Blog Categories: Video NastiesVideo Shops Horror Movie Database
Table of Contents
The Independents:
Video Rental Shops in the UK
The 80s were a transformative period in the UK for home entertainment, with video rental shops emerging as a cultural phenomenon.
Early video rental shops were often independently owned, had rows of pre-cert video tapes, categorised by genre — Action, Comedy, Kids Corner and our obvious fave, Horror! The whole video shop experience was often a highlight of your Friday or Saturday night!Video Shop Nostalgia:
Opening An 80s Video Shop
A four-part story of video shop nostalgia from the early 80s, when our family opened a pioneering video shop in the heart of Stockport, UK. The 1980s video shop, once a staple of British high streets, embodied the excitement of a new era.
Pre-Certificate:
Collecting VHS Video Tapes
Pre-cert tapes are more than just an outdated format from the dawn of home video. They’re physical remnants of a chaotic, unregulated era when horror, exploitation, and low-budget sleaze were being pushed onto shelves faster than anyone could censor them.
Collecting Pre-CertsVideo Rentals:
The Best 80s Horror Films
The best 80s horror films could be found in every video shop in the early 1980’s. If you close your eyes and concentrate, you can probably still smell it. That distinct bouquet of cheap carpet, stale popcorn, and warm plastic that greeted you the moment you stepped into a video shop in the 80s.
Pre-Certificate:
Go Video – Unleashed in the UK
Go Video were a pre-cert video distributor trading in the UK in the early 80s. They released a number of Horror, Italian thrillers, Adult, Martial Arts and most famously a number of exploitation films from the 70’s and 80’s.
Read about GO Video
