking price of $19.95.

They were calling it

sell-through.

Every other company was going,

"Oh that's a stupid idea,

it's ridiculous."

You know, 'cause they thought

the more money it cost,

the more money you'd make.

"Gee, I wish they'd sell

Basket Case for that."

Because it would be

the only film like that.

A disreputable, unrated,

blood and gore film,

out on the market. And...

teenagers, which were

my core audience,

they couldn't afford $49.95,

but they could all

afford 20 bucks.

Media thought it was

a terrible idea.

They thought it was

such a bad idea, they said,

"We'll do it, but,

if it doesn't move,

we're gonna go right back

to the regular price."

By the time Halloween

came around, my god,

Basket Case was everywhere.

We made a fortune.

It did spectacular. I mean,

I bought this apartment.

This was my down payment

that I needed from the bank

to buy this apartment.

Suddenly the sell-through

market was born.

I'd like to think Basket Case

had a lot to do with that.

It was great for independents

because, the major studios

really caught on very slowly,

to video.

And there were so many

examples of independent films,

that were brand new

to that audience,

that were more desirable

than the big studio films.

So, many times, those little

pictures would out-perform,

Not theatrical, on TV and other

deals that were happening.

But when it came to

the video market,

in those early days,

it was incredible.

It's the return of cult hero

Freddie Krueger!

And for the past two summers,

Freddie's nightmares

have been the nation's top

video rental titles.

Now, it's Freddie's

third time around,

and he's all set to

claw his way

beyond the 200,000 mark!

The advent of home video also

made companies very successful.

Very small companies

very successful.

And I think that's largely

why we have so many

insane VHS oddities now,

is because there would be a huge

Hollywood movie that would hit,

like Indiana Jones or

Friday the 13th,

and you would get a whole

plethora of films

that were aping that,

made for 12 cents.

Production price tag, you know,

Terminator, 80 million,

Puppetmaster, $400,000.

It's like, you know, it's not

an even playing field,

but in the video store,

they're all on the same shelf,

they're all in

the same size boxes.

Look, if idiots like Troma

can make a movie that...

sells million and millions

of dollars of videocassettes,

well, then anybody can do it.

Distribution was handled

very differently.

There were

a lot more distributers.

There were people that were

willing to experiment

in home video.

It was so new that it felt like

the wild west.

It felt like anybody

could get a foothold

and be a major player

in VHS distribution.

I was approached by

a couple of producers who..

Wanted to produce a video which

would go straight to home video.

And this was something new.

My idea was I would create

an electronic aquarium.

People found this intriguing.

Here was this new thing

that used this new medium

that had been created.

What really, I think, caused

the early explosion in video,

was Jane Fonda's workout tape.

And now count to four.

Heels forward.

And then, one... two... three...

So, this was a tape that

did something original,

which was, gave you

an opportunity to exercise,

in your home, in front

of your TV, by yourself.

Don't need to go to a gym.

It was a very good concept.

And it had never really

been done before.

Well, the early days of video,

it was a seller's market.

It was great. I mean,

they couldn't get enough.

This was a worldwide exposure,

and there was a window

where if you made

a clever movie,

and it was relatively well done,

and it was in the right genre,

you know, it was an action film

or horror, or sci-fi,

you would make some money.

So it was Toei,

which is one of the...

traditional major studios

in Japan,

that sort of launched this

straight-to-video market.

Whereas, in the U.S., largely,

video was, for a very long time,

sort of demonized

by the traditional studios.

Vestron Video,

they were very aggressive.

If you had a movie, and

you went to some place life AFM,

the American Film Market,

or Cannes,

and the video rights for your

movie were not locked up,

almost immediately,

you'd be visited

by a salesperson from Vestron,

saying, "Here... here's a

million dollars right up front,

give me the movie.

In the initial stages,

you would go into a store

and find something

that you wanted.

You wouldn't see a commercial,

you wouldn't read anything

in the magazine or newspaper.

I mean, it was just that new.

All these stores were opening up

and they needed to fill

the shelves with new titles.

So there was this huge demand.

It didn't matter

if they were good or bad.

You have a pretty

flourishing industry

that's based on

renting video tapes.

30 to 35 thousand video rental

stores across the country.

Most often

mom and pop operations.

Charlie would have

title contests

for his employees.

And if you came up with a title

that he used, you'd get $500.

So everybody would come up with

10 or 15 titles

and he would narrow it down to,

like, a hundred,

and then he would

commission box art.

And then Austin Furst would

come in from Vestron.

He would just come into the room

and he'd go around, and say,

"I'll take that one,

and that one,

and that one, and that one."

And then Charlie would bring

the writers and directors in

and then say, "I want you

to do this one and that one."

That was an era of great

equivalency at video stores.

I think people

would rent anything

with a cover

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