VHS Horror Memories: Watching The Evil Dead

There were a lot of VHS horror movies released in the early 80s, but probably one of the more famous ones was released on VHS tape on the 24th February 1983… The Evil Dead.

A classic 80s gore-fest featuring some stunning cover art by Graham Humphries, it was a massive hit amongst the customers. Word spread like wildfire and it was constantly off the shelf, people loved it.

However, the films legacy was about to change! just four months later on June 30 1983, an article in The Daily Mail lists 52 films officially labelled as ‘video nasties‘ by the DPP (Department of Public Prosecutions). The list included The Evil Dead, and Video Shop owners were in a state of panic, frantically taking copies off their shelves, they didn’t want to be prosecuted due to this new ‘video nasty‘ hysteria.

Our parents took a few copies home, whilst the rest went back to the distributors. During a special ‘amnesty’ period, video shop owners could take The Evil Dead back to their local distributor for a partial refund, I think it was something like £25 off a £40 tape. My Uncle remembers taking a few copies down to exchange for a credit, and there in the corner of the room was 2 full palettes full ofThe Evil Dead, just waiting to be destroyed! This fact destroys my soul!

The Video Recordings Act was passed on 12th July 1984 and the video industry changed forever. The Evil Dead would be banned on video in the UK. Outlawed from video shops up and down the country, 

Watching the Banned Tapes

One of my earliest VHS horror memories happened when we were all having a sleepover together at our house. We were being looked after by our Nanna and Grandad. Mike and Paul (or the ‘big ‘ens’ as they were annoyingly referred to!) wanted to watch a horror!

Being older than Daz and me, had already seen some horror films, but I was a bit sceptical about this, I was still firmly on cartoons at this point, Tintin, The Houndcats and Squiddly Diddly were my personal fave! I hadn’t seen anything like a horror film before. although I put on a good show to prove to the others!

Mike brings a tape from the back room behind the ‘fake wall’ – our classic bit of 80s home decor!… I knew it was one of the “banned” films as that’s where we stored the ones we took home. Suddenly, a glossy cover catches my eye, black with big yellow writing down the side, and a work of art plastered across the front of the box… It’s The Evil Dead!

My heart skipped a beat. I felt a thrill, a mix of fear, panic  and excitement. Mike slid the tape in, pushed the lid down (top loader for those old enough to remember!) and presses the play button (or slams the ‘play’ button down with his finger), and we all sat cramped on the sofa, our eyes glued to the screen. It was a bit fuzzy, so Mike adjusted the tracking, and the scene was set!

The film started. It was  gloomy. The music was eerie, and the camera was zooming through the woods giving a sense of danger lurking in the trees! And then, the friends arrived at the cabin. It got really, really scary. Trees started grabbing people, and shadows moved in the woods. I remember pulling my knees up to my chest, my arms wrapped around them, my eyes wide. I shouldn’t have been watching this. It was too scary.

But I couldn’t look away. It was like a nightmare unfolding right in front of me, but I was awake. The woman in the cellar, the blood, the screams – it was madness. I didn’t watch the whole thing. I think I made it about halfway before it became too much. I scrambled to the back room, and hit behind the glass doors. The others stayed and watched the whole thing, but I was done!

A New Nightmare to Watch

Fast forward a few years to 4th April 1986 and a new horror was released on video. Wes Craven’s A Nightmare on Elm Street. This one came about whilst we were staying over at Mike and Daz’s. We were only allowed to watch horror’s in the daytime – never at night!? Don’t ask me why! So on one occassion we all stayed up, ‘camping’ out down downstairs in the front room, just waiting for daylight so we could watch the film!

Watching Wes Craven’s A Nightmare on Elm Street in 1986 wasn’t just watching a horror, for an eight-year-old kid sitting cross-legged on a living room carpet, surrounded by three equally terrified brothers and cousins and a half-eaten bowl of Angel Delight, it was a survival exercise.

We stayed up all night, just talking about random stuff to waste the hours. We probably discussed future plans without even knowing it. One by one we fell asleep, probably me first, as was usually the case! We woke up in the morning like it was Christmas, full of excitement about watching A Nightmare on Elm Street. I hadn’t heard too much about it, but “The Big ‘Ens” were all over it, they’d heard stories from the customers, and reports in the trade mags!

The Scary Man with the Knives

The film is about this creepy guy named Freddy Krueger. He doesn’t look like a normal person, he has a face that looks like melted cheese or an old pepperoni pizza, and he wears this scruffy red and green sweater. But the scariest part? He had a glove with long, sharp knives on his fingers. Whenever he’s around, you hear this skreeeeek sound of metal against metal. It made me want to hide in the kitchen, but not this time.

Before we even saw him, we heard him. That rhythmic, metallic skreeeeee of Freddy Krueger’s claws against a rusty boiler pipe. To an adult, it’s a clever sound design choice. To me at eight, it was the sound of inevitable doom. Then the music hit, that initial opening had me on the edge of the seat. 

There were three parts that were so scary I almost forgot to eat my Bar Six (old school chocolate bar made by Cadbury!):

• The Girl on the Ceiling: When Tina starts getting attacked by someone we can’t see. Suddenly, she gets dragged up the wall and onto the ceiling! She was screaming and covered in blood. We all huddled together on the couch because it didn’t look like a movie—it looked real. This was the only scene in a horror to actually give me nightmares!

• The Bath Scene: Nancy (the main girl) was taking a bath to try and stay awake, and suddenly this metal claw hand came up out of the soapy water between her legs. Now I’m definitely taking showers for the rest of my life.

• The Blood Fountain: There’s a kid in the movie (played by a young Johnny Depp) who falls asleep, and Freddy pulls him into his bed. A second later, a giant geyser of blood shoots out of the mattress and hits the ceiling. It was the bloodiest thing I’d ever seen.

The scariest thing about this movie wasn’t just the knives, it’s that you have to sleep eventually. Nancy tries everything to stay awake—she drinks tons of coffee and uses a loud alarm clock—but she still gets sleepy. Every time the “One, two, Freddy’s coming for you” song played, I felt chills.

I thought it the best movie ever, but I asked Paul if I could sleep on his bedroom floor that night. I didn’t sleep for two days, terrified that if I drifted off, I’d hear the scrape of steel and see that dirty striped sweater in the corner of my closet.

It was these first VHS horror memories which turned me into an avid horror fan, collector, and inspired this website. What are your first horror memories? Let us know in the comments, or send us an email and the could form a future article on Its Only A Movie UK.