Remember the good old days of VHS, complete with manual rewinding, fuzzy pictures, and brightly colored slipcovers? No? Well, Joe Pickett and Nick Prueher of the Found Footage Festival definitely do. Earlier this month, the pair published VHS: Absurd, Odd, and Ridiculous Relics from the Videotape Era , a visual ode to the many ludicrous covers that have graced those clunky square boxes. VHS — which features categories like “Leotards & Sweat,” “Unusually Specific,” “Bad Ideas,” and of course, “Cats” — contains over 300 weird, wacky and downright embarrassing video covers from the ’80s and ’90s, as well as snarky commentary from the authors. Pickett and Prueher have spent the last twenty-odd years picking their way through thrift stores and garage sales across the country, amassing over 3,000 tapes in what must be a very strange collection. Plus, the pair has written for The Onion and Entertainment Weekly, and Prueher was Head Researcher at both the Late Show with David Letterman and The Colbert Report, so you know you’re in for a comedic treat.
Click through to see a sampling of the wonderfully absurd VHS covers from decades past (lovingly chosen for you by Mr. Prueher himself), and if you live in New York, be sure to stop by the book release party on November 2 at The Bell House in Brooklyn.
