Releasing new movies on VHS is officially a new (yet retro) trend

How is it? your VCR situation these days? VCRs, which fell out of fashion in the early 2000s with the rise of DVDs (followed by Blu-rays and 4K Ultra HD), seem to be making a comeback, though it seems unlikely that VHS will follow tweaks and “please take it back” demands could become a popular format again, stranger things have happened; see vinyl resurrection— and more movies tap into the retro vibes that only a VHS tape can convey.

Earlier this year we learned that Alien: Romulus would become the first film released on VHS by Disney in decades; an attention-grabbing marketing move, sure, but the director Fede Alvarez told io9 goes beyond just being a gimmick. “It’s very easy to be seen as a gimmick, but it’s not for me at all,” Alvarez said in November, confirming that the VHS release was his idea movies in that format and that vibe and that style, that color range and that spectrum of sound; it has such a special vibe that as soon as you play it, as soon as I play it, it just takes me there. It puts a magic on it because I, you know, I was born in ’78, so when The VHS boom was happening, and that’s when I was discovering movies. And so it was very special for me that the studio actually agreed to do it was right: the $60 issue is now has been sold.)

Now, other headlines pick up what? Alien: Romulus put down Kyle Mooney’s sci-fi comedy Y2K: hit theaters last week, but A24 just announced that it will be getting a VHS release, which makes sense given the film’s original setting. It will be letterboxed and set fans back $30 (order here). It is scheduled to ship in January.

There will also be a VHS release Streamaccording to Bloody Disgusting and Broke Horror Fana fitting context for Michael Levy’s energetic, cool-fame slasher, created by much of the team behind the team. Terrorist series. Bloody Disgusting reports that the VHS version “will be scaled down from its original aspect ratio to 4:3 full frame” for a price of $28-$33 and is expected to ship in February ( order here).

Note that all of these drops hover in the “limited edition special edition” zone, especially Alien: Romuluswhich was quite clearly aimed at collectors. And so far no one dares to release his film exclusively on VHS. It seems unlikely that VHS will be able to overcome the quality (or durability) gap; remember how tapes wear out compared to more modern home viewing formats.But still, it’s undeniably nice to see tapes finally getting some nostalgic love.Which of these movies is tempting? you break the camera first?

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